My Ice Cream Journey

A Locally Owned Creamery in the Heart of Downtown Victoria

My love for ice cream began when I was 16 years old and started my very first job at Baskin-Robbins in Seattle. At the time, I never imagined that decades later I would leave a successful corporate career to open an ice cream shop of my own—but looking back, it feels as though every scoop, every experience, and every unexpected turn was leading me here.

After high school, I attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where I majored in elementary education. One summer, while working in Branson, Missouri, I met my future husband in the parking lot of Cakes-n-Cream. I was waiting for a friend, and he was waiting for a friend. We began talking and soon discovered that we both attended Southern Illinois University. We spent the rest of that summer together, reconnected when school resumed in the fall, and, as they say, the rest is history. It seems only fitting that our story began outside an ice cream shop!

While I have always loved ice cream, I have also always had an entrepreneurial spirit. You could probably call me a serial entrepreneur. My first business began in the fourth grade after my parents would not let me buy packaged granola bars because they contained too much added “junk.” Instead, I began making my own homemade granola bars—and selling them! From that moment on, I always had a new idea, small business, or what we would now call a “side hustle.”

After college, I began a career in retail management and never actually used my teaching degree in a traditional classroom. What followed was a long and successful 30-year career in corporate America, much of it spent leading teams and later working in marketing.

During those same years, my husband and I built a beautiful life together. We raised four amazing children and celebrated 30 years of marriage—all while balancing family life, demanding careers, and the many adventures that come with raising a family. My family has been an important part of every chapter of my journey, and their love, encouragement, and support gave me the confidence to take the biggest leap of my life.

I loved retail, but the desire to create something of my own never disappeared.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I took advantage of the many online learning opportunities available and began studying the science of ice cream making. What started as curiosity quickly became a passion. I eventually attended Ice Cream School, where I learned the art and science of developing recipes, creating flavors, and producing truly homemade ice cream. At the same time, I began writing a business plan and imagining what my own creamery could become.

After months of learning, practicing, planning, and perfecting recipes, I came home and told my husband that I was retiring from corporate America and opening an ice cream shop.

Yes—at 50 years old, I was taking a gamble on myself and beginning an entirely new chapter.

That dream became The Green Cow Creamery.

Opening The Green Cow Creamery has allowed every part of my journey to come together: my love of ice cream, my entrepreneurial spirit, my experience in retail and marketing, and even the teaching degree I thought I had never used. Today, I have the joy of creating imaginative flavors, teaching others how ice cream is made, mentoring young people, partnering with local schools and organizations, and helping families celebrate some of life’s sweetest moments.

The Green Cow Creamery has grown into much more than an ice cream shop. It is a place where creativity is encouraged, memories are made, milestones are celebrated, and community comes together. Whether someone is creating their very own flavor, celebrating a birthday, enjoying a date night, attending a class, or simply stopping in for a scoop, I want every guest to leave with more than ice cream—I want them to leave with a memory.

This journey has taught me that dreams do not have an expiration date. It is never too late to take a chance, begin again, or follow the passion that has been quietly waiting for you all along.



For me, that passion has always been ice cream—and I have never felt more fulfilled than I do today, sharing it with our community one homemade scoop at a time.