ERALOOM MEDIA KIT - JUNE 2026
Preserving the voices and memories of your elders before they're gone.
EraLoom LLC - For Press Inquiries & Media Use
Featured
The Story Behind EraLoom
The Origin Story
Theresa Ritchie made her father a promise at his hospital bedside: the moment he got out, she would take him anywhere he wanted to go.
He never got out.
Jerry Hutcheson went into the University of Iowa Hospital in May 2023, home of his beloved Hawkeyes and the library where he had first fallen in love with classical music, and he died there on the last day of June. He was 84 years old, and he had visited 49 of the 50 United States. The one state he had never made it to was North Dakota.
So Theresa packed his house shoes, tucked a teaspoon of his ashes into a small purple velvet pouch, and drove to North Dakota.
There, she had her father posthumously inducted into the “Best for Last Club,” an actual program run by North Dakota’s tourism office for visitors who have seen all 49 other states and saved the Peace Garden State for last. It is unclear whether the club had previously admitted anyone who arrived in a pouch. Jerry Hutcheson was almost certainly a first. For a man whose perseverance and stick-to-itiveness were forged in Iowa, where finishing what you start is less a virtue than a given, he would have appreciated the recognition. An Iowa man, honored for seeing the whole thing through.
On his birthday in January 2024, Theresa created a company called Onawa Dean, named for the small Iowa town where her father was born and where his headstone stands. She knew she had something to offer families, some way to help them tell their stories and hold onto them. The exact shape of how to deliver that, she was still working out.
What came next arrived in boxes sent by her father’s widow: photographs, documents, mementos from a life fully lived. Theresa began organizing and combining them with her own keepsakes, listening to saved voicemail messages, digitally restoring old photos, and rediscovering old video footage she had gathered of him telling family stories. That is when she discovered the problem no one warns you about: time does not just take people. It takes the recordings of people, too. The audio on much of her footage had severely deteriorated. She spent months working feverishly to digitize home movies preserved on VHS, Super 8, and old digital video tapes, a race against formats that were quietly erasing themselves.
Then she found it.
Buried in a box of videotapes was a recording of her father telling a story from his time in Officer Candidate School. He had recorded it just for her. He begins the story with four words that stopped her cold:
“…and Theresa, this one’s for you.”
Sadly, the losses did not come in isolation.
Thirty days before her father died, his eldest brother died, also born in Onawa, Iowa. Nine months after her father died, his youngest brother died, also born in Onawa, Iowa, in February 2024. Three brothers from the same small Iowa town, gone within the span of ten months.
By chance, in January 2024, before her youngest uncle passed, Theresa had visited him in Florida. She sat him down with a family photo album and filmed him as he talked. Thirty days later, he was gone.
At his memorial service, Theresa played that footage for the family. Her cousins were moved. But the person most affected was her last remaining uncle, the only brother left, who watched the video and learned things about his brothers’ childhoods that he had never known. Stories that had lived in one man’s memory were suddenly in the room, after he was gone.
That was the moment she knew she was onto something.
Two years later, on her father’s birthday in January 2026, Theresa woke up with the whole idea clear.
What she put together was deceptively simple: let the person telling the story be the one in charge of it. A guided conversation, at their own pace, without interruption, the way things actually felt at the time. Not a performance on a film set. Something closer to sitting at the kitchen table with someone who genuinely wants to hear what you have to say.
And then that conversation gets preserved digitally, in a format younger generations will actually sit down and watch, so the audio never deteriorates, the video never fades, and the stories keep going long after the people who told them are gone.
EraLoom.
Her father, characteristically, had a hand in all of it.
He funded her college degree in communications, with a concentration in radio, television, and film production. He provided the startup capital. He became EraLoom’s first client, his stories the first to be gathered, restored, and shaped into something lasting. He inspired the entire premise: a business for people who talk but do not write, who have everything to share and nothing yet preserved. And approximately 56 years ago, he helped create EraLoom’s founder.
The last Father’s Day Theresa spent with her dad in person was in 2023. Now, he is with her in spirit in Iowa, and always.
Founder Bio
Theresa Ritchie — Founder & CEO, EraLoom LLC
Theresa Ritchie, Founder — EraLoom LLC
Long-Form Bio
Theresa Ritchie is the founder of EraLoom, a nationwide family story preservation service dedicated to capturing the voices and memories of elders before they’re gone. Her path to founding EraLoom is deeply personal. In the years before her father’s passing in 2023, Theresa made a video recording of him, a decision she made almost on instinct. After his death, that recording became one of her most treasured possessions. It was then that she understood, with full clarity, how close she had come to losing something irreplaceable. She also saw how many other families were putting off exactly what she had nearly put off herself.
Rooted in Iowa through multiple generations, her father and his siblings were all born and raised there. Theresa built EraLoom with a simple conviction: the stories of our elders are not optional to preserve. They are urgent. EraLoom was founded on her father’s birthday in January 2026 in Hawaii (at her family home) and now serves families across the United States. Theresa Ritchie is available for interviews, speaking engagements, and community partnerships.
