Category: Q&A

On The Job – Shelly A. Mead

Justice of the Peace

Shelly A. Mead is a justice of the peace who officiates weddings throughout southern New Hampshire.

Explain your job and what it entails.

My job is to write and officiate wedding ceremonies for any mutually consenting couple in New Hampshire. I am able to perform quick legal ceremonies, but I specialize in creating love story ceremonies for couples. This involves really getting to know a couple and having them open up about what makes their relationship work, what they love about each other and their favorite memories together. I translate those details into a ceremony that I perform on their wedding day. My ultimate goals are to make the ceremony planning process feel simple and straightforward for couples, and to create a relationship that allows them to feel as calm and confident as humanly possible when standing up in front of their family and friends on their wedding day.

How long have you had this job?

Six years.

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

I officiated for the first time in 2017 for my brother-in-law with the intention of never officiating again. As it turned out, creating and officiating ceremonies is extremely joyful and rewarding work. Since then, I have officiated over 350 ceremonies, and 2023 will be my sixth wedding season.

What kind of education or training did you need?

To become a justice of the peace in New Hampshire, one must take an oath and then be certified by the governor. Much of my training was through extensive online research, and then on the job. I love learning from other officiants and have great local mentors. I get really excited when a couple brings up a new idea or tradition to research that can be incorporated into their ceremony.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

I typically wear a black or navy dress or suit, depending on the couple’s wedding colors.

How has your job changed over the course of the pandemic?

This past wedding season was incredibly busy as so many couples had to put off their big wedding from 2020 to 2022. I often officiate for couples who want to have a quick legal ceremony and then plan to celebrate with a formal wedding when there are fewer Covid restrictions or more open wedding dates. I think for a justice of the peace it is not that common to have repeat customers. With couples having a private elopement and then a big ceremony later, I sometimes get the honor of sharing their happiness twice.

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

It is so important to set boundaries with clients. Having a detailed contract to establish ground rules is key.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

Something that not many people realize is that planning a beautiful and meaningful ceremony takes time — a lot of time. If you go to a wedding and the ceremony is executed flawlessly, with the couple and their guests sharing laughter, joy and maybe even some happy tears, know that years of experience and hours of time went into making that 15 to 30 minutes so completely perfect.

What was the first job you ever had?

I worked as a page at the Manchester Public Library in Manchester, Connecticut.

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

Always take a deep breath and smile at the beginning of a ceremony. It helps the couple to relax.

Five favorites

Favorite book: Beartown series by Fredrik Backman
Favorite movie: Stranger Than Fiction
Favorite music: I always sing in the car to get warmed up for a ceremony. Currently, Lizzo and Adele are my top choices.
Favorite food: Cherries
Favorite thing about NH: I love that we can be in a city, the beach or the mountains all in just an hour. New Hampshire has it all.

Featured photo: Shelly A. Mead. Courtesy photo.

In the kitchen with Rivka Rowe

Rivka Rowe is the owner and founder of Home Made by Rivka (homemadebyrivka.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @homemadebyrivka), a producer of homemade small-batch jams, jellies and spreads available in nearly two dozen flavors throughout the year. She started canning in 2011 and had turned her passion into a business by 2015. Among her most popular products are the wild Maine blueberry spread, the strawberry rhubarb jam, the carrot cake jam and the bananas Foster spread. Flavors like the pomegranate spread and the lemon honey jelly, Rowe said, go great with goat cheeses on crackers mixed into yogurt. The spiced pear spread is also a perfect glaze for pork or chicken, she added, and any of them can be mixed into softened vanilla ice cream and refrozen in single-serve cups for a quick treat. Locally, you can find Home Made by Rivka products in eight-ounce jars at Pop of Color (816 Elm St., Manchester) and at the Manchester Craft Market inside the Mall of New Hampshire (1500 S. Willow St.). Rowe also participates in farmers markets in Candia and Wolfeboro during the summer months.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

From a practical standpoint, my spoonula. It’s a spoon and spatula hybrid, and it’s perfect for stirring jam, mixing big batches and things like that. … From a less practical standpoint, I would say my audiobooks.

What would you have for your last meal?

There’s a restaurant … called Khaophums in Dover. Very specifically, it would be their vegetable pad Thai and vegetable spring rolls.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

My favorite restaurant overall would be El Camino Cafe in Plaistow. They have the best empanadas, and any of the rices are amazing.

