Angela Shen had always been “one of those weird kids that actually liked eating mushrooms.” Her dad’s a chef, culinary mushrooms were a constant, but she’d never foraged for wild ones herself.

Then COVID hit. Everyone was cooped up indoors. “The only access or freedom or excitement in everyone’s lives was the opportunity to go outside. And that was safe.” People flooded local trails. Curiosity exploded around those mysterious things growing in the woods. Can you eat those mushrooms?

Angela had a realization: “We live in a place that is famous for wild gourmet mushrooms.” Washington State is one of the biggest exporters of wild mushrooms in the entire country. Yet foraging felt inaccessible, surrounded by gatekeeping. “There’s a lot of woods out there and a lot of people who want to learn about it.”

She reached out to a friend who’d posted foraging pictures on social media and “begged and pleaded, basically sold a kidney” to learn. Once she started, it became a deep rabbit hole. Angela isn’t a mycologist, but she knows what she’s good at: “Creating really memorable experiences in an accessible way.”

Forage Seattle was born—immersive wild food experiences that make mushroom foraging approachable, human, fun, and exciting. The company runs classes almost year-round (taking a brief summer hiatus to focus on shellfish harvesting—clamming, oyster shucking). Spring and fall are prime mushroom seasons when rain is plentiful and temperatures are moderate.

Her favorite mushrooms? Porcini, matsutake, and morels—all notoriously finicky. “There are lots of mushrooms that exist purely in the wild. You cannot recreate them in a lab. You can’t grow them.” To get one of these, a human must physically go into the woods, find them with their own eyes, harvest them by hand, and get them through multiple distribution channels before they reach your plate. Hence the $80 price tag.

These mushrooms only exist for short periods, you can’t predict exactly when they’ll appear, and they’re time-sensitive once harvested. “It’s a really interesting part of Mother Nature,” Angela notes. Fun fact: Washington State is also the biggest exporter of shellfish in the entire country. “It’s like having a fancy omakase meal in Japan and the chef is so excited to tell you that this kumamoto oyster came all the way from Seattle, Washington.”

When asked about her superpower, Angela doesn’t hesitate: negotiation. “As humans, we tend to think of decisions as being very binary. Black and white. It has to be one or the other. But life is very gray.” Her joy comes from creating “option C—the one that no one saw coming or thought of.” Once you figure it out, “you’re like, duh, why did I not think of that?”

Where did she build this skill? “Growing up poor and having immigrant parents, being first generation born in the US, really not having a ton of resources—I had to fight for every opportunity and to have a voice at any table I wanted to sit at. I had nothing to lose, so I’m gonna just keep finding a different way.”

Her favorite quote—Mandela’s “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it”—reflects this philosophy. “We are surrounded with fear. So the courage is to face these things head on, knowing exactly what’s at risk and what’s on the table.” Get comfortable with the extremes of what could possibly happen, and “anything else that happens between those two goalposts is gonna feel like a cakewalk.”

Looking ahead, Angela’s goal is hiring someone to replace herself in the business. And if she could spotlight one thing? “Reclaiming your time—really asking yourself, what’s all that hustle for?” She recently realized that “working this hard doesn’t mean a whole heck of a lot if you don’t have time to spend that money with the people you love doing the things that bring you joy.”

Shifting priorities isn’t just a lifestyle choice anymore—it’s “a radical act of designing a life that actually feels genuine and authentic to who I am and the legacy I’d want to leave behind.”

About Angela Shen
Angela Shen is a Seattle entrepreneur and culinary storyteller best known for creating two beloved local brands: Savor Seattle and Forage Seattle.

For 15 years, Angela ran Savor Seattle, leading immersive food tours through Pike Place Market that showed off the city “through the lens of our stomachs.” When COVID-19 shut down tourism and restaurants overnight, she pivoted immediately to curated local food boxes, donating over $100,000 to nonprofits in just nine months while keeping small businesses alive and her team employed. Each themed box highlighted different Seattle communities—from Black-owned businesses to Latino vendors to Pike Place Market staples—giving families hope and connection during the pandemic’s darkest days.

Today, Angela focuses on Forage Seattle, where she leads wild-food adventures that connect people to the edible magic of the Pacific Northwest’s forests and landscapes. Her passion for culinary storytelling and brand building began during her career in brand management at PepsiCo, where she launched products for iconic brands like Quaker Oatmeal and Life Cereal.

A Wharton School graduate and sought-after speaker on entrepreneurship and food tourism, Angela has been honored as a PSBJ 40 Under 40, Women of Color Award recipient, Seattle Tourism Ambassador, and Nellie Cashman Business Owner of the Year finalist. She has spent nearly two decades shaping how locals and visitors taste, explore, and experience the Pacific Northwest—blending business expertise with a deep passion for nature, food, and human connection.

Website: www.forageseattle.com
Instagram: @forageseattle
Email: Angela@forageseattle.com

About Tracy Crowley
Tracy Crowley has always been an entrepreneur. Whether it was making gowns for fellow Army wives, taking portraits in black and white, or working on her other businesses, she is always learning something new.

That passion for learning something new and giving something back collide nicely in this podcast.

Join Tracy for Good Life Stories, where simple curiosity brings out great stories, every single time.

Check out Tracy’s new book! https://tracycrowley.life/