Short-Form Bio (for program notes & introductions)
Theresa Ritchie is the founder of EraLoom, a nationwide family story preservation service born from personal loss. After recording her father before his passing in 2023 and realizing how close she came to losing that forever, she built EraLoom to help other families act before it’s too late. Founded in Hawaii with deep generational roots in Iowa, EraLoom now serves families across the United States.
Boilerplate
Summary of What We Do
EraLoom is a nationwide family story preservation service that helps families capture the voices and memories of their elders through guided storytelling, legacy film projects, and hands-on workshops. Founded in Hawaii with deep generational roots in Iowa, EraLoom serves families across the United States who want to preserve what matters most before it’s gone. Founded by Theresa Ritchie in January 2026, EraLoom exists because too many families mean to start and never do. Learn more at www.eraloom.com.
Fast Facts
At-a-glance information for journalists and producers
About EraLoom
Founded: January 2026
Founder: Theresa Ritchie
HQ Founded: Hawaii, with Iowa roots
Service Area: Nationwide (U.S.)
Services: Guided conversations, legacy films, community workshops
Website: eraloom.com
Contact: [email protected]
Phone: 319-343-6855
The Problem - Why This Matters Now
67M
Baby Boomers now in or approaching their final decades - the largest generation of elders in U.S. history
47%
of Americans report regretting that they did not record the voices of loved ones who have since passed
80%
of family stories are lost within three generations when not intentionally preserved
Upcoming Workshops
Event: Family Storytelling Workshop
Date: Coming soon...
Location: TBA
Cost: Free
Register: Link coming soon
Co-Host: TBA
Key Messages & Talking Points
For interviews and media appearances
The window is closing - and most families don’t feel it until it’s shut.
67 million Baby Boomers are now in or approaching their final decades. This is the largest generation of elders in American history, and their stories - the unrecorded ones, the ones still living inside them - are disappearing in real time. We don’t have a technology problem. We have a starting problem. EraLoom exists to solve the starting problem.
Grief is the world’s least effective teacher. We shouldn’t need to lose someone to understand what we were about to lose.
Research shows 47% of Americans regret not recording loved ones after they pass. But regret is not actionable - not after the fact. EraLoom works upstream of loss, giving families the structure, the questions, and the gentle push they need to have these conversations before time runs out. The recordings Theresa made of her father are irreplaceable. Every family deserves that.
This isn’t archival work. It’s a gift you give to people who aren’t born yet.
A traditional African proverb says, "When an elder dies, a library burns to the ground." Eighty percent of family stories are lost within three generations. The great-grandchildren of today’s elders will never know what they sound like, how they laughed, what they believed about hard times and good ones. EraLoom is not a nostalgia product. It’s an act of intergenerational generosity.
The barrier isn’t money or technology. It’s the feeling that there’s still time.
Everyone means to do this. Every family. That’s not a niche market - it’s a universal human experience. What EraLoom offers isn’t a product so much as an occasion: a structured, supported, non-awkward reason to sit down with your elder and ask the questions you’ve been meaning to ask. It turns an intention into an afternoon. And that afternoon, as Theresa’s father’s recordings proved, can become the most important thing you own.
Company Overview
One-page reference for producers, editors, and booking agents
What EraLoom Is
EraLoom is a family story preservation service that helps families record the voices, memories, and life stories of their elders through guided storytelling sessions, legacy film projects, and community workshops.
The Founding Story
In the years before her father’s death in 2023, Theresa Ritchie made a video recording of him, almost on instinct. After he passed, that recording became one of the most precious things she owned. Standing in the middle of her grief, she also saw something else clearly: how close she had come to never making it, and how many other families were in exactly that position right now, putting off precisely what she had nearly put off herself. EraLoom was her answer to that. She built it not as an outsider to loss, but as someone who understood from the inside what it means to almost miss your chance.
The Mission
EraLoom exists to make sure families don’t wait until it’s too late. The mission is simple: help families capture the voices and memories of their elders while they’re still here, and turn those stories into something that can outlast all of them.
The Market Context
Approximately 67 million Baby Boomers are alive in the United States today, 20% of the population, and the oldest are now turning 80. Research indicates that nearly 80% of family stories are lost within three generations, and 47% of Americans report regretting that they never recorded the voices of loved ones who are now gone. Families mean to act. Most don’t. EraLoom exists in that gap.
Where EraLoom Operates
EraLoom was founded in Hawaii where Theresa’s mother was born. Its roots are deep in Iowa, where Theresa’s father and his siblings were born and raised. EraLoom serves families across the United States through a growing network of Certified Storykeepers who share her passion for family story preservation.
Founded
January 2026, on her father’s birthday.
Contact
Theresa Ritchie, Founder | [email protected] | 319-343-6855 | eraloom.com
Frequently Asked Questions
For journalists, producers, and media inquiries
What exactly is EraLoom and what does it do?
