Valerie Smaldone: ‘Finding Kindness’ and a new café for Winchester

We just dropped yet anoth­er episode of the Voices of Winchester pod­cast, our sec­ond in two days and our sec­ond one with a guest named Valerie! 

In this episode, host Pete Koutoulas wel­comes Valerie Smaldone, a pro­duc­er and co-founder of Just Do Good Entertainment, to dis­cuss her lat­est project: the show “Finding Kindness” and the open­ing of a new eatery in down­town Winchester, The Winchester Café. 

Valerie shares her jour­ney from New York City to Wilmington, North Carolina, and now to the Lexington and Winchester areas. Together with her part­ner, Monty Hobbs, Valerie empha­sizes the impor­tance of high­light­ing char­i­ta­ble local busi­ness­es and the heart­warm­ing sto­ries behind them. 

Valerie is not just a pro­duc­er; she has a rich back­ground in media and enter­tain­ment, hav­ing worked on var­i­ous projects that empha­size fam­i­ly-friend­ly and inspir­ing con­tent. With a pas­sion for show­cas­ing the good­ness in com­mu­ni­ties, she brings a unique per­spec­tive to her work. 

Valerie elab­o­rates on how “Finding Kindness” was born out of their shared mis­sion to pro­mote busi­ness­es that give back to their com­mu­ni­ties. The show aims to cel­e­brate local heroes who, despite chal­lenges, con­tribute pos­i­tive­ly to soci­ety. Each episode fea­tures a dif­fer­ent loca­tion and a celebri­ty host, aim­ing to cre­ate engag­ing and heart­felt content. 

The Winchester Café is set to open as a per­ma­nent fix­ture in down­town Winchester, offer­ing Southern com­fort food and serv­ing as a mini-muse­um show­cas­ing the enter­tain­ment work being done in the area. Valerie envi­sions it as a place where locals and vis­i­tors can enjoy good food and learn about the com­mu­ni­ty’s involve­ment in the arts. 

Valerie shares insights into upcom­ing episodes of the TV show, includ­ing plans to film three episodes in Winchester. With a ded­i­ca­tion to pro­mot­ing small-town val­ues and high­light­ing local busi­ness­es, the team aims to cre­ate con­tent that res­onates with view­ers both in Kentucky and beyond.

Listen to our con­ver­sa­tion wher­ev­er you get your pod­casts, or press play on the embed­ded play­er below. Then explore more Voices of Winchester episodes to hear the peo­ple and sto­ries shap­ing our community.