[5] In 2000, when Peterson was just five years old, her parents, David and Sue, rounded up their youngest child and her two older siblings—Whitney, then 13, and Parker, 10—and set out on a year-long, around-the-world adventure.

On January 21, 2018, the couple got engaged, near Peterson's hometown in California, with close friends and fellow surfers near by.

[10] For the 2018 World Surf League Championship Tour Peterson ranked second overall behind Australian surfer Stephanie Gilmore.

[12] In the 2019 World Surf league Championship Tour, Peterson ranked third overall behind the Carissa Moore and Caroline Marks.

[13][14] Her third place overall finish behind two female American surfers qualified her indirectly for the US Olympic Surf Team as an alternate.