What celebrity would you like to see trying one of your products?

It would be a toss-up between Sean Brock and Vivian Howard. Both of them are chefs that have a huge passion for the slow food movement … and heritage styles of cooking, and I really appreciate that, both personally and in business.

What is your personal favorite product that you offer?

I’d have to say the bananas Foster spread. I made that one for myself when I was coming up with flavors. I spread it in warm crepes and fold them up with vanilla ice cream on top.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?

I don’t know if it’s a trend, per se, but the interest in globally inspired cuisine is something that I’m seeing more and more.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

I make a lot of quick stir-frys. I really like Asian cuisine.

Hamantaschen (Jewish jam cookies)
From the kitchen of Rivka Rowe

For the dough:
¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
⅔ cup white sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2¼ cups all purpose flour
1 to 5 teaspoons water, as needed
1 eight-ounce jar Home Made by Rivka jam, at room temperature

Sift together the flour and salt and set aside. Cream together the butter and sugar with a hand or stand mixer until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla to the sugar mixture and combine. Add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients in two batches, making sure to combine completely. If the dough is a little stiff, add the water, one teaspoon at a time, until the dough resembles a thick sugar cookie-type consistency (you may not need any water, or you may need to add the full 5 teaspoons). Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap or a tea towel and let it rest in the refrigerator for one hour.

Once the dough is rested, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Flour your work space and rolling pin. Roll the dough out to 1/8 inch in thickness and cut circles out using a cookie cutter, drinking glass or ring twist from a canning jar. Spoon 1 teaspoon of the jam into the center of the circle and prepare to fold it into a triangle shape — the cookie should be a triangle shape with the jam center showing. Fold over the left side of the circle at an angle, followed by the right side, overlapping at the top to form a point. Resist the desire to pinch the dough corner together. Fold the bottom of the circle up to form the two bottom points of the triangle — there should be a jam center, also in the shape of a triangle, if it’s folded correctly. Press down slightly on the corners to bond; pinching will come undone during baking.

Place the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for eight to 11 minutes, depending on your oven. The cookies will not spread, although the jam may leak slightly. The cookies should still be very light in color with just a hint of golden brown at the corners (if 1 teaspoon of jam is too much for the size of your cutter, feel free to adjust accordingly). Allow the hamantaschen to cool slightly on a baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack, as the jam will be very hot. Cool completely before eating.


Featured photo: Rivka Rowe. Courtesy photo.

On The Job – LaShanta Magnusson

Personal safety educator

LaShanta Magnusson is a self-defense and personal safety educator and owner of The Damsel Safety Chick, based in Milford.

Explain your job and what it entails.

I provide self-defense products and safety education. A typical day starts with me checking emails or orders that people have put in. If I am doing a safety seminar, I print out the PowerPoint presentation for everyone attending to bring home with them. I pull out all the products we will talk about in the presentation so people are able to use them during the safety presentation. The three products I mostly do presentations on are pepper spray, stun guns and kubaton striking tools.

How long have you had this job?

Eight years.

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

I lost my best friend freshman year of high school to domestic violence. When I was first introduced to this business at a job fair, I knew I needed to be a part of it, but at the time, I lived in Massachusetts where stun guns are illegal and pepper spray was illegal to carry unless you had an FID card. When the time came that Massachusetts changed the law on pepper spray so that anyone could carry it without an FID card, I knew it was time to jump in. I signed up as a consultant with the company that produces the products and did online and in-person training on all of the products. Two years later, I met a gentleman who was a self-defense instructor, and he and I teamed up to offer hands-on classes on not only using products but also teaching people how to use their body as a weapon, as well. love the mission and knew it was a good fit for me being able to educate everyone that, no matter how old a person is, there are ways to keep yourself safe daily in a world that is scary.

What kind of education or training did you need?

The company offers weekly training, and I also train with a self-defense instructor on my own.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

Casual.

How has your job changed over the course of the pandemic?

When Covid hit, no one was doing in-person safety seminars, so I had to revamp all my training to Zoom and PowerPoint presentations.

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

That building a client base would take time.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

That it’s not all about product sales. Education on everyday situation awareness is just as important.

