Veronica Vargas - Award-Winning Creator, Shaboo Prints

Veronica Vargas

Veronica Vargas is the founder of Shaboo Prints, a boutique lifestyle brand designing positive products that will reawaken your joy.

Veronica was a creative and whimsical child, but after decades of conformity she found herself struggling with dissatisfaction and a deep longing for fulfillment. In her forties, she returned to her childhood passions – drawing, writing, and playing – and established Shaboo Prints. Today, Veronica uses “imaginovation” to innovate feel-good products that expand the boundaries of possibility. She considers herself a social expressionist and entrepreneur on a mission to return millions of adults back to a wondrous world full of potential, play, and a knowing that expressing their real self is the whole point — i.e., finding their happy place! An expert on play, imagination, and creativity, Veronica partnered with software company iGreet in 2019 to open windows into imaginative worlds and expand the experience of Shaboo’s physical products with augmented reality.

Veronica received her bachelor’s degree from California State University – Fullerton and her master’s degree from Woodbury University. A breast cancer survivor, she loves reading, people-watching, being with family, traveling, connecting with friends, health, cooking and baking, creative writing, and doodling.

I’m so excited for you guys to connect with Veronica, check out her work and prints, and follow along as she continues to live a fulfilled life and share her mission-driven business in hopes of inspiring others to tap into their own happy place where they are free to live big and play hard.

I'd love it if you'd introduce yourself, what you do, and what you're working on.

Hiya! I’m Veronica Vargas, a social expressionist and imaginovator creating from my happy place! I am also a shepherd for Shaboo Prints, a boutique lifestyle brand designing products that expand the boundaries of possibility and reawaken others to their happy place through play. Shaboo Prints and I see things differently, so we make things differently — for others to experience things differently!

Right now, I am playing with current trends: meaningful connections, technology, and enchantment. I am combining leading-edge technology with household products, such as greeting cards and tabletop lamps, to open windows into the playful world of Shaboo Prints. 

I am essentially using the power of augmented reality to help others connect more deeply by adding some heart and soul. For instance, download the free Shaboo AR Scanner app and use your smartphone as a magic wand to scan our products. You will open animated stories and messages that draw you in, then feel the uplift. Yup, really excited about these ground-breaking goodies!

How did you get started?

I was a marketer and was working in various corporate environments, the last being commercial aircraft. I was feeling very unfulfilled and realized that if I was going to survive within that context, then I was going to have to do more activities that brought me joy. I began creative writing and drawing on my off days. The joy I felt doing the things I loved uplifted my energy, so I did more of it. Before long, and with the support of family and friends, I began to design and manufacture greeting cards for sale. What started out as a fun hobby quickly evolved into a dynamic business, due to the positive creative energy that was behind it.

What inspired the work that you're doing?

Dissatisfaction and love. Dissatisfaction with my life, dissatisfaction with my job, dissatisfaction with my career trajectory. It became a powerful asset because being dissatisfied for so long made me uncomfortable enough to redirect towards doing what brought me joy. Once I started creating from a state of love I was amazed at the contrast in my life. Looking back, I realize that living and working in a constant state of dissatisfaction required me to die a little inside — to turn down my heart flame to pilot. However, once I began doing what brought me joy, I experienced a level of fulfillment that I thought was only imaginary. My fulfillment continues to grow and expand today, and it seems to have no limits. I have never been happier doing what I was made to do and having freedom of expression. 

I want others to feel fulfillment. This mission has become our company byline, “Reawakening you to your happy place,” and remains the inspiration for my drive.

What is your biggest passion? Do you feel like you're living your passion and purpose?

My biggest passion is reawakening people to their own happiness through play. 

I now know what joy and fulfillment have done for my life and am placing a bet, in the form of my business Shaboo Prints, that others would like to be happy and fulfilled too. It isn’t a lofty or heavy goal because it can be achieved through fun and play.

The great thing about being an adult is that we have a history to look back at and ask, “How are things working for me? Am I satisfied?” We can use the answers to these question as important information to make change — or not. I am grateful to have had the courage to ask these questions of myself and make necessary changes so now I am finally living my passion and purpose. Boy howdy, yes I am!

What is your joy blueprint? What lights you up, brings you joy, and makes you feel the most alive?

Freedom of expression. I practice this through my creativity. I express it in my business, through deep play, in my writing and imagining. When I am free to express myself, I become an imaginovator. Being an imaginovator makes me feel large and nearly superhuman. However, my natural instinct is to share this feeling so when I am able to help another feel large and nearly superhuman, my joy gets supercharged.

How do you live intentionally? Are there tools/resources/practices that you rely on to help you stay mindful and grounded?

I will never forget what it was like to live with my heart flame on pilot: hollow, low-energy, depressed. That prolonged state of pain keeps me fully aware today. I will never let that happen again, so I assess my measure of joy daily; I conscientiously follow the joy. If I get stressed, which can be often, I take breaks to do something that I love. It could be a tasty treat, it could be a social visit or phone call, it could be lighting a scented candle or going outside without my phone or baking (I love baking).

I also have a toy box in my office. In it I have a tiara, a clown tie, a coloring book, some pink sunglasses and a slide whistle. Using any one of those tools lightens me up and shifts my mood — it’s hard to stay stressed or worried when I have my tiara on. Instead, I start to smile, the clouds once covering my potential clear, my energy returns, and I feel less de-railed.

I maintain a sense of connection with something much bigger than me. When I wake up, I imagine the top of my head open to receive invisible lightning bolts of power and knowledge. At night I ask that I receive ideas and solutions during my sleep. In other words, I don’t live as if I have all the answers, because I don’t. I need clues from an invisible bank. I never forget that I am part of a greater mechanism that has a vested interest in my success.

What would your younger self think about what you're doing now?

My dismissive younger self would think that what I do as a way of life and means for financial sustainability is an impossibility! My younger self would also think that it was impossible for my older self to make a significant difference — my younger self was afraid to be big.

Here’s the fun part: Despite her outspoken skepticism, my younger self would look over her shoulder at me and feel the flicker of her heart flame. My younger self would harbor quiet hope.

Do you have a go-to mantra or affirmation?

Live big and play hard.

When I consider this, in any situation, I am compelled to be free.

What is your biggest dream?

To cause beneficial social change doing what I love.

My business, Shaboo Prints, creates all of its products and services from a state of joy and caring so everything we offer is literally infused with good energy. It is because of this that I whole-heartedly believe that Shaboo products uplift and energize any space they occupy. 

Therefore, I am on a mission to get Shaboo Prints into at least one million homes so that, collectively, a social shift towards joy and fulfillment could happen. Imagine a world with a greater measure of personal content, literally imagine the probability!

We are also actively building a movement of Shaboo Good Messengers. People who wish to encourage and inspire others to reawaken to their happy place. We are creating products and tools to help them do just that.

To learn more about Veronica and his work check out her website www.shabooprints.com and on Facebook @shabooprints Instagram @shabooprints Twitter @shabooprints and on YouTube here

Joy Corner is an interview-style blog series brought to you by Seek The Joy Podcast. Our mission continues to be a desire to share your stories, truths, joys and inspiration in your words. We invite you to join our corner, and share your joys, passions, and moments of inspiration as we continue to seek the joy, together. Join this series here