The people closest to your home are often the people you know the least. Samira Reyes, a physician and creator of Samira Unscripted, wanted to see whether a low-pressure experiment could make that gap easier to cross. She invited neighbors into a group chat for small, practical help, and 16 people joined after she left 40 notes. Now she’s testing the idea with hundreds more people to see what actually helps strangers take that first step toward knowing the people next door.
Hi, everybody! Welcome to another episode of the Bottom-Up Revolution podcast. I'm your host Tiffany Owens. If you have been listening to this show for a while, then that one of my favorite topics to talk about is how we can rebuild our social fabric.
This is not an official Strong Towns campaign or anything. This is just something I think is really critical to rebuilding our cities and our communities. In addition to working on things like policy reform, fixing infrastructure, getting smarter about how we invest our money, I think a huge part of the conversation needs to be how do we rebuild meaningful connections between the people living in our cities, living in our neighborhoods.
So today's guest is going to be speaking on that and sharing about some really fun and creative projects that she's starting to help improve her sense of connection in her neighborhood and a project she refers to as an experiment to help other people bridge that gap from stranger to neighbor. Samira Reyes is an Ecuadorian-born physician and the creator of Samira Unscripted, a platform exploring how to build a fulfilling, connected life while living alone. She develops practical tools and experiments with ways to build community and make everyday support more accessible for people without a built-in support system. Samira, welcome to the Bottom-Up Revolution podcast.
Thank you so much for having me, Tiffany. I'm really happy to be here.
I'm looking forward to sharing your story. I think it's really interesting, and this experiment you're doing is fascinating, which we're going to touch on that as well. Let's talk a little bit about your background. So, you moved to the U.S. 10 years ago to pursue your goal of becoming a physician.
You're now based in Providence, Rhode Island, which is fun that we have that in common. As I lived there some time ago, but I would love to hear a little bit about your journey. Can you share about what it was like coming here from Ecuador to pursue this goal? The cities that you've lived in so far, and what makes Providence feel like home to whatever degree that it does.
Right. So I left Quito, Ecuador, 10 years ago, and since then I've lived in five different places, starting in Houston, Texas, and then I moved to Massachusetts, where I lived in Reading, Framingham, and Cambridge, and now I've been in Providence for the past four years. Providence has been the first place where I've been intentional about building community. What I love is that it's such a small city that you start recognizing people in different contexts.
For example, my Uber driver to the airport recognized me from Zumba class.
Oh my goodness, that's really fun.
Yeah, and I think that's what makes Providence feel like home. It's small enough that you keep running into the same people, and if you're open to those little interactions, over time they add up and just create the sense of belonging.
Yeah, for my time living in Providence, it always struck me as like a small, like a small big city in some ways, especially because you have so many students there and so many people from all over the world, like a big international student population. So I feel like it's like small enough where you can get to know people, but there's still interesting things to do. Plus, when you get tired of the city, you can just drive out to be on the coast and see all the little towns, which is a really interesting experience as well. Have you spent much time in those little towns along the coast?
Yes, it's not uncommon for me to just select a random place and then just take a day trip by myself and explore the area, or sometimes even drive up to the White Mountains in New Hampshire and go on a hike.
What was it like for you going from Texas to Massachusetts? Those are very different, or like just that area of the country in general, Massachusetts Providence, or just in general, like I would be interested to hear any of the observations you had just in that whole journey, like from Ecuador to the states, but specifically between Texas and New England.
Well, Texas is definitely more spread out, and so it's easier to be anonymous, and it's less walkable in my experience. Whereas in Massachusetts, everything felt a little bit closer and more organized by neighborhoods, almost. So it's easier to connect with people, and you tend to run into each other in the same neighborhood, so you tend to meet in the same park. You run into each other in the same coffee spot, the same gym.
So there's that recurrent theme.
