Meet Angela Peterson of Shield Maiden in Firestone

Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Peterson.

Angela, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
After graduating from the University of Wyoming with a Bachelor Degree in Business Management and a minor in Mandarin Chinese, I started working as a 911 Dispatcher for the City of Boulder, CO. It was a pretty intense job that I really enjoyed and also really struggled with. I found myself baking as a way to manage the stress and maintain a sense of self in all of the chaos. Eventually, I decided that my true calling was baking and I enrolled in the Baking and Pastry Arts program at Johnson & Wales University in Denver. After earning my Associate Degree, I took a semester to study at Alain Ducasse’s professional school Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Pâtisserie in Yssingeaux, France. I was then accepted into the four year Baking and Pastry Arts program at the Johnson & Wales campus in Rhode Island where I graduated Suma Cum Laude.

After culinary school, I worked my way up from Pastry Cook to Pastry Chef and worked for a number of celebrated chefs in the Boston area, including James Beard-awarded chef Jody Adams at Trade, and under two-time Food Network finalist Joshua Livsey at Harvest. I then became the Pasty Chef at Catalyst Restaurant and later, the Pastry Chef at Fox & the Knife under James Beard-awarded Chef Karen Akunowicz. While I learned a great deal and worked with some of the best Chefs in the Boston area, I also learned that the restaurant industry is very toxic. People are disposable, overworked and underpaid. To be clear, some restaurants are better than others, and I was extremely lucky to work in a couple that really cared about how they treated their staff and worked toward being better. However, this past year, I knew I needed to make my own path. I didn’t care what food I was making, all that mattered was that there was at least one kitchen that offered it’s staff a safe and respectful place to work. So, I opened Shield Maiden!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When my husband and I moved back to Colorado this winter, our plan was for me to find a job and for us to start a family. While our goal was always for me to be able to open my own business, it seemed like moving, starting a family, and opening a business was too much for one year. I was hoping to take a year or so to work in the industry, meet people, get a feel for what kind of food business would be the best fit, and then open a place. However, we had to seriously reconsider our plan when Covid-19 hit just two weeks after we had moved. I had a job lined up as a Pastry Instructor at a local kitchen and wine bar that offers culinary classes. The day I was supposed to go in to shadow their classes before starting, there was talk about closing businesses and self quarantining. The class was pushed back a week, and the next week the entire hospitality industry shut down. I was suddenly left with no job, unable to look for anything new because no one was open let alone hiring a Pastry Chef. I started doing weekly baking classes online with family as a way to connect with loved ones all over the US during this lonely time and to stay busy while unable to find work. My husband and I sat down and talked about what it would take to open a business during the pandemic. Our neighbors helped us brainstorm ideas that would work in our local area, and we landed on a donut shop. We have been incredibly lucky to live in such a supportive community that prioritizes local businesses and loves our product!

Shield Maiden – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are a female-owned and operated small-batch donut producer in Northern Colorado. Offering a rotating variety of hand-crafted donuts at local breweries and farmer’s markets. Right now, we operate out of our home under the cottage laws and hope to have a brick and mortar location next Summer. Shield Maiden is named after the female Viking warriors. I wanted the name to evoke the idea of fearless women working together to make their community stronger. I started this business because I wanted to create a new type of food business. Not just for myself, but for the people that I will employ, for our customers to be proud of, and to empower the women in our community. I want to build a place that has people work a reasonable amount of hours and that is flexible with the demands of their lives. I want to pay them an actual living wage, to give them a space to be creative, to learn, and to grow. A place where they can thrive and be the reason our community is such a great place to be. I am always so inspired and excited to hear about places making the same changes and hope that the industry as a whole moves in this direction.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
While there have been a few milestones that really stand out, like my first job out of culinary school, when I became a pastry chef, opening my own business, and the first time we sold out of donuts! However, I think that the real achievement will be when I have created a business that can support not just myself but can also support staff with real living wages in this industry. The best is yet to come!

Contact Info:

• Website: coloradoshieldmaiden.com
• Phone: 7203401582
• Email: donuts@coloradoshieldmaiden.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/coloradoshieldmaiden
• Facebook: facebook.com/coloradoshieldmaiden

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