Mawa McQueen
Owner/Executive Chef
Dynamic and beloved Chef Mawa McQueen is the proud owner and executive chef of multiple restaurants in Aspen and Snowmass Village, CO; Mawa’s Kitchen, Mawita, The Crepe Shack. Her life experiences growing up in the Côte d’Ivoire and in Europe were the foundation that ignited her passion for bringing food and comfort to people from all walks of life.
She has been recognized for both her skills as a chef and entrepreneur and awarded the Colorado Governor’s Minority Business Award multiple times and has had her hard work recognized nationally and internationally, first by the James Beard Foundation as a 2022 nominee for the Best Chef West Award and then again when her flagship restaurant, Mawa’s Kitchen, received the honor of becoming a MICHELIN Guide recommended restaurant in 2023 and 2024.
Dedicated to inspiring everyone with her food and her story, Mawa is also an acclaimed author. Her first cookbook, Mawa’s Way, is a collection of fan favorite recipes from Mawa’s Kitchen and a story of grit and perseverance to achieve one’s dreams. In 2024, she wrote and published her first motivational book, Unstoppable Ambition, in both French and English to share more of her inspirational story and how she has created the life she has been dreaming of living.
More than just a chef, restauranteur, savvy businesswomen and author, Chef Mawa’s impact goes beyond the kitchen as she makes time to give back to her communities, including through work on the Ment’or Culinary Council and Colorado Restaurant Foundation board. She continues to advocate for Africa and its people and serves on the board for Brake The Cycle, which she helped raise over $20,000 to build a well to provide an entire village in Zambia with access to clean water, and is an Ambassador for Action in Africa, a nonprofit that promotes community development and increasing the accessibility, affordability and quality of education in Uganda for both kids and adults.