What was the first job you ever had?

Ice cream scooper at Friendly’s.

What is the best piece of work-related advice you have ever received?

A “no” right now is not a “no” forever.

Five favorites

Favorite book: Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
Favorite movie: Grease 2
Favorite music: Country
Favorite food: Fettuccine alfredo
Favorite thing about NH: Fall

Featured photo: LaShanta Magnusson. Courtesy photo.

Empathy on stage

Theater group brings performances to kids

Plymouth State University’s TIGER (Theatre Integrating Guidance, Education and Responsibility) theater company celebrates 20 years of bringing social-emotional educational performances to K-through-8 schools across the state. Artistic director Trish Lindberg leads the troupe, which consists of graduate students and professional actors.

What has TIGER been up to recently?

During Covid, most schools weren’t allowing any assembly programs, so we created an online series called Tiger Time, just to keep some content going to the schools during a difficult time. … We started touring again last year. The schools really missed us and were so excited to have us back. We’ve had a lot of bookings. I think, with the pandemic, people realized so much more the value of live theater. That face-to-face connection where an actor is looking right at the eyes of a child is very powerful. … Oh! And we won an Emmy!

Who are the actors?

They are all professional actors. Emily Shafritz is a performer and graduate of the University of New Hampshire from Vermont, Matthew Murray is an actor and theater major from Maryland, Olivia Etchings is a singer and graduate of Manhattanville College from New Hampshire, Kellen Schult is an actor and graduate of Southern Connecticut State University from New York, and K. Bernice is an actor and music director from New Jersey. The TIGER performers are a dedicated breed that care about children and care about helping them overcome difficult social issues that they face. They are the heart of TIGER and deserve all the credit.

What performances are you doing this season?

We’re doing a very exciting collaboration with an international organization called the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement. It was founded by Scarlett Lewis, mother of Jesse Lewis, a child who was killed at the mass shooting at Sandy Hook in Connecticut 10 years ago. … The themes in that show are the themes of Choose Love, which are Courage, Gratitude, Forgiveness and Compassion in Action. I also wrote another show that’s sort of a compilation of a lot of TIGER material that’s been developed over the years. … The themes are what TIGER stands for: Team up together, Inspire greatness, Give of yourself, Empathy and compassion, Respect yourself and others. …I took some of our many songs and put them together with a few new pieces of music. We’re touring those two shows all over New England now. In addition to the two performances, we’ve also offered workshops for children and teachers.

How did you end up collaborating with Choose Love?

I met Scarlett … after she was doing an event at Plymouth State. We started talking about TIGER’s message and how it’s very similar to the message of Choose Love. They were doing a statewide tour … and invited TIGER to be part of that tour … and perform as part of those events. We really clicked as a group. Then, I asked Scarlett, ‘Would you be open to me creating an original musical based on the tenets of Choose Love?’ … She said, ‘That sounds wonderful.’

How does it feel to be celebrating 20 years of TIGER?

This project has impacted the lives of over a half million children in the 20 years we’ve been around. I thank the schools — the school counselors, the educators and teachers and administrators — that believe in the magic of TIGER and hire us year after year to bring TIGER to their schools.

TIGER still has a limited number of bookings available for schools for spring 2023. Schools interested in having TIGER perform can contact tour manager Pamela Irish at 535-2647 or [email protected].

Featured photo: TIGER 2022-2023 cast members (from left) Emily Shafritz, Matthew Murray, Olivia Etchings, Kellen Schult and K. Bernice. Courtesy photo.

In the kitchen with Laura Spinney

Laura and Michaela Spinney of Hooksett are the mother-daughter team behind Michaela’s Sweets (857-444-8877, michaelassweets.com, and on Facebook and Instagram, a homestead bakery they launched last summer that specializes in a variety of custom gluten-free treats made to order, like cupcakes, brownie bites, whoopie pies and doughnuts. The duo’s journey began back in 2012, when they found out they both had Celiac disease and started experimenting with different allergen-friendly recipes. “Our goal has always been to create a product that nobody would be able to tell is missing anything,” Laura Spinney said. “It has taken off far more than I had anticipated it would from the get-go, and it’s been a wonderful experience so far.” All of their treats are produced in their Celiac-friendly home kitchen — you can order by filling out a form online through the website or requesting items via phone. A 48-hour ordering notice is appreciated, and local pickups and deliveries are available.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

Our KitchenAid mixer, hands down. That is our lifeline.

