Sonia Marroquin has been an occupational therapist for over twenty years. Since 2009 she's worked for herself, driving to houses across the Valley to work with children with special needs and teach their parents how to keep going after she leaves.
She got into it because of an uncle who was a quadriplegic. She has described it as a career that chose her.
Years ago a friend asked whether she wanted to invest in a business up north doing something similar to what Golden is now. That deal fell apart. Sonia kept the idea anyway, and sat on it.
She didn't buy a franchise
She looked at one seriously. But the shop in her head had a specific feel to it, and a franchise wasn't going to get her there. So she went to school again — ice cream school, in Idaho and then Missouri. She learned recipes, bought premium machines, and worked out how much air to whip into a batch to land the texture she wanted.
The name took a while too. Golden Spoon, she thought. Then Golden Scoop. In the end she dropped the second word and kept the part that mattered.
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Golden Ice Cream opened on June 29, 2024, in Uptown Plaza on N 10th. The grand opening was a month later, and the Disability Chamber of Commerce RGV showed up to recognize the team.
The mission, in her words
“To make great ice cream, to provide great customer service and to be an example for others by being a disability-friendly employer.”
Ask her about the hardest part of starting and she'll tell you it was taking the leap. Ask about the best part and she talks about families from her therapy practice who now come in for ice cream.
She wants more locations. Not for the sake of growth — to prove the model works.