About Small True Things
Small True Things is a project that records stories about the small true things in the lives of students in a school and then shares those stories back with the student and their wider community.
Our hope is that by listening you'll recognize yourself in what you hear and/or you'll come to understand someone else a little better.
There are no assignments tied to Small True Things. Our guidelines are simple: be respectful, listen, enjoy.
Who We Are
Samantha Broun is an audio producer living in Massachusetts. Her work has been recognized with a duPont-Columbia Award, a Third Coast International Audio Festival Award, a Dart Award and was a finalist for a Peabody. She was a 2021 Nieman Journalism Fellow at Harvard University and served as the managing editor for the radio storytelling website Transom.org for 14 years. Prior to her career in radio, Sam worked with young people in mentoring and after school programs and at an alternative, public high school in Providence, RI.
Erica Heilman is an audio producer living in Vermont. Her podcast, Rumble Strip, won a Peabody Award in 2022. That same year, it was named the number one podcast by The New Yorker Magazine. Erica’s independent radio work has aired on NPR, Hearing Voices, Soundprint, CBC, BBC, KCRW’s, Unfictional, KCRW’s Lost Notes, and on major public radio affiliates across the country. Erica came up with the idea of Small True Things.
Thank you to The Rhode Island Foundation for funding our work.