What would you have for your last meal?

My answer would be sushi, any kind. I asked Michaela these questions too — hers is chicken tenders.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

[New England’s] Tap House Grille in Hooksett. I love that place. … My favorite are their pulled pork nachos with the white cheese sauce.

What celebrity would you like to see trying one of your baked treats?

I went with Michaela’s answer, because she instantly said Taylor Swift.

What is your favorite item that you offer?

For me, that would be the strawberry shortcake cupcakes. … Michaela’s favorite, and this was her idea that we just recently developed, is her Oreo cookies and cream brownie bites.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?

What I’ve noticed is a thing, just in the baking world, is whoopie pies. I have fun doing those. … You name it, we can pretty much do it. We do red velvet, apple cider, salted caramel, gingerbread. … Whatever sounded good to us, we’d put in our menu.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

For myself and my husband, our stuffed eggplant.

Gluten- and dairy-free fudgy chocolate chip brownies
From the kitchen of Laura and Michaela Spinney of Michaela’s Sweets in Hooksett

½ cup dairy-free butter
1 cup white sugar
⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup 1:1 gluten-free flour of choice
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
⅓ cup dairy-free chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8-inch square pan, or spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray. In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and cocoa powder. Stir until fully combined. Add in the eggs and vanilla and stir. Stir in the flour, salt and baking powder and mix until fully combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix. Spread into a greased pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes (or for 20 to 22 minutes if using a muffin tin). Do not overcook.


Featured photo: Laura Spinney (right) with her daughter, Michaela. Courtesy photo.

On The Job – Justin Marceau

Master electrician

Justin Marceau is a master electrician and owner of Oak Ridge Electrical based in Weare.

Explain your job and what it entails.

We provide full electrical services, from brand new homes to service work to repair work and renovations for residential and commercial clients.

How long have you had this job?

I have been in the electrical field for 11 years, and I started my business in 2021.

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

I owned my own business before this doing audio-visual commercial projects in Boston. The opportunity to get into electrical kind of just fell in my lap after that, and once I started working in this space, it just clicked, and I realized fast it was my calling in life.

What kind of education or training did you need?

I needed four years of electrical curriculum and four years of on-the-job training to obtain a Journeyman license, plus an additional year of curriculum and on-the-job training to become a Master Electrician for New Hampshire. There is additional training and curriculum you can obtain for specialties within electrical, and on-the-job training, too, in specialty areas that can make a big difference in the services you can offer. For example, I have training and work experience with HVAC wiring.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

There’s no specific uniform per se, but on a typical day, I wear an Oak Ridge Electrical logoed shirt and hat, loose-fitting pants and work boots. When we do outside projects, I make sure to wear extra layers, with a hat and gloves.

How has your job changed over the course of the pandemic?

The scope of work has not changed, but it has gotten much busier since the pandemic. When the pandemic first hit, I was working in downtown Boston, and electrical services were and still are considered an essential service, so I really did not skip a beat. During the pandemic, we had to maintain social distancing and wear masks for quite some time in 2020, but now, in 2023, we are as busy as ever doing home and commercial projects.

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

I wish I had known earlier in my working career, like in my early 20s, that this is what I was meant to do. I got into electrical in my 30s and I am so glad I did, but I do wish I had explored this career option right out of high school.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

That this work can be very dangerous and really is only meant for trained, qualified professionals. I see a lot of unqualified people taking on their own electrical projects which then ends up creating fire hazards and personal injury hazards, and they are putting lives and people’s properties at risk. It’s a good idea to always consult a licensed electrician before taking on any electrical task.

What was the first job you ever had?

I sold newspapers in front of a grocery store for the Houston Chronicle in Texas. I was 14 years old. We moved back to New Hampshire shortly after that.

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

Be on time, and look to learn something new every single day.

Five favorites

Favorite book: The Chamber by John Grisham
Favorite movie: Lucky Number Slevin
Favorite music: Elton John
Favorite food: Prime rib and baked potato
Favorite thing about NH: The mix of nature, solitude and being in the middle of it all

Featured photo: Justin Marceau. Courtesy photo.

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