Pst! Make sure to leave a comment at the end! Sylvie Kurtz is giving away a heart-shaped fabric fidget filled with the calming scents of lavender and spearmint to one lucky commenter. You have until midnight on the 9th to leave your comment.

On The Job With:

Maeve Carpenter, owner of Brightside Bakery in Brighton, NH

Maeve Carpenter owns and operates Brightside Bakery on Main Street. Her pies have won five “Best in New Hampshire” plaques. Her specialty is hand pies.

Explain your job and what it entails.

I bake everything you could ever want as a treat from morning muffins to elaborate wedding cakes. I get up early and I’m in the kitchen by 4 a.m. I finish the breads my bread maker Natalie Beausoleil makes overnight, so that they’re piping hot when the first customer walks through the door at 6:30. We’re mostly take-out but do have half a dozen tables where customers can sit and enjoy their treats along with a cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate.

How long have you had this job?

I started working here when it was still Shirley’s Sandwich Shop. Shirley Burgess had wanted to add cookies and cupcakes to her sandwich offerings. She gave me a baking job when I was nineteen, even though I hadn’t finished culinary school.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

Baking with my grandmother was the one place where I felt like myself, where I could relax. If I was feeling stressed at school, I’d come home and mix a batch of brownies or cookies and talk to Grams. I’ve wanted to be a professional baker since I was thirteen. Three years ago, after Shirley died and Wilbert moved away, I bought the sandwich shop and turned it into a bakery.

What is your typical at-work uniform?

I wear comfortable clothes because I move a lot during the day. And the kitchen can get hot. Usually, I wear baker’s whites with a T-shirt under the coat in winter or just a T-shirt during the summer. My employees wear a blue Brightside Bakery apron over a polo shirt. This blue is called Bayberry Blue, and I hope that every time someone spots it, they think of Brightside.

What is the most challenging thing about your work, and how do you deal with it?

For me it’s dealing with the accounting, which is why I’m super thankful my dad is an ace accountant and takes care of my books. If I get a big order, then sometimes, I need help organizing my time. But overall, I love every aspect of what I do. I can’t imagine ever doing anything different. Every day still surprises me in a good way. And I love tinkering with flavor combinations, then watching people’s faces when they taste something unexpected.

What do you wish you had known at the beginning of your career?

How long the hours were going to be. I love my job but sometimes I feel as if my daughter doesn’t get enough of my time. So, when I’m off work, I try to spend as much time with her as possible.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

I wish they could see the care I take in choosing quality ingredients to make every treat as good as possible.

What was your first job?

My first real job in high school was manning the food concession counter at the Old Tyme Theater on weekends and during the summer. It was a special place with its long history dating back to the late 1800s, and I’m sad that it’s since closed.

What’s the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

Shirley always used to tell me to feel the fear and do it anyway. Starting your own business when you have young child to take care of isn’t easy. But like Shirley showed me so many times, you just do it and somehow you get through.

Lightning Round Five Favorites:

Book: Whatever Neve is reading, usually something with a quirky main character.

Movie: Princess movies, snuggled with my daughter on the couch.

Thing to Bake: Pies, of course! Because it makes me think of my grandmother.

Food: Anything mocha.

Things about Brighton: How the community comes together in the best of ways.

Interview by Sabrina Sands, Tri-Town Times

P.S. Maeve, we wish you the best of luck in the upcoming Strawberry Festival Sweet Spot Baking Contest.

(And we wish you, dear readers, the best of luck on winning that fidget! Don’t forget to leave a comment below!)

Sylvie writes stories that celebrate family, friendship and food. She likes dark chocolate, knitting with soft wool and movies that require a box of tissues. She’s written 24 books of romance/romantic suspense/women’s fiction, including her newest Summer’s Sweet Spot, Love in Brighton Village Book 3.

You can find her on her website, Instagram, X, Facebook, and Bookbub