Obviously, I'm in Texas now too, and I can definitely see that. We have neighborhoods in my city, but it doesn't feel neighborhoody, if that makes sense, because you're still having to traverse the city back and forth in your car to get to all the different things that you need. So things are not as neighborhood contained. What stood out to you culturally as you adjusted to life in the U.S. I'm especially interested in anything that stood out to you as it pertains to building community or finding friends.
So one of the biggest differences I noticed was how much more individualistic life felt in the U.S. Especially when it comes to interacting with strangers or asking people for help. And it's funny because I didn't realize how much of that I had assimilated until my mom came to visit me, and we were walking around trying to find a restaurant. Her instinct was to stop somebody on the street and ask them for directions. I flinched.
I stopped her. “Mom, no. We’re going to Google this.” It made me realize how much I miss those little everyday interactions, where asking someone for help is almost second nature, and it doesn't feel like an imposition.
That's funny. I remember growing up, my parents used to roll down their windows and talk to other people in other cars, asking for directions before we had Google Maps, so it rubbed off me. I will go up to strangers. I have many stories of me going up to strangers and asking for many various types of assistance.
But I remember that because no one had GPS, so they would, at a red light, if we were lost. They would just flag someone down, just be like, "Do where this thing is? And someone be like, "Oh yeah, go straight here, make a right there, make a left here, and then you're like waving goodbyes. The light changes.
I thought that was sweet. I don't think you can do that now. I think that would be really weird. So, part of your story is that I found you on Instagram.
We're both active on Instagram as content creators, and part of your story is that you live alone. Was that an intentional choice, or did you just realize one day that this was part of your story and your reality? I'd love to hear more about your thought process around experiencing that and then making it part of your public story. Even though I know you're not trying to be hyper branded, but it's part of the your public story as well.
It's like, “I live alone. How do we build support for people like us?” So any way any direction you'd like to take that, I would just I'd love to hear anything you want to share on that part of your story.
Sure. So I arrived by circumstance, but I’ve stayed by choice. I've been divorced for four years now, and during this time, I've really learned to enjoy my own company. I think solo travel has helped me with that.
There's something about putting yourself outside of your comfort zone that really builds self trust and confidence, and I eventually became really good at doing everything on my own. Arguably, too good. And then, when I turned 40, I knew that it would only be a few years until I needed a colonoscopy, and I realized that I had nobody to ask for a ride, and that's when it clicked for me that enjoying living alone and needing other people aren’t mutually exclusive, and that I could love my independence and still want community that I can count on.
Do you remember something you did by yourself that felt like a big deal as you were navigating this new circumstance?
So my first solo trip was to New Zealand, and I had never traveled that far, and I rented a car where you're driving on the other side of the road, so that was the first time where I had to navigate a completely different time zone and culture and scenery, and just learning how to do it all on my own.
That is one situation I have traveled alone. I remember when I lived in New York City. I was there for school, and I was there for a while. I remember it was a very big deal going to a restaurant by myself and just telling them like I wanted a table for one.
I remember doing that at a Thai restaurant that had the best basil fried rice. I really wanted some, and I had to psych myself up to go by myself. They look at you and they're like, "How many?" You're like, "Just me." But I remember doing that in other countries, other cities, where I was like, "I'm going to do this thing by myself. I'm going to go sit at a sitting at a pub by myself was a big deal too.
But I was ready. I had my book. But driving in a country where I have to drive on the other side of the road? I don't know.
That might push me because I feel like I would need someone in the other seat constantly screaming at me to make sure I don't do something that puts our life at risk. It just seems so high stakes. I'm like, no, I need someone to be looking out, making sure I don't wreck this car. Well, good for you.
Clearly, you did it. You're here, alive, telling us all about it. So I want to ask you about the difference. You realized, “I need someone to help me with this appointment,” but living alone obviously doesn't mean you don't have friends.
Obviously, it doesn't mean you don't have friends. Can you just talk about like how do you see living alone, having friends, but then having community. From the little bit that we've talked and what I've seen, it seems to me you have a distinction between those, and I do as well. But I'd just love to hear how you frame that in your words.
