Beyond the slopes: Shannon Bahrke-Happe’s second act as entrepreneur and mentor

Former Olympian Shannon Bahrke-Happe. Photo: Neighbors of Park City

You’re cruising down CB’s Run working on your turns when a ball of light, in human form, streaks past you. She’s bouncing off moguls like Tigger, whooping as she goes. You see a flash of pink ponytail before she’s out of sight. You feel strangely exhilarated.

You’ve just had a whiff of Shannon Bahrke-Happe’s contagious enthusiasm. Bumps are her thing. She was the silver medalist in moguls at the 2002 Winter Olympics and the 2003 World Cup Champion. When she won the bronze medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics, she became the first U.S. freestyle skier to win multiple Olympic medals. She was also a six-time U.S. National Champion and reached the podium twice at FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships, winning bronze in 2003 and silver in 2007, both in dual moguls.

Bahrke-Happe grew up in Lake Tahoe but has lived in Utah most of her adult life. Just after she graduated from high school, she made the U.S. Ski Team based in Park City. “I moved here to go to the University of Utah,” she said. The Utah Olympic Park is here so Shannon could practice water jumps. That was a big draw. “It’s every young athlete’s dream to compete for your country and make your parents proud doing what you love. I was skiing in amazing places, meeting friends all over the world, and pushing myself to my limits,” she said.

But her ski career wasn’t all sunshine and roses. In 2008, Bahrke-Happe blew out another knee. “I was dealing with the same injury for a second time,” she said. While she was recovering, she and her husband, Matt, opened Silver Bean Coffee (named after her silver medal). “We both love coffee, the atmosphere, and the travel that coffee brings,” she said. “We wanted to visit farms, meet farmers around the world, and we had a roasting facility.” Eventually, they opened three coffee shops.

But in 2010, Bahrke-Happe hit some big life bumps. After going to the Olympics a third time, she retired at age 29. “It was really hard. I went from waking up in a different country every week with time to be my best self and with all the support I needed, to living an ordinary life,” she said. The limelight of winning a medal lasted for a year before fading. Then she suffered a profound loss. “My friend and Olympic freestyle teammates Jeret “Speedy” Peterson died by suicide. I couldn’t comprehend how it happened. I spiraled. I had to discover how to find joy and light in my life again,” she said.

In 2013, she and Matt had their first child. They sold the coffee shops and Bahrke-Happe focused on parenting. Now, the couple has two children: Zoe and Tucker. “My family is the best thing in my life,” she said.

Bahrke-Happe’s entrepreneurial spirit fired up in 2017 when she launched Team Empower Hour, a unique program that connects Olympians with corporate leaders and teams around the globe. Together, they explore leadership development, team building, and fitness classes. “The magic is in the transitions, in the hardest things we have to dig deep for, like working through injuries,” she said. “In the darkest moments everything becomes clear. What can you let go of in order to make room for more in your life?”

Team building sessions include experiential learning facilitated, or led by, Olympians or future Olympians. “We get people up and moving and outside doing fun activities and games,” she said. “We teach people of all abilities and all ages how to compete and be successful.”

Recently, Bahrke-Happe partnered with another Olympian to launch Champions Advantage, a new business that helps high school athletes develop mental toughness. “We help them find themselves and navigate hard times,” she said. “We give them the tools to outperform their potential. It’s a combination of everything I’ve done in my life coming full circle, a true passion project.”

In addition to her businesses, she’s also a highly sought after keynote speaker and has appeared on TED talks. “I speak several times a month to a wide variety of audiences from executive teams and Fortune 50 companies to startups, sports teams, and schools,” Bahrke-Happe said. “I love sharing my journey and what drove me through the darkest parts of my life into the best parts. It fills a void that I lost in competing.”

Now, she is looking forward to the next Olympics. “I sit on the board to bring the Olympics back. It’s so exciting. It’s an unbelievable opportunity for our children and our community to be inspired by something that is so much bigger than us.”