Charlotte Massey and Aaron Hurst of the US Chamber of Connection catch up on Charlotte's second wedding anniversary weekend in Portland, where she and her husband reread their vows, and Aaron's trip to New York for his sister's 50th, the Knicks championship parade, and a Father's Day in the Yankee Stadium. Charlotte walks through her hunt for breakable Guinness World Records for Welcome Week.
This week's interview is with Maryam Banikarim, co-founder of The Longest Table, a free neighborhood potluck that turns a single city block into one long table where strangers become neighbors. It started during the pandemic, when everyone kept saying New York was dead and Maryam kept thinking we're all still here. She posted a photo of a shared street meal on Nextdoor, met eight neighbors over coffee, and put on a lunch that drew five hundred people the first year. It now draws more than two thousand in Chelsea alone and has grown into a movement of about 50 tables across the country.
00:00 Show Intro and Check-In
01:13 Weekend Stories
09:19 Welcome Week and World Records
15:59 Introducing Maryam Banikarim and The Longest Table
16:26 Origin Story: Always the New Kid
19:01 Birth of The Longest Table
25:06 Why It's Caught On
27:38 Planning a Longest Table for Seattle
30:08 How It Works: Table Captains and Community Tables
38:41 Reflection
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How We Connected explores the conversations that power communities across the United States. Aaron Hurst and Charlotte Massey share what they’re building at the US Chamber of Connection and speak with leaders whose work strengthens local connection. Episodes offer human stories, practical insights, and ideas you can use in your own community.
Aaron Hurst, Co-Founder of the US Chamber of Connection, is a longtime entrepreneur focused on purpose and community. He founded Imperative and the Taproot Foundation and wrote The Purpose Economy.
Charlotte Massey, Co-Founder of the US Chamber of Connection, leads community programs nationally. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and former organizer and founder, she works at the intersection of civic life and entrepreneurship.
Connect with Us
Maryam Banikarim, The Longest Table
Maryam is a marketer turned community builder and the co-founder of The Longest Table, a free neighborhood potluck that turns a city block into one long table where strangers become neighbors. Born in Iran and raised moving from place to place, she arrived in the US during the hostage crisis and learned early that belonging is something you build rather than wait for. Across 25 years she led growth at Nextdoor, Hyatt, Gannett, NBCUniversal, and Univision, then during the pandemic co-founded the nonprofit NYCNext and helped launch the We Love New York City campaign. An Emmy Award-winning storyteller and host of The Messy Parts podcast, she's grown The Longest Table from one Chelsea lunch into a movement of roughly fifty tables across the country.
Heylo
Heylo is a community-management platform built for real-world groups of every kind, giving leaders a clean, branded home base to run events, manage members, communicate clearly, and handle payments without friction. It brings scheduling, RSVPs, waivers, announcements, topic-based chats, and membership tools into one place so clubs, teams, and interest groups can stay organized and connected without the noise of traditional social platforms.
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