About the Show

Made in Maine, about Maine.

Maine Thrive Voices is a community podcast from the Maine Thrive network. Host Sandy Smith sits down with the small business owners, nonprofit leaders, and interesting people who make Maine’s Penobscot and Kennebec Valleys work — one honest conversation at a time.

The Idea

A show that sounds like here

Every community has voices worth hearing — the physical therapist who gets runners back on the road, the food maker chasing a dream, the nonprofit director holding a mission together. National media will never tell those stories. So we do.

The Host

Sandy Smith

Sandy Smith is the founder and host of Maine Thrive Voices, where he sits down with Maine business owners to hear the real stories behind what they’ve built. A lifelong Mainer with deep roots in the Kennebec Valley, Sandy holds an MPA from the University of Maine and has spent decades working across town government, real estate, and business ownership before founding Smith Digital Solutions — Maine’s AI Visibility Consultant.

That range of experience shows up in how Sandy interviews: less like a host running through questions, more like someone who’s sat on the other side of the table himself — running a business, managing a town, building something from nothing. It’s why guests tend to open up.

Sandy also publishes the Penobscot Valley Voice and Kennebec Valley Voice newsletters and leads the Maine Thrive Community Network, connecting local businesses across the region. Somewhere in there, Scout — his black Labrador and unofficial Director of Public Relations — makes sure he takes a walk between recordings.

Be a guest on the show

Maine Thrive Voices

Part of the Maine Thrive Community Network.

Produced by Smith Digital Solutions, Bangor, Maine.