Guest Diana DiZoglio has played a pivotal role in public service throughout her career, serving as an advocate, legislator, and now, Auditor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In her role, DiZoglio is committed to increasing transparency and accountability in state government, ensuring that all residents receive equitable treatment, regardless of their background, financial status, or zip code. Her work as Auditor underscores her dedication to fostering a fair and inclusive government for all...
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 1 min
Yvonne Hao, Secretary of the Executive Office of Economic Development for Massachusetts, joins the Boston Speaks Up podcast live on stage at Startup Boston Week 2024.
Sep 23, 2024•25 min
Hack.Diversity CEO Michelle De La Isla joins the Boston Speaks Up podcast live on stage at Startup Boston Week 2024.
Sep 22, 2024•56 min
In this special episode of "Boston Speaks Up," host Zach Servideo, founder of Value Creation Labs and a former doorman at the iconic Pour House, teams up with Lee Stabert from "Explain Boston to Me" to explore the ever-changing landscape of Boston’s dive bar culture. This conversation takes listeners deep into the heart of the city, reflecting on how these gritty, beloved spaces have managed to survive—and even thrive—amid Boston’s ongoing transformation. The episode dives into some fascinating ...
Aug 23, 2024•44 min
Guest Mike Farber has played many roles throughout his career, serving as a brand builder, mentor, advisor, partner, and now, co-founder. In his latest career move, Farber has the world’s best interests in mind by co-founding GreenStory, an agency focused entirely on elevating the stories of organizations addressing the climate crisis. Farber is also an advisor at Greentown Labs, the country’s biggest climate tech accelerator based in Somerville, Massachusetts. Before launching GreenStory, Farbe...
Jun 26, 2024•57 min
Guest Kyle Wallack is an artist-entrepreneur and the founder of Refined Graffiti, and you can learn more about his work at his digital gallery The KW Gallery. After graduating from Endicott College in Beverly, MA, he lived in New York City for several years where his career took off before recently relocating to the Tampa Bay, Florida area. Wallack, inspired by the likes of Banksy and Basquiat among others, has now done work for global phenoms Missy Elliot and Cardi B. His work has inspired mill...
Apr 22, 2024•1 hr 26 min
Guest Nick Cicero is an analyst, entrepreneur and growth expert operating at the intersection of digital media and advertising. He made a name for himself in the 2010s when he founded Delmondo, a social video analytics company. Founded in 2014, Cicero quickly established Delmondo alongside established media measurement companies by introducing numerous industry firsts, including the first enterprise analytics solutions for Snapchat, Instagram Stories, and Facebook Live used by clients such as AB...
Feb 28, 2024•1 hr 29 min
Guest Kristen Craft is the new Vice President & Business Partner Manager at Fidelity for Startups, one of the largest brokerage firms in the United States, headquartered here in Boston. She’s a major catalyst supporting Fidelity in its efforts to help fill the startup banking void in Boston. Craft is working closely with the team at Shoobx, a Cambridge-based fintech Fidelity acquired in January 2023. Shoobx helps companies with equity and board management, storing and sharing important busin...
Jan 29, 2024•51 min
Barbara Fortier is the CEO of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts (GSEMA) where she has over 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Before assuming this role, she served as Chief Operations Officer at GSEMA for an impressive 17 years. Fortier's influence extends beyond her impressive tenure at GSEMA. She is a specialist in volunteer management, fundraising, and female empowerment, making her a sought-after expert in her field. As the CEO of the largest girl-serving organization in ...
Jan 15, 2024•1 hr 10 min
Guest Alice Pomponio is the Managing Director at BrightEdge, the venture capital and impact investment arm of the American Cancer Society, where her work is making waves in the fight against cancer. With a passion for economic and health equity, she has built a strong track record of bringing groundbreaking ideas to life, developing cutting-edge technologies, shaping markets, and creating value within these ecosystems. Pomponio's journey through the biopharma industry has tracked alongside many ...
Nov 02, 2023•57 min
Senofer Mendoza is the Founder and General Partner at Mendoza Ventures, a woman-owned and the first Latinx-founded VC fund on the east coast. In the ever-evolving landscape of venture capital, Mendoza stands as an innovation economy trailblazer and an advocate for diversity and inclusion. Mendoza has a creative background having previously worked as an interior designer for Parker Torres Design. During her stint at the design house, Mendoza was able to work on some exciting projects, most notabl...
Oct 13, 2023•56 min
Stanley Rameau is the Founder and CEO of Renavest, a financial education community for investors and individuals to connect, share and build wealth. He is poised to make an even greater impact with the imminent release of the Renavest app on both the App Store and Google Play Store this fall (Join the waitlist). When Rameau isn’t guiding individuals from all walks of life along their journey to wealth building, he can be found building and growing his Boston-based fashion brand, Paul Rameau. Ram...
Oct 10, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Guest Gabriela Serret-Campos is the Global Head of People Strategy and Talent at Chronosphere, a cloud company that raised $200 million on a $1+ billion valuation in 2021. She is a seasoned professional with a rich background in shaping organizational strategies and fostering talent to drive success. As the modern workplace changes, Serret-Campos is an expert navigator of the evolving shifts and new challenges in recruiting and culture building. She possesses invaluable insights into how venture...
Oct 04, 2023•1 hr 3 min
Guest Stephanie Roulic is the founder and CEO of Startup Boston where she’s become a driving force behind Boston's startup ecosystem. Through Startup Boston, Roulic is on a mission to bring networking opportunities that bridge connections between people from different industries and companies from all stages. She leads a team of dedicated volunteers who are all aligned in fulfilling Startup Boston’s vision to establish a more connected Boston business ecosystem. Since co-founding the martech com...
Sep 07, 2023•53 min
Dr. Jeff Sutherland is the Founder and Chairman of Scrum Inc. He is credited with being one of the creators of Scrum, which is celebrating its 30 year anniversary in 2023, and is a framework for enabling business agility at scale across an entire organization. Sutherland’s mission has always been to spread Scrum around the world to free people from what he calls “the incredible life-draining system they’re working under.” His teachings consistently expose the archaic systems that hinder producti...
Jul 18, 2023•2 hr 6 min
Devan Sood is the Co-Founder of Orca, a membership-based network of furnished month-to-month accommodations in dream destinations around the world. As working a 9-5 increasingly no longer requires a long commute to a 5’ x 5’ cubicle, Orca is designed for digital nomads who travel freely and work remotely around the globe. A digital nomad himself, Sood is currently traveling the world helping inspire others to ditch their 12-month lease and live in a myriad of their dream destinations, without br...
Jun 09, 2023•1 hr 8 min
George Deveney is the Chief Advancement Officer at Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island, headquartered in Boston, MA. Make-A-Wish is a non-profit organization on a mission to create life-changing wish experiences for children with critical illnesses. In 2023, Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island celebrate 40 years of providing life changing experiences to kids and families who deserve it the most. Deveney has dedicated his life to helping others and he has no plans of taking his foot...
May 19, 2023•1 hr 15 min
Guest Kerty Levy is the Managing Director of Techstars Boston, the successful startup accelerator tied to a global network of Techstars programs. (Techstars Boston applications are open now and will close June 7, 2023. Don’t miss out!) Levy replaced Greg Raiz, who stepped down as managing director at the end of October 2022. She brings a global perspective to her role having grown up all over the world. Born in Japan, Levy spent time in the Philippines, Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden before set...
Apr 28, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Guest Alex Kantrowitz is the founder of Big Technology, a combo newsletter-podcast news operation analyzing the systems in the tech world that drive what we see in the headlines. He launched Big Technology on the back of his wildly successful book Always Day One, which gives a behind-the-scenes view into how Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft have “stayed on top” by operating in Day One: Instead of hunkering down and protecting core advantages, they reinvent constantly. Kantrowitz most rece...
Mar 31, 2023•1 hr 13 min
Guest Chris Cardoza is the Founder & Director of Doza Visuals, a Boston-based media production company with experience filming and photographing across the globe. You may be familiar with Cardoza’s work locally via the artist documentaries he produces for ICA Boston. Cardoza’s entrepreneurial journey was preceded by a childhood culminating as a multi-sport athlete in high school. Sports were everything to him, until injuries crept into his life and ripped away his first passion. This is when...
Feb 08, 2023•1 hr 40 min
Guest Tucker Cohen is the Founder & CEO of Smoov, an app that makes it easy for couples to split their expenses automatically before they have a shared bank account. Smoov has enjoyed a popular beta period in Boston for its ability to save people time, money and headaches. Cohen is an entrepreneur with a range of experience on the west and east coasts, and grew to become a very active member of the Boston startup community in recent years. He is also an Web3 maxi as an early investor in Acal...
Jan 20, 2023•1 hr 18 min
Guest Lily Lyman is a General Partner at Underscore VC, a leading Boston venture capital firm known for its Underscore Core Community of proven business builders helping each other succeed. She is also a Board Director for the New England Venture Capital Association, MIT Sandbox Funding Board, and is a leader of the Boston All Raise chapter. Lyman has a background as a founder, investor, and operator. She came to Underscore VC from Facebook, where she worked in product strategy focused on the in...
Jan 07, 2023•1 hr 25 min
Miranda Perez is a cross-topic multimedia journalist on a mission to highlight and elevate marginalized voices. Evolving beyond the newsroom, she recently joined the team at HBCU Founders Initiative, a nonprofit organization that is engaging rising HBCU students and alumni interested in pursuing entrepreneurship. For those unfamiliar with the term HBCU, it refers to any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education...
Nov 18, 2022•1 hr 22 min
Guest Scott Ernst is an entrepreneur who’s been at the intersection of market research, commerce and technology for three decades. He was building startups on Newbury Street in Boston long before this recent wave of VCs and startups began moving into the Back Bay area. After stints at multiple startups in the 1990s, Ernst was a founding management team member of Compete in the 2000s and helped the company grow to a $100 million revenue business resulting in the 2008 acquisition by MIllward Brown...
Nov 04, 2022•1 hr 16 min
Guest Kristen Craft is a proven entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience in enterprise software and digital marketing. In her role as Director of Early-Stage Startups at Silicon Valley Bank, she’s become well known around the Boston startup community for her passionate support of founders. Craft has helped build several prominent brands in Boston and is committed to supporting companies with excellent cultures and strong values. Her past experience includes leadership roles at Animalz,...
Oct 21, 2022•1 hr 12 min
*Bonus Episode* Boston Speaks Up host Zach Servideo joins Deirdre Sartorelli on The Repivot Project podcast, which explores the art and science of change. Zach discusses: how Value Creation Labs is navigating the current economic downturn; how to select the right people to collaborate with; the value in consulting with different customer archetypes; his company's unique approach to brand development; and his silver linings playbook coming off his achilles tendon tear/surgery this year.
Sep 17, 2022•46 min
Yvonne Castaneda is a licensed mental health professional and part-time faculty member at Boston College School of Social Work where she teaches courses such as Basic Skills in Clinical Social Work and Social Welfare Systems. Born in Los Angeles, Castaneda spent much of her childhood in Miami. Her parents were immigrants to the United States – her father from Cuba and her mother from Mexico. Her parents never had formal schooling, but they emphasized the importance of education and work ethic. C...
Aug 12, 2022•1 hr 17 min
Sara Mraish-Demeter is an artist, educator, mother of three, and founder/CEO of Art Resource Collaborative for Kids (ARCK), a nonprofit delivering creative programs with social justice themes in Boston Public Schools since 2012. Born in Jordan to Palestinian refugee parents, she came to the United States at age 15 and Boston was where she first experienced real support and opportunity. In Boston, Mraish-Demeter quickly learned that none of her schooling transferred from Jordan, so she had to go ...
Jul 08, 2022•51 min
Guest Frank Sinton is an entrepreneur, investor and innovator from Concord, Massachusetts. A Tufts University graduate, Sinton is a life-long learner and engineer by trade with several patents under his belt. He has a growing interest in adapting his deep technology background and CEO experience to actively nurture the next generation of companies working to solve important challenges facing the world today. Sinton made a name for himself in the entertainment industry helping legacy businesses t...
Jun 17, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Guest Zach Servideo is an entrepreneur and the founder of Value Creation Labs® (VCL), a brand studio-growth accelerator. The 15-year consulting veteran has spent time in Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Known for his boundless energy and storytelling prowess, Servideo is a sought out chief brand officer of sorts for companies looking to elevate their public presence and stoke growth. In 2021, he created VCL as a means to one day realize his vision to own and operate a venture studio. He’s ...
May 10, 2022•1 hr 21 min
