Our Story: Meet the Ristig's
Travis & April Ristig had careers working in the hospitality industry for 20-plus years, but in 2020 they both lost their jobs working for The Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Beach, CA. The Resort at Pelican Hill chose to close due to COVID-19. At the time The Resort at Pelican Hill had no plans to reopen in the foreseeable future. After much praying Travis and April sold their house and moved to Texas with their young daughter Savannah to start over.
Within a couple of months of moving to TX, they were all sick with odd symptoms that ended up being from mold toxicity. There was toxic mold in their HVAC and they had been inhaling the mold spores. Savannah, (their three-year-old daughter) went from talking nonstop, to stuttering, and then barely talking at all. All Travis and April knew then was that they needed to leave their toxic home. The inspiration behind starting It's the Balm Co. stemmed from their illnesses caused by mold. April began sharing about their mold journey on social media, and the things that they were doing to heal naturally. She became an affiliate for many of the products they were using to help heal from exposure to toxic mold. This provided an income for Travis and April and so they decided to buy an RV and travel to places in nature to see if they could improve their health.
April and Travis enjoyed their time living in the RV and truly felt so free. They saw an improvement in their health almost immediately after being in the RV for about a week. Living in the RV gave the couple a lot of time to think about their future, as neither of them wanted to go back to the hotel industry. During this time they also did a ton of research into healing naturally and knew that making their future home as non-toxic as possible was of the utmost importance. While traveling in the RV Travis and April fell in love with the state of Idaho. They planted roots in Eagle, ID, and April's affiliate marketing business continued to grow. Travis and April saw through her Instagram page that people were truly suffering from a lot of skin-related issues. Travis and April knew of the amazing benefits of tallow and April began making tallow balms in their kitchen.
Travis and April sent out many samples to April's Instagram followers and started receiving amazing feedback. The couple worked on developing products for three months and launched their business in Dec 2022. It's The Balm Co. had 2 products when they launched and April made 100 balms and they sold out. Today It's the Balm Co. has over 40 products and she makes around 1500-2000 plus tallow products every restock. April makes all the products in their kitchen and handles social media, and Travis handles the website, marketing, ordering supplies, shipping, and much more. It's The Balm Co. now has three employees helping them during every restock. The couple truly felt like The Most High was trying to get their attention when they lost their jobs. Everything they went through drew them closer to HIM and tested their faith through all the uncertainty they were facing. By the grace of Yah the family have all recovered from being exposed to mold & their daughter regained her speech and is a thriving 6-year-old.
