Former hospice nurse pursues another passion after losing mother to cancer

WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. - Julie Fowler loved being a hospice nurse until her mother was diagnosed with cancer and became a hospice patient.  

"I was a hospice nurse for 16 years and my mom got ill and died very suddenly on hospice and I needed to change," Fowler explained. 

She decided to follow her dream of opening up a snowball business. 

"When I moved here, my daughter was 10 and there were none that I could find. So, it's something I thought about for a long, long time. And then when things happened with my mom, I thought it would be a good time to make a change," she explained.  

Three months ago she open up Claire’s Gourmet Snoballs.  

"I think because there was a need and there were none around here, so it was something that nobody has done before here and our majority of our Florida friends had never even heard of a snowball. So, I thought it was unique and not a huge expense to start up and I thought I'd just give it a try."   

She named her Wesley Chapel business after her daughter, Jordan Foster, who also is a nurse. 

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"From the day she was born, my mom and I started calling her Claire and my mother always called her Claire. It's the only name she ever identified with her. So after she passed, which has been almost a year, and I started this business. So, it's kind of in memory of my mom." 

Julie says they have something for everyone including dogs. 

"Thirty-eight street flavors, yeah, and then we have a whole children's menu which is geared toward a younger crowd like Minnie Mouse and baby Yoda. And then we have the gourmet creations and there's about 15 of them."

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Foster enjoys helping her mom out. 

"We don't argue at all. You know, usually, we get along and we bounce ideas off each other. What will make it better? But it's definitely fun to work with your mom."  

Fowler hopes the light and fluffy treat brings smiles and enjoyment to bay area customers for years to come.

LINK: Learn more about Claire’s Gourmet Snoballs at www.clairesgourmetsnoballs.com.

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