Right. So I feel that friendship takes time, and friendship takes repetition, effort, intention, interest, and if we wait to achieve that level of closeness with somebody before we ask for help, we might end up quite isolated, and I think that we can ask for practical help without there having to be friendship as a prerequisite for that, and I think that there is a big spectrum of relationships or relating to people that exists between being complete strangers and being best friends, and I think that's what I'm trying to explore as somebody living alone and trying to build community, but also just practical help,
It's almost like a practical safety net of people that you're connected to. You're not necessarily close to, but are the kinds of people who could feed your dog if you're out of town for two days. There would still be enough trust there, right, where you could help each other out with stuff like that.
Exactly. So I have a neighbor. She has my spare keys, and she's been able to water my plants when I'm gone, or run into my apartment and close the windows during a rainstorm. I've even borrowed cheese from her, and we're not best friends, but we trust each other enough, and we can count on each other.
Do you think I'm right when I say that I think Americans have a really hard time with this category of I don't know the word we would use. I wouldn't use the word friend. Maybe neighbor would be best because I feel like we have strangers, neighbors, and friends, and then friends break down into even more categories. But I sometimes feel like there's this expectation that because we are so individualistic, that we should have things figured out or be very self-sustaining and self-reliant.
If you have a problem, you use an app to fix it. So you DoorDash something, get Uber delivery, or get Walmart delivery. This is something I've been thinking about lately. It's like, are we like building our own personal tech stacks to solve the problems in our lives so that we don't have to bother people?
I feel like we're in the same age range, and I feel like through my lifespan, I've definitely seen the typical like go ask your neighbor for a cup of sugar dynamic just shrink, and it's almost like people would rather like DoorDash a bag of sugar than go bother their neighbor because it's seen as bothering them.
Absolutely, I definitely think that there are two things here. One is that we have evolved, and part of that is technology.
But having an app for everything has really closed off communication between people, like you were mentioning before, you just call a pizza place and order your pizza, even now, like you wouldn't even think of doing something like that, and then the second piece is I feel that culturally self-sufficiency is celebrated, and asking for help is almost seen as a personal failure or a personal deficiency, and asking for help also requires you to open up a little door into your life, letting people look into that, and that is not something that really happens here.
And I think that's probably the first step in building a relationship, and then more things can build on top of that. Once that door is open, once that door is propped open, then things can start building. But yeah, definitely, I think it's harder here.
I think the flip side of that is that people do have friendships, and they feel like that the friends who are 20 minutes away are the only ones they can ask for help. So the idea of turning a physical neighbor into a friend or part of your support network, I think you're trying to tackle this in your experiment, which we're about to talk about.
I think that's genius, and I think that's like hugely needed in our neighborhoods, it's like instead of DoorDashing your way through every problem, or using some app, or instead of only calling the friend that's 20 minutes away, how about we talk about this-the possibility of turning the six neighbors that are physically near you into part of your safety network, and you can be part of their safety network. I think that's another area where Americans struggle culturally. This idea that I think we see it as imposing on our neighbors.
I think what you're getting at is an answer to a question that maybe we haven't even articulated, or to an anxiety that we haven't even articulated to ourselves of like it is strange that we don't know the people that are physically nearest at all, and that and maybe I'm I'm speaking in too broad, maybe I'm painting with too broad a brush.
Maybe there's lots of people listening to this who do know all their neighbors, which is great, but I think what you're doing is definitely helping keep that keep that as an option of like if you're moving to a new neighborhood, like within the first 90 days, try to make it a goal to meet five of your actual neighbors, without the pressure of them having to become your friend. Absolutely. Let's talk about this experiment that you design.
I would like to really understand, like, where did you get the idea from, or like, what was going on where you were like, okay, I need to get to know my physical neighbors and start bridging that gap. Can you? I would love to hear it if you have like a story that you could share with us that can bring us to that moment.
