HANNAH Cofiell
31 | Butter Mountain Bakery | Owner & Baker
Residence: West Marlboro
Career highlight(s): Always following my passion and building a business that allows me to do what I love and live where I love on my own terms.
Community Involvement: As a small business owner in a tight knit community, I try my best to give back where I can. If it wasn’t for all the others who have supported me along the way, I would not be the proud owner and baker of a successful artisan bakery in the place I call home. Being the owner 
and only employee, as well as a mother of a busy toddler and the wife of a school teacher, I’m very fortunate to be able to do what I love and bake for my community while also maintaining a flexible schedule that works with my family.
When Jessica’s Closet, the Mark Dooley Race, the Mount Snow Ski & Snowboard School, and other local charities, businesses and organizations reach out to ask if I can donate or sponsor an event, I’m always happy to help. This is how I can lend my talents and expertise to better the community. When the local food pantry asked if I could work with them to come up with a tasty holiday gift for the local families in need, I was excited to find a way to help and baked 150 individual mini pumpkin loaves for them. When I was asked to volunteer as a judge for the middle/highschool food competition, it was truly an honor and a tasty treat to do so. Sometimes community service as a small business owner means giving away free products to those in need, because everyone deserves some good cookies and bread, especially in times like we're living today.
What motivated you to live and work in Vermont? I grew up in Connecticut but my family spent the majority of our free time in Vermont skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling. After college, I decided to move to Vermont for a winter to teach snowboarding and I never left.
Favorite part of your job? Being the owner and only employee, as well as a mother of a busy toddler and the wife of a school teacher, I’m very fortunate to be able to do what I love while also maintaining a flexible schedule that works with my family.
What is the best career advice you have received? I was recently out with my toddler and a fellow friend and mother used the phrase "pivot, pivot, pivot" referring to making plans with said toddler... That really struck home for me, it's what I attribute a lot of my success in growing a business as well as being a mother. I've always welcomed change and adaptation and its never been more true than owning a business and raising a young child amidst a pandemic!
Tell us something fun about yourself that few people know: I majored in Sociology after graduating pastry school.
What three words best describe you: Committed, Reliable, Creative.
Favorite Vermont escape: Gosh, there are so many but that's part of what makes Vermont so special. Sometimes my drive to work alone feels like I went on vacation for a few minutes.
Where do you see yourself professionally in the next 5-10 years? I'd like to think in the next 5-10 years, the bakery will have moved to a bigger stand alone location.
How has your job changed since this pandemic? When the pandemic began, I had only been in business for less than 6 months. Fortunately, since I am the only employee and already maintained a flexible schedule to accommodate my family, I was able to adjust operations quite easily to follow all the new health protocols while also keeping myself and my family safe. I used to be open for walk-in retail sales two days a week and quickly switched into only taking weekly pre-orders with online payments and a contactless pickup system.