Special Needs Mom Finds Success as a (Legal!) Moonshiner
A decade ago Troylyn "Troy" Ball; her husband, Charlie; and their three kids moved from Austin, Texas, to Asheville, North Carolina, to find a climate that would be help relieve her sons' constant allergies. There, they didn't just find new weather, they found a new life. Ball, now 54, was able to afford in-home care for two of her three sons, who suffer from a rare metabolic disease that has left them nonverbal and wheelchair bound, and for the first time in her life she was able to work outside the home. And when her new neighbors began coming over to say hello, many toting a jar of moonshine, Ball figured out what she wanted to do for a living: make her own liquor.
Today, Ball runs Asheville Distilling Co., the only legal moonshine distillery in the country owned and operated by a woman. She's also one of just five women to own a distillery in the United States. "I think being a mom is a great training ground for learning how to put on a different hat every five minutes," Ball tells Yahoo Shine, referring to the way she made the leap from stay-at-home mom to entrepreneur. "As a mother, one minute I was in the school district trying to get the best services and then I'm in a doctor's office trying to get a specialist – you learn as a parent to be nimble and quick."
Although she's one of very few women in her field, Ball says that her gender can sometimes be an asset. "I feel, as a woman, I'm looking at the industry differently than a man would," she says. "I'm looking at what's missing from the market." This point of view recently paid off big time when Disney Resorts signed a deal to bring several of her spirits, including her Troy & Sons Platinum heirloom moonshine, to its bars and restaurants.
Ball's oldest son, Marshall, shares his mom's entrepreneurial spirit. Despite being unable to speak, he communicates through an alphabet board and even wrote a book, "Kiss of God: The Wisdom of a Silent Child," which was published in 1999 when he was 13. The book sold well and landed the family on an episode of "Oprah." "What he writes is so astounding," Ball says of Marshall, who is now 27. "He taught me to be more accepting of others, and more kind, and more considerate and thoughtful." Her other boys are Coulton, 25, and Luke, 21.
She chose the name Troy & Sons for several of her spirits to represent her role as a mother and a business owner. "As the boys got older and we qualified for assistance with their care, I finally felt I could start something outside the home for myself," she says of the business she launched in 2010 (releasing her first product the following year). "So Troy – for me – & Sons because so much of who I am has been taught to me by these three amazing young men," she says on her website. "Luke [who is adopted and does not have special needs] is the only one who physically works at the distillery with us, but the hearts and spirits of all our boys infuse everything we do."
More on Yahoo:
An Open Letter to the Principal, from a Special Needs Mom
Finding Time for Yourself With Special Needs Children
Mom Invents Harness to Help Disabled Kids Walk