Yeah. So earlier this year, I was traveling in Laos when a major snowstorm hit Providence, and the person who was supposed to take care of my cat couldn't physically get there. Luckily, a neighbor who has my spare keys was able to step in, and that experience, along with wanting to be more intentional about building practical help, got me thinking: Why not start with the people who already live around me?
So I decided to write a note inviting my neighbors to a WhatsApp group as a simple way to connect and look out for each other for small things like packages or pet care, and I left 40 notes and 16 people joined. And since then, people have used the group to help each other with lockouts, offer compost, warn each other about rainstorms and closing car doors, and share building maintenance updates. And right now, I'm in California, and my neighbor, who I've met three times, is taking care of my cat for 10 days.
Wow, what did you put on the note? What did it say?
So the note was just a short introduction, and it started with a few of us have been wanting to start a group chat. Now, admittedly, it was just me.
Just pretend your cats were part of your launch team.
But I had talked to a few people, and they had thought it was a good idea. And I think part of that was just not wanting to be the only person standing in that room, or the only person wanting to ask for help, which is exactly the problem I'm trying to solve. The note also used small examples like helping each other with lockouts or packages. And then there was a sentence about that there's absolutely no expectation to help, just a way to know who might be around and available.
And that to me was important too because I didn't want people to feel like they were signing up for an obligation or something serious, and I think that really also helped lower the bar, the expectation. And then I introduced myself, I put my building number, my cell phone, and then the text started rolling in.
That's so neat. I have an unusual comfort, like an unusually high comfort level with asking for help. That's excellent. I've discovered this through many, many, many life experiences, and There’s just something about knowing that there's someone to catch the little thing.
Like you need your friends that are there for the big stuff, right? But then those people who are there for the little, like just the way it makes life feel less like vulnerable. I think that's what your experiment is getting at. It's those little things that have high value, right?
Like someone taking care of your plants or someone being able to run in and close a window, like that's such a high value small thing. I'm not saying that the relationship itself is low value or, but I think there's something to the I don't know the right word. I'm sure there's a word for this. Many people have written about this.
Loose ties would be a phrase of like it's not it's a it's a high value relationship that doesn't require huge inputs necessary in order to work. Does that make sense? But that doesn't make it not valuable, and it doesn't mean that person is not worth investing in. It just means it's a different category of connection.
It's a different type of tie, where we help we accept that one of the conditions is low depth for now, but we're able to help each other with small but high value, and sometimes big and high value. I had a lady who saw me, and she could tell I was stressed out and not having a great morning. She just came up and talked to me at the Y, and it turned out that I was navigating like a really big situation. And she, like, immediately started trying to find me find resources for me to solve that, right?
So she's unusual, but there can be those moments where it's low, low depth connections can help solve high value small tasks or high value big tasks, and I it's just I don't know. I just think it's really fascinating to me, just the value mechanism around the whole thing. Does that make sense?
Absolutely. And honestly, I feel like these small tasks seem so small, but they really add to your quality of life.
They really do, and they have so much potential to lower your anxiety about things. Because yeah, if rain is coming, your house could get like that's a that's a big deal, but you're not going to call your friend who's 20 minutes away to drive to your house to close the window and drive 20 minutes back. You see what I mean? Like it's like high value, low cost, and I think that's why they work because they're really low cost asks.
You're not making big asks of people in this category, but the little things they do have such a huge impact on your mental ease and just like your quality of life. They really need to exist. I think that's my point to my rant. They're just really powerful, really powerful connections, and they go so far in building trust.
Because I bet now that you've done this, your sense of home and your building-it feels different now, doesn't it?
Absolutely, and I think even for the person who's stepping in for you, it feels really good to be able to help. Like my neighbor who's taking care of my cat, I think what made it easier for me to ask was that she started with a very small ask. She asked me if I could feed her cat one day, and so there was already a key exchange, and she never asked for her key back.
