First Coast Connect: Local Author Finds Happiness In ‘Sno-cones’

It’s the little things in life that matter the most, like sno-cones. That’s what local author Abby Vega talks about in her memoir “Sno-Cone Diaries: A Sweet Route to Happiness.”

After spending 35 years in sales and marketing for Fortune 500 companies, Vega said she simply needed more in her life. Vega appeared Wednesday on First Coast Connect to talk about why she quit her six-figure salary job and bought a sno-cone truck.

“I thought I was living my dream, working in corporate America,” she said. “I realized how empty all of those things really were in terms of my worth.”

As a child in Baltimore, Vega said there were sno-cone stands on every corner and she wanted to have one as a young entrepreneur but couldn’t. So after the loss of a close friend, as well as her mother — who she cared for for 17 years — Vega felt the need to “refocus and regain purpose in life — do what finally would make me happy.”

“I decided at 54, why not now purchase a sno-cone truck on steroids, and instead of being limited to one corner, take it everywhere in Jacksonville and touch everyone's life,” she said.

That experience led to becoming an author. Her book tells the story of a middle-aged woman who despite having it all was still feeling depressed and lonely inside.

Vega said there are exercises included after every chapter in the book “that really make you think about how you can approach finding your own particular happiness.”

“I found my greatest joy inspiring women in particular, to find their happiness, their mission, their purpose in life,” she said.

Vega sold her truck after driving it for a year and published her book this past December.

News Intern Joy Kader can be reached at newsteam@wjct.org or on Twitter at@joykader95.

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