Willow Fish Peterson

FAMILY PORTRAIT Willow Fish Peterson with her husband Brandon and their daughter Siena.

Hearts and Crafts

The Willow Fish Peterson Story

BY EVAN DAVIS

Acommunity is a wonderful phenomenon which grows, shrinks and changes color over time. Its history is its roots, its accomplishments are its branches and its members are the fibers of its trunk. The community stands tall, proud and strong when its members do the same.

Enter, Willow Fish Peterson.

During the Covid-19 pandemic that’s upended so many lives this last year, we’ve all been forced to adapt to any number of changes, endure unforeseen » »

Willow Fish Peterson is an artisan, a farmer and a ‘maker’ through and through, with creativity fueling each endeavor.

«« hardships and watch on as the landscape shifts around us. With so many beloved businesses forced to close their doors amid recent challenges, some others have had the good fortune of a helping hand. The Made Local Marketplace in Santa Rosa would have counted itself among those casualties if not for the chance approach of prospective buyer Willow Peterson.

A Hawaiian native and a natural gogetter, long before she would rescue this particular local gem, she began what would become a career in hospitality and service by working in restaurants as a young teen. That continued into her college years as she supported herself by bartending and waitressing to graduate with her Bachelor’s in physical geography at the University of California Santa Barbara, earning top honors. That course led, in time, to her working as the special events manager at San Ysidro Ranch. It was there she met her future husband, Brandon, and after a few short months, she left Santa Barbara and joined him in Los Angeles.

Roughly a year later, opportunity knocked and Peterson answered, accepting a job opportunity to manage a private island luxury resort in Fiji, the Wakaya Club & Spa, where she worked for nearly two years. Testing her relationship with a long-distance stint was a bright and adventurous life chapter, but eventually she returned to the mainland to marry Brandon.

A Santa Rosa native himself, he convinced her to tie the knot locally, right here in Guerneville at the Boon Hotel. That was in 2013, and after their daughter Siena was born, they compromised and settled down in Sebastopol. In lieu of island life, it was “land where I could farm and [feel] good raising her,” says Willow. “It’s that smalltown feel, in close with nature and close to the beach if we wanted.”

Now a Sonoma County local, she remains an artisan, a farmer and a “maker” through and through, with creativity fueling each endeavor. Her business, Sage Real Estate Investments, is no exception. Like any journey of a thousand miles—or more—that path also began with a single step.

She bought her first property with her brother when she was in her 20s. “We got it as an investment,” she says. “You know, not to live in. It didn’t bring in a lot, but it was a good stepping stone. [It] didn’t end up being the best investment, because my brother bought me out of it after a couple years and still owns it today. [But] it did give me the confidence to jump into the next one, and was a great learning experience.”

Acquiring a broker’s license allowed her to eventually find meaningful work in the real estate industry, “I didn’t enjoy working retail real estate not for myself,” she says. “I didn’t like how many failures there were to every success. I could do everything perfectly right, and have a project fail for reasons outside of my control.”

Even if the atmosphere wasn’t right, the work was something she still found beautiful and fulfilling. “Finding a house or what have you, and turning it into something beautiful,” Peterson says. “Getting that diamond in the rough, so to speak.”

It was this drive that set her sights on the Made Local Marketplace in Santa Rosa.

When something dramatic happens, like a citizen stepping up to save a business that’s threatened with closure, it often looks as if it was all arranged overnight, but the truth is just a touch more grounded. A maker and creative herself, Willow had sought the business “some time ago, but the numbers just weren’t quite right.” After the pandemic fell into full swing and lockdown restrictions seized the lifeblood of businesses far and wide, Made Local founders Kelley Rajala and Pam Dale announced in June of last year that they intended to close the store for good.

With the news, Peterson reopened negotiations surrounding the sale of the business, and over a matter of weeks an agreement was reached. As the keys to the store passed hands, a whirlwind of changes ensued, namely the location » »

SHOP Made Local Marketplace proprietor Willow Fish Peterson.

«« of the business. “I was on the hunt,” Willow says. She worked diligently, yet openly, with the owner of the building as she searched for a new storefront. “The Coddings were great to work with,” she says of the real estate group that helped with the search.

They toured her through a few locations, and with her insistence to see just one more, they then found the perfect new home in the Montgomery Village Shopping Center. “There we go,” she said, upon seeing the new space. “I don’t want to see anything else. This is it.”

When you know, you know.

But the real changes were just beginning. First, came the building itself. The new corner spot, located at 2421 Magowan Dr., saw a bit of touch-up. “You know with my varied past, I got to work right away on the space,” Peterson says. “Some new paint, and one wall had to come down—but really only a few tweaks.” And just like that, the space was ready to shine and do the business proper justice. Peterson then overhauled the store logistically; transforming everything from inventory and online interfaces to invoicing and point of sale systems through two prisms: modernization and organization. A messy desk is a sign of genius may be a fun adage—and maybe even true, to some extent—though it is also true that organization, while often undervalued, is rarely unjustified.

However, people proved the greatest rejuvenating factor behind the store’s transformation. Peterson mans the helm, yes, but she’s clear about the secret to her success. “I have some really great people with me in the store,” she says. “People I know I can trust when I’m not there, which is awesome. They know our makers, some of the usual customers. I have really good help.”

A welcome change from the old retail real estate days, and it’s paid off.

“Things are going really well,” she says. “Business is better really than we could have hoped.”

As with her other endeavors, beyond the commercial success of the venture, the human impact on the community has already been felt. “Some of these people,” she says of the artisans her store supports, “it may just be a hobby, but others really rely on the income. We have a few who … all [they] can do to make it through the day is [their] art.”

She’s also quick to acknowledge the role of the community she aims to serve with her business. “We just appreciate the community’s effort, you know especially now, to buy local and support local makers. When it’s so easy to go to Amazon or to do it online,” she says.

So in summary, we have “a farmer, a maker, and a lover of all things Sonomamade” in Willow Peterson, who managed to find a way to step forward during a time when so many others found themselves forced to fall back. In a life driven by creative desires, adventurous seizure of opportunities and a gumption for exceeding expectations, the proof of her myriad testimonials is laid bare with the effects of her work here in Santa Rosa and beyond.

The real secret anyone might want to know about the undertaking is how she found the time to balance it alongside her real estate business, helping her husband with his special-event lighting business and doting on her four-year-old.

“I don’t know,” Willow says, laughing.

Made Local Marketplace, 2421 Magowan Dr. in Montgomery Village, Santa Rosa. 707.583.7667. Open 10am to 6pm, Monday–Saturday; 11am to 5pm, Sunday. www.madelocalmarketplace.com

NMLS ID #263222

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