EraLoom is a family story preservation service. We help families capture the voices, memories, and family stories of their elders through guided conversations, professionally produced legacy videos, and community workshops and memberships. Think of it as a structured, supported occasion to have the conversations you’ve been meaning to have, and to record them in a way that will last.
Who is EraLoom for?
EraLoom is for any family that has an elder whose stories matter, which is every family. Our workshops and services are designed to be accessible regardless of prior experience with recording, oral history, or technology. If you have a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or any elder whose voice you want to preserve, including your own, EraLoom is for you.
What does a legacy interview look like?
A guided legacy interview is a structured conversation, led by a trained EraLoom Storykeeper (facilitator), with an individual storyteller. The facilitator provides carefully curated questions covering childhood, formative experiences, beliefs, family history, and personal wisdom, and guides the conversation in a way that draws out stories the family may never have heard before. Sessions can be conducted in person or virtually and where audio and video are recorded.
What is a legacy film?
A legacy film is an elegantly produced short video that combines recorded interviews, select family photos, archival materials, and clean editing into a digital video keepsake. EraLoom works with families to gather their materials and produce a video that captures not just the facts of someone’s life, but the feel of it: the way they laughed, the stories they told, the wisdom they carried. Total video length typically runs between 20 and 30 minutes.
What happens at an EraLoom workshop?
EraLoom workshops are hands-on, community-based events designed to give families everything they need to start preserving their elder’s stories, in one afternoon. Participants learn practical recording techniques, receive a curated set of interview questions tailored for elders, and have time to practice in a supported group setting. Many people leave with their first recording already made. Workshops are free to attend, with optional paid follow-on services available.
Is this only for people who are facing illness or end of life?
Absolutely not, and this is one of the most important points EraLoom makes. The best time to preserve an elder’s stories is long before there’s any urgency. Elders who are healthy and sharp tell different, richer stories than those who are declining. EraLoom is for families who want to be proactive, not reactive. That said, if urgency is the reason a family comes to EraLoom, we meet them exactly where they are.
How is EraLoom different from just recording grandma myself?
The technology to record someone has never been more accessible, and yet most families don’t do it. The barrier isn’t equipment; it’s the structure, the questions, and the confidence to sit down and actually start. EraLoom provides all three. Our Storykeepers know how to ask questions that unlock stories. Our on-location “sets” are simple and unobtrusive. And our editing services turn raw footage into engaging short-form segments and beautifully produced programs to be treasured for generations.
What is EraLoom’s connection to Iowa?
Theresa Ritchie’s family roots run deep in Iowa. Her father, uncles, aunts, and grandparents built a life in Iowa and currently Theresa calls Iowa home. Iowa is where EraLoom is holding its first public workshop, in partnership with the Genealogical Society of Linn County Iowa, an organization whose members understand firsthand the cost of losing a story.
How can journalists or producers reach Theresa for an interview?
Theresa is available for print, podcast, radio, and television interviews. Please contact her directly at [email protected] or by phone at 319-343-6855. Best times to reach her are Monday through Friday, 4:00-7:00 PM CT. B-roll footage and additional spokesperson contacts are also available upon request.
Photo Assets
High-resolution images available for press use
FOUNDER PORTRAIT
Theresa Ritchie
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PRIMARY LOGO
EraLoom Logo
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MOBILE STUDIO
EraLoom Mobile Studio
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LEGACY VIDEO STILLS
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VIDEO PRODUCTION STILLS
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WORKSHOP GRAPHIC
Cedar Rapids - June 2026
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ORIGIN STORY PHOTOS
EraLoom Origin Story
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Photo Usage Notes
Print: All downloadable photos should be available at a 300 DPI minimum, suitable for print publication.
Digital: Web-optimized versions (72 DPI, sRGB) are available upon request at [email protected].
Media Rights: Photos are provided for editorial use in connection with coverage of EraLoom LLC. Please credit: “Courtesy EraLoom LLC” where publication standards require a photo credit. Commercial use requires written permission from EraLoom LLC.
Additional Assets: Additional high-resolution photography, B-roll video footage, and logo files in various formats are available upon request. Contact [email protected].
Media Contact
For interviews, photo requests, and press inquiries
Theresa Ritchie
Founder & CEO, EraLoom LLC
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Interview Availability
Theresa is available for print, podcast, radio, and television interviews. She brings warmth and specificity to conversations about family legacy, grief, memory, and the urgency of preservation. Interview prep materials available upon request.
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B-Roll Footage Available
B-roll footage is available including: Iowa-born family member interviews, real legacy film project footage, and workshop environment footage. Contact [email protected] for access.
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Additional Spokespeople
A spokesperson contact from our allies or community partners is available for comment on family history preservation and the broader context of Iowa genealogical research. Contact EraLoom to arrange.
Founded in Hawaiʻi · Rooted in Iowa · Serving