Jessica and Richard Fierro are the founders and owners of the Colorado Springs brewery Atrevida Beer Co. Founded in 2018, they sought to create a bold, daring establishment that lives and breathes the motto ‘Diversity, it’s on tap!’. With Jess as the head brewer, the company is Colorado’s first Latin owned brewery run by a female Head Brewer. Additionally, out of their six employees, four are Latinos and four are women, which is rare to find in an industry that is traditionally dominated by white males.

Atrevida Beer Co. has anything but an ordinary story. Jess is by trade a Cosmetologist/Barber who had no pallet for beer until they moved overseas to Germany where Rich, her husband and an Army veteran, was stationed. One day, they attended a gathering at a local brewery where they learned how beer is made from grain to glass. It was here Jess first became fascinated with the brewing process and came to love craft beer.

Once they returned to the U.S., Jess followed this inspiration and started brewing small batch beers from home. In the following years, she interned and guest brewed with various breweries and brewer groups to perfect her processes. She then entered a national home brewing competition called Beerland, which to her surprise she took home the gold. From there, her brewing career continued to snowball and she opened Atrevida Beer Co. with Rich. They’ve accumulated countless awards over the years for their beers and business, including Emerging Business of the Year, Minority Business Owner of the Year, Mile High Stadium Fest Best Lager Award, and many more.

Beyond the numerous awards Atrevida has received, the couple and brewery found national support following the tragic CO Springs Club Q shooting in November 2022, where Rich heroically apprehended the shooter and saved dozens of lives. Rich served fifteen years and four tours in the U.S. Army. He doesn’t think of himself as a hero, but humbly credits his military experience to his quick acting. In an interview with The New York Times he stated, “In combat, most of the time nothing happens, but it’s that mad minute, that mad minute, and you are tested in that minute. It becomes habit. I don’t know how I got the weapon away from that guy, no idea. I’m just a dude, I’m a fat old vet, but I knew I had to do something.”

The couple and company are learning to heal and move forward through the support of their family, friends and community, but one thing remains the same with Atrevida…they are “…embracing Americanism with Diversity in our glass and bringing discussion to our brewery to engage our customers in a time when dialogue is needed.”