When I met my future husband, Matt Happe, in 2004, he started up and owned his own bike shop, Revolution. I was always extremely proud of what he had built and knew that at some point I wanted to own my own business as well. We always talked about what that venture would be and after numerous discussions and reading business plans we settled on coffee. He loved roasting and working through processes in the warehouse and I loved the atmosphere of coffee. I had traveled all over the world and somehow, in most countries I had visited, coffee was a constant in gathering friends together. So it was settled - in the future we would start our business one day. 

That day came sooner than I would realize. In 2008 I crashed in Tignes, France doing a d spin and needed to have major knee surgery again. As I lay in the snow crying, it hit me that I could go home, get surgery and we could start up our business. I would do rehab in the morning and evening and during the day we would work on getting everything in place to start up Silver Bean Coffee. 

Our company was named after my silver medal in 2002 and we thought we might be able to change it to Gold Bean Coffee in 2010 if I were to bring home the gold medal, lol.  Silver Bean Coffee was a wholesale business that roasted, packaged and distributed fresh roasted coffee from all over the world to local and national businesses.

Our coffee fueled athletes that were training at the Olympic Training Centers, athletes that worked out at the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association's Center of Excellence, visitors from all over the world that came to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and even guests at the most luxurious properties and hotels around the country.  We also owned and operated 3 coffee shops in Salt Lake City and Park City and had a blast serving latte's made with love!!

In 2013 our priorities shifted as we welcomed a little girl into our world and all of the sudden my priorities changed.  I wasn’t enjoying the day to day operations and my passion for all things coffee was quickly waning - I wanted out.  I’m a believer in dreaming BIG but I’m also a believer that we only get one life to live and should make every day count.  A little over a year later we sold the majority share of our business to one of our fabulous distributors Brog Distributors, Inc. and they still carry on the quality of coffee, the extraordinary customer service as well as the integrity of our brand we worked so hard for.  

I have a passion for people and empowering them to live their best, most extraordinary life!!

In 2010, when I retired from competition everything was going fantastic, until it wasn’t.  It took about a year for it to slowly sink in that I was lost without my laser focused goal of winning Olympic Gold.  And not only was I lost, I felt confused, alone, vulnerable and most of all embarrassed of being a “real life” failure.  Around that same time, one of my Olympic freestyle teammates, Jeret “Speedy” Peterson, died by suicide.  My world felt completely upside down.  I vowed in that moment that I wanted to make sure that no one else felt as lost as both Speedy and I had felt.  I didn’t know how I would do it, I just knew it needed to be done.  

I had a few different ideas in mind and in 2017 I finally put my dream into action and launched Team Empower Hour.  We are Olympians empowering corporate leaders and teams around the globe through leadership development, team building, keynote speeches and fitness workout classes.  I only hire Olympians and Olympic hopefuls to deliver our powerful messages that helped us succeed as World Class Athletes.  Not only am I providing opportunities and jobs for both Olympic hopefuls and retired Olympians but I am creating a loving and nurturing community in which we are one another’s support group.  We all face the dark days together, in honor of Speedy!!  I one day hope to have 100 Olympians and Paralympians from all Summer and Winter sports working together to share our victories and defeats with the business world.  I am paying it forward with the Olympic Spirit that burns bright in all of us!!