And then she asked me to feed her cat another two times, and so I've fed her cat a couple of times, and that really helped me just feel more comfortable asking her if she could do it, and so now she has my key. I have her key, and now I have two people in my building who have my key, and so it just adds up, and it starts building.
And then who knows? There's that day where it's like, oh, I'm having a Christmas party. Want to come over? And then and the next thing you're talking about something, and then you can begin that journey to friend.
I think that's really the beautiful part. It's when neighbors who you connect with because of the principle of proximity over time and through a series of low, high value but low lift exchanges, you're able to start that journey to becoming friends, and that's like a whole nother thing. Friendships based on proximity that I think we need to get better at as a culture, rather than friendships based strictly on similarity, or like shared life. I don't know interests and stuff like that.
But I know I've had the experience of when I move into an area or a place, like the minute I start knowing who lives in each house, the whole street just feels less anonymous. I feel less stressed. I feel less anxious. Like it just takes on a much more friendly feeling, like in my head.
Home feels happier because I have faces for the houses, and the street starts to feel more personal. Does that make sense?
And it can change your day the other day I was heading down to work and there's a bakery below my building and I've gotten to know the person that works at the bakery and they've been absent for a while now so when I went down, they were back, and it was so beautiful to just catch up, see what had been going on with them. It turns out that they had not been feeling well, so it was nice to connect. And then as I left into the parking lot to get into my car to go to work, I ran into one of my neighbors who remembered that I was taking a trip, and she asked me about it, and we like talked about our weekends, and it was such a positive way to start my day: to feel connected, to have somebody ask me about my trip and how I’d been. Starting the day with that little moment of connection really changed it for me.
Absolutely, I 100% believe that. So, you put these notes out. People start joining. What were you hearing from other people?
Were there any responses that particularly stood out to you?
So people were really receptive. They were really glad that somebody had started this group. One person even reached out after another neighbor told her about the group, and she said, "I would appreciate some community. So people were using words for "I wanted more connection" or "I'm looking for community, not just the help.
And what was interesting too is what started happening outside of the chat. So a couple of people recognized me from the profile picture and introduced themselves in the hall, and now when we run into each other, we have a little chit chat, and then on Good Neighbor Day, which was in September, my building for the first time since I've lived there organized a meet and greet, and somebody there said that yeah, that it had been inspired by the group chat. So I just think overall, it this experiment made it easier to say hello, and we're not all best friends, but we're not complete strangers either. Yeah,
Yeah, and I think that's the genius of it. Okay, so what's happened since you've done that experiment. What are you working on next?
After seeing what happened in my building, I started to wonder: Was this unique to my building, or could other people do this too? So I recruited a small group of followers, and seven people signed up, and ultimately only two people completed the four-week experiment. One participant only received one response to their note. It was from an older neighbor who called her on the phone.
He had been living there since the 80s, and he was thrilled because nobody else had done something similar. And he offered to walk her dog, and he asked her if she could fix his TV. And now they say hello when they run into each other in the hallway. So even though there was a low response rate, it was still meaningful.
And yeah, that experiment left me wondering how can I make it easier for people to take that first step?
Your story reminds me of an experience I had living in Brooklyn, where there are some elements of this experience that don't perfectly map onto what you're doing, but there are some that do. But I was sitting in Prospect Park. I lived really near Prospect Park on the east side, and I saw an elderly man fall because he was out walking. I ran over to him, and there were elements of this that were just pure luck.
So one element was that it turned out he was a neighbor. He lived a few blocks over in a different building, and so when I got him in a car and a lift, got him home, got him up like the three flights of stairs, got him back into his apartment because he, I don't, I don't remember what exactly had happened. He was clearly not needed to go to the doctor or something. But we opened the door to his apartment, and there staring at me is a mini Doberman and a and a full size Doberman.
These two dogs, and I was like, "Oh boy, because this elderly man, we had struggled to get him up. This had struggled to help him get up all of these stairs or elevator, whatever. And I was like, "You're not going to be able to walk these dogs. Like whatever is going on, you can't do this.
So I, the dogs were like they were kind to me. They didn't, they weren't threatening or anything. So I spoke to the dogs for a little bit, and then I got the man's number and his name. And we had a Facebook group for our neighborhood, so I posted about it and ended up recruiting four women, four to five young women, and we rotated for months, who went to his house to walk his dogs, and we each like through the winter, and one of the dogs got really sick.
We didn't know he had cancer, but he ended up dying. And then the other dog, we ended up getting that other dog adopted because their owner had to go into the hot. He had to go get like serious care. So I remember having that tiny Doberman in my gym bag, walking all over the Bronx to get him to like a temporary shelter where people were going to take care of him, and then meeting up with people who wanted.
It was just this whole episode. It was this whole ordeal. It lasted for months, but I remember like we the four or five of us had a thread where we were, we would claim a day like this was my day, and then we would grab groceries if he needed stuff and stuff like that. We just created this organic network for him because no way he could be out, especially in the winter, walking those dogs, it was too much for him.
But I, yeah, I. It was so meaningful. It was so neat. Like, a, I was meeting these neighbors.
B, we had something practical that was bringing us together. We were helping someone, and it was just really remarkable to me how people agreed to do it. Like, someone they know had they didn't know from Jack, like it was inconvenient. Like we're doing this after work in the cold,.
It's there things about it, and no one's paying us. We're not part of a nonprofit. It was just four random strangers came together to help this man help him take care of his dogs.
What an insightful observation on your part to drop him off, notice that he had two dogs that needed to be walked and a lot of stairs to navigate, and then take that first step to organize help for him.
Well, I had dog-sat before. I think it just hit me because of my experience dog sitting. I just looked at them and they just looked at me, and I was like, "Oh no! Like, who's going to take care of you guys while we figure out whatever this man is going through?
And
I, I think that's one of the things. Like, as a physician, like part of the work that I do is sometimes sending people home on IV antibiotics, and I ask them questions about so where do you live? Who do you live with? Like, do you have a refrigerator, a working phone?
These things where you need to keep antibiotics. And this experience of living alone and this experiment have made me more curious about who is this person outside of the hospital.
Yeah, well, that gentleman ended up collapsing one day in his foyer of his apartment building. But because we had been there taking care of him, like word, like we found out really fast. Like word got around, and like I hadn't, I eventually had phone numbers for his son and like other people in his family, who needed to step in because it was getting too major for us. But I just think about that.
Like, here's this elderly man. Like, a, what if nobody had seen him fall in the park? B, like, what if he had fallen on those stairs trying to take care of his dogs, or had just never left his apartment again? C, like, then this moment happens a few months later where he collapses in his on trying to get home, and it just you just never know how one hello you could end up being the bridge between somebody and a dignified an ability to navigate difficult circumstances in a dignified and supported way.
So you are launching another experiment like this. Can you tell us about what you're working on now?
Yeah. So we closed registration at. So now I have a new experiment. It's registered for 313 people, which is incredibly exciting.
And this time, I'm grouping people into smaller pods based on geographical location and time zones, so they can share their experiences and learn from one another. The experiment will last four weeks. In the first week, everyone will get the note that I use that they can adapt and distribute to their neighbors. Week two, we just see what happens, who responds, what are the conversations that are happening, what's working, what's not.
Week three, I am challenging people to ask a neighbor for a tiny favor, like asking for an extra plastic bag, and in the final, I so I have a story for that. My friend told me that she had a neighbor who knocked on her door and asked for a plastic bag, and it was such a tiny, ridiculous ask, but it was easy to fulfill. So of course, people are doing that, and she used that as an opportunity to introduce herself and offer reciprocal support. Thank you so much.
If you ever need anything, a cup of sugar, I'm down the hall, and. And then that again just opened the door. Now they weren't strangers; they knew each other. They had this interaction, and I think that's what allows then things to build on that.
I don't know why I'm laughing so aggressively because I remember when I moved to I had a move. I don't know three years ago, and we got I was taking I had taking care of my little boy and everything, and we were getting everything set up, and I realized I had no trash bags, and so the first like literally I just moved into this house and went next door and asked this older man if he had a trash bag for me, so I should rescind my laughter, haha, because jokes on me. Clearly,
I thought it was brilliant.
Well, I like that. I think the critical phrase is that it has to be a really small, achievable thing, right? I think people get anxious about getting to know their neighbors because they think it's like you said signing them up for something major. Like, will you host a neighborhood potluck?
Right.
That's gonna repel your neighbors. Or like, do you want to get coffee one on one and tell us tell me your life story? I'd rather walk on shards of glass. But when it's, “Hey, do you have...?” Yeah, the butter, the sugar, the trash bag, the plastic bag.
That's what gets the flywheel going, right? And so, and it's great because it can stay there, or it can grow into like in-depth coffee conversations if that's what happens organically. But it's all about getting that flywheel going, and I think critical to that is like really simple stuff, really hyper simple. Salt.
Can I use a tablespoon of salt or flour? Right. Right.
Over 300 people signed up. It's gonna last. It starts in November. It's gonna last a month.
What are you curious about? What are you what are you most interested to see as a like or hear from people? Well, first is just to see if grouping them into these smaller pods will help people follow through, but also I'm really curious about what people will define as a successful outcome. Is it just the number of neighbors who respond?
Is it finding someone who's willing to help with something, or is it simply just feeling more connected to the people around them?
Yeah, that makes sense because it can be hard to measure, right, or hard to capture success with something like this. Because it's not necessarily like every day you have something little that you need, and you're constantly running around asking for help with these types of things. But I wonder if frequency of posting in the chat could be a sign of success. Like somebody is like the chat is regularly someone's regularly talking in there or asking for some type of help, I don't know.
It's just me riffing. Yeah,
I love that. Yeah, and I'm also interested. Is it going to be different, like if people live in a building versus if they live in a suburb? That's what I'm most curious
I'm most curious about the difference between an apartment building and your typical suburb.
Yeah, and there are 26 different countries, so I'm also wondering: is there a cultural piece? Is it easier in some places to ask for help versus others? What we were touching on before.
Have you noticed whether most of the countries would be classified as Western, or is there a mix of cultures?
Yeah, no, most people are from the U.S. Canada, and Europe, but there are people from South America and Asia. Interesting, UAE, Malaysia, Brazil.
You're gonna have to come back on and tell us what you learned. I'll be very curious to hear stories. It'll just be a story, a story podcast, like all the fun stories from this experiment. And you have people ready to do it in January.
You've got a wait list going, right?
Yes. So we're almost at 50 people who are waitlisted for January. So I'm hoping to learn from this experiment and then apply those lessons to the next round.
That's so neat. Well, Samira, this has been so fun to hear more of your story, and I'm glad I stumbled upon you on Instagram because now I can be following along for the adventure. What parting advice did you have for anyone listening to this and who feels the pull to bridge that gap between stranger to neighbor. What's like one small thing you'd encourage them to do right now?
Besides ask for a plastic bag, obviously. Yeah.
No, I think it's really about taking that first step and I am not gonna lie; it is a very vulnerable moment, and it can be very scary too. But what helped me was just knowing that if I did not take that first step, nothing was going to change for me. So the risk was it-it couldn't have been worse. So, and it and it really paid off.
So I think just yeah, taking that first step.
And I think too, even spending even before you take that step, like spending time with the discomfort of it, and trying to figure if you can tell yourself what about this makes me so uncomfortable, and maybe even thinking about like what's the worst case scenario, but also remembering that like as human beings we are designed as social creatures and we are meant even if nobody replies, I think you I think I think you'll still feel proud of yourself for trying and like trying to reach out and establish help the neighborhood move from anonymity to connection. Well, I'm really excited for you, and I'm excited to see what comes of this. But in closing, can you tell us a little bit about your neighborhood in Providence and what are a couple of small businesses you like to recommend people check out if they come visit,
Absolutely. Providence is such a hidden gem, and it has such a good food and art scene, and a lot of independent business owners. I think one place I'd recommend is Existential Thread on the West End. It's just a small vintage shop.
Every piece is carefully curated, and my favorite jacket is from there. And then, in terms of restaurants, Palo is a small tapas restaurant in downtown Providence, and they have just divine corn ribs. But aside from what they sell and serve, it's just I really like these two places because I've gotten to know the people behind them. They know me by name, and we just chit chat.
So I feel those are the things that have really made Providence and my neighborhood feel like home.
Providence is a little place, but it has a decent coffee scene. Do you have a favorite coffee shop or third space to just hang out?
Yeah, so I love Saints, which is near where I live. It's a new coffee shop, and Seven Stars also on Broadway. But yeah, they have a great culinary scene.
They really do. Yeah. Okay. Very cool.
It's fun. You're not the first person I've had on the show from Providence, and I always fight the urge to nerd out and see how my recommendations compare to their recommendations. The problem is I haven't lived there now for a couple years, so I think there's so many new and interesting things. Like Saints wasn't there when I was there.
So,
Which is your favorite coffee spot?
Okay, so I'll tell you my favorite now that we've clearly established I'm going to fail at not nerding out about Providence. Have you been to Justine's the speakeasy?
I think I have, but maybe once a very long time ago.
Hopefully, it's still there. I, my days of alcohol consumption are perhaps coming to a close, but it's still fun for vibe. And then I like, oh, let's see, for coffee. That's a tricky one.
It's been so long. Strong Towns had its national gathering in Providence two years ago, I think. I'm sure you've been to Upsara, if not, because it's not the best, like obviously the best culinary experience. But it's just such an icon in Providence that I feel like you have to go.
It's the Thai restaurant, and apparently there's like I don't know if it's a competition between them, but there's different chefs for each location, so everybody has loyalty to each one or the other. And then there's a Middle Eastern restaurant on the I want to say the East Side Aleppo Sweets. Have you been there? Yes, I have.
They're really good. And then yeah, for coffee, it's my favorite place. Is I don't know-I'd have to really sit and think about because I am a matcha person, so I'd have to sit and try to remember. Like, oh, okay, for now I will say, is it called Mike's or no?
It's not called Mike's. I have a good friend named Mike. Dave's Providence, huh? Dave's, thank you.
It was a four-letter man's name. I like Dave's. They have really good. They have.
They also they have interesting drinks and they have interesting pastries. But I also like it because it's so close to the river, so it's a nice outing where you just walk across that bridge and then you can stop at Dave's. So it's like a fun little packaged experience. Thank you, not Mike, Dave.
Well, Samira, this has been lots of fun. Thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story. I'm really excited for the work that you're doing. It's desperately needed in our cities.
I think we've really, it's great if we have walkable cities and all the great infrastructure and financially wise cities and all that, but I think at the end of the day, we need people who have taken the time to bridge that gap from stranger to neighbor, and I'm excited to see you helping with that with that work. So I look forward to following it and hearing more about it.
Thank you so much, Tiffany. This was really fun.
If you are listening to this, We'll definitely have links in the show notes so you can discover more about what Samira is working on and maybe put yourself on the wait list. I'll be back soon with another conversation. If there's someone in your community who you think we should have on the show, please let me know using the suggested guest form. I'll be back soon with another episode.
In the meantime, keep doing what you can to build a strong town.
This episode was produced by Strong Towns, a nonprofit movement for building financially resilient communities. If what you heard today matters to you, deepen your connection by becoming a Strong Towns member at strongtowns.org/membership.