Today we’d like to introduce you to Amber Crites.
Amber, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Growing up, I was one of five kids and my family struggled, so I started working when I was nine. My first job was working for an elderly lady cleaning her house for a whopping $5 per hour. Back then, I thought I was rich and was able to buy dinner for our family one night a week or sometimes I would go grocery shopping to help out with a few meals.
Fast forward to 2018. It was a year full of ups and downs. That year I testified against my dad being 5-6 months pregnant, gave birth to our now two-year-old, I was working midnights at a detention center and just trying to survive. Early in the year, I knew God had laid it on my heart that I was to leave the detention center the end of the year. While I was on maternity leave in October of 2018, I was scrolling through Pinterest where I saw this beautiful table full of handmade candles. I immediately called my husband. He didn’t answer, so I waited very impatiently for him to call me back. Once I got him on the phone, I laid out this crazy Pinterest idea of making candles. I originally meant it to be a fun hobby for me. He took it a completely different route and said, “yeah, and you can start selling them and make some money”. I think he was more excited about my little endeavor than I originally was. So in October of 2018, I made my first wholesale purchase to start playing around with making candles.
December 21, 2018, was my last shift working at the detention center. I was getting ready to step into a work from home position for a small start-up company selling camping equipment. This was perfect for me because I was able to stay at home with our 18month old and our newborn! I was also able to spend more quality time with our oldest who was seven, almost eight at the time. It was a win, win! Or so I thought, I focused all of my energy into making sales and spending time with my family. Making candles had made its way to the back burner until June 28th 2019, when I lost my sales job.
A short four days later my husband and I committed to taking in our two-day-old niece. Dealing with the loss of my job and having another newborn for the third year in a row I committed to pushing myself as hard as I could to get the candles perfect so I could commit to staying at home with my babies. Our youngest (neice) went through lots of testing and therapies to make sure she developed the way she needed to. When she was about nine months old we saw her milestones start to level out and I was able to put more energy into our small business. As of January of 2021, our business is growing quicker than we ever thought possible and we are absolutely grateful for strong relationships with our wholesale accounts as well as our faithful customers who have been with us since day one. We look forward to being able to donate to organizations in our community to help men, women, and children overcome domestic violence and sexual abuse.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
No, it has not been a smooth road. Growing a business from the ground up is difficult as everyone knows. It takes perseverance and confidence to keep going. Being a mom of four children and a wife trying to find time to make it all work was difficult. Now we are facing the obstacle of space. Which, in my opinion, is a good bad obstacle to face.
We’ve been impressed with Melting Mountains Candle, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are Melting Mountains Candle Co. The name of our company comes from ps 97:5 it states, “in the presence of the Lord your Mountains melt like wax, before the Lord of all the earth.” 2018 was a tough and emotional year. Having to testify against my dad. Giving birth, working the midnight shift, and dealing with postpartum. It was hard! When I read that scripture, it truly stuck out to me and I knew that Melting Mountains Candle Co. was the name God had dropped into my heart. It was His way of telling me that everything was going to be okay. So to this day we make small batches of hand-poured pure soy candles. I enjoy watching the wax melt in our double boiler. It is a solid reminder that no matter the Mountains we face when we bring them to the presence of God, He takes the burden and it melts like wax in his presence. We strive to be a beacon of hope for individuals and families we do not know in our community. With the donations that we are able to give. We truly love our customers and our customers love our quality products and customer service.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
The thing I like to best about our city is the community. We are a community that is focused on supporting small and building each other up. I truly do not have anything that I dislike about our city.
Pricing:
- 8oz mason jar $12.50
- 14oz black jars $25.00
- Dough bowls $30.00 – $85.00
- Car freshies $7-9
- Wax melts $5 we do offer wholesale pricing
Contact Info:
- Email: meltingmountainscandlecompany@gmail.com
- Website: www.meltingmountainsco.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/meltingmountainsco
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meltingmountainsco
Image Credits:
Taylor Perkey and Allison Jacobs (social media manager)
