"You're not gonna win the race. You've already won. You showed up." Those were the words Sandy Delli Carpini's father said to her at the starting line of her first 5K — and they've shaped everything she's done since.

This week on the So New England Podcast Business Spotlight Series, Ian Brownhill sits down with Sandra "Sandy" Delli Carpini, the woman behind Seasons Corner Market — a Rhode Island-based gas station and convenience store chain with 80 locations across New England. Sandy shares the deeply personal story of her father, who came to America from Italy at age 12 (after being left in Italy as a toddler), became a mechanic in the Army, and opened his first gas station on Angel Street near Brown University. From those origins, Sandy and her family built one of New England's most recognizable convenience store brands.

In this episode, we cover:

• The family origin story and the Italian-Rhode Island connection
• Why she launched the Corner Market Cafe (and how her father's daily 9 AM coffee ritual inspired it)
• The mom insight that made drive-thrus essential to the brand
• The story behind Sunny the mascot (a squeezy toy, an uncle's nickname, and a grandfather's nickname)
• The Angels Giving Back Foundation honoring her late parents
• How her cashiers stayed in their stores for 48 hours during the historic 54-inch snowstorm
• Why she considers convenience store workers frontline workers
• Why Southern gas station executives "back off" when they meet her
• Her Italian-American Yankees fan confession (sorry, Patriots — wait, she's still a Pats fan too)
• Her favorite season in New England (fall, obviously)
• What her perfect New England day looks like

You can find Sandy on LinkedIn as Sandra Delli Carpini, and follow Seasons Corner Market at seasonscorner.com or on Instagram @SeasonsCornerMarket.

Join Sandy at the Angels Giving Back 5K on June 6th at Citizens Bank in Johnston, Rhode Island. Sign up at angelsgivingback.com. The foundation supports the Alzheimer's Society, the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation, and the Tomorrow Fund.

Follow the So New England Podcast for new episodes every week. Don't forget — life's better in New England!

"It's basically a way to make work suck less." That's how Paul Critchley explains his job at backyard barbecues — and after this episode, you'll understand exactly what he means.

This week on the So New England Podcast Business Spotlight Series, Ian Brownhill and RJ sit down with Paul Critchley, owner of New England Lean Consulting — a regional firm helping manufacturers, machine shops, and small businesses across New England operate smarter, faster, and with less stress. Born and raised in Maine, Paul spent 20+ years in mechanical engineering and operations across automotive parts, medical devices, and military jet engines before going out on his own in 2015. Today, his firm works with everyone from two-brother machine shops to Brown University.

In this episode, we cover:

• What lean consulting actually is (it's not Bar Rescue, but close)
• The seven wastes that quietly cost New England businesses millions
• Why workers sometimes ask "are we going out of business?" when business is actually booming
• The factory worker whose life genuinely changed because of operational improvements
• Three questions every business owner should ask themselves right now
• Why communication is almost always the real bottleneck
• Paul's date night spent mentally auditing a bar's kitchen layout (yes, his wife was there)
• Why he can't shop at Stop & Shop or Home Depot anymore
• The box of wire from 1986 that an engineer refused to throw away
• The welder who threatened to zap him with a torch (and became his biggest advocate)
• His honest ranking of the six New England states
• Why he refuses to drive in Boston anymore
• The stranger who saved his life in the Financial District with one Boston-flavored sentence

You can find Paul at NewEnglandLean.com, on LinkedIn as Paul Critchley, and on Instagram at @NewEnglandLeanGuy.

Follow the So New England Podcast for new episodes every week. Don't forget — life's better in New England.

"New England is better than Old England" — a British couple just said it on the podcast, and we're never letting them take it back.

This week on the So New England Podcast, host Ian Brownhill and co-host RJ welcome Juliette and Ollie — aka The Brits in Boston — for a deep, funny, and surprisingly emotional conversation about what it's like to move from East London to the United States and fall in love with New England in the process. Two and a half years into their American life, the couple shares their honest perspective on what makes Boston, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts unlike anywhere else on earth.

In this episode, we cover:

• How a childhood Celtics jersey foreshadowed Ollie's move to Boston
• Why Juliette cried walking through Beacon Hill for the first time
• A defense of British food (and the truth about Indian cuisine in the UK)
• Why American Chinese food got them 5 million views on TikTok
• The differences between London, Boston, and New York City
• The stranger who gave them his lake house in Rangeley, Maine
• Cape Cod vs. coastal Maine — and the verdict from a British couple
• Premier League vs. Boston sports culture (and the term "geezer bird")
• Lobster roll: hot butter or cold mayo? A real married-couple debate
• Their honest ranking of all six New England states
• The most overrated and most underrated things about New England
• Saying "Pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd" in a British accent

You can find Juliette and Ollie at @juliet.amy_ on Instagram and TikTok, and on YouTube as Brits in Boston.

Follow the So New England Podcast for new episodes every week. Don't forget — life's better in New England.