Trent Maier is an engineer by training. He worked at Schweitzer Engineering in Pullman, then made a career change and went to culinary school in Seattle. Eventually he came back to Pullman to open a cider company with a friend. They moved their company to Liberty Lake, which is where he lives now. He’s involved with the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce.
This interview is lightly edited for clarity and length.
Trent Maier: I’ve gotten used to having really big conversations about our community and I think I’ve learned that that’s where a passion of mine is. It’s similar to having a desire not just to earn a living that I can kind of predict as an engineer and see very clearly what that would look like, shifting gears to try something different, create new opportunities. This is a transition for me into politics, although I don’t really consider myself a lifelong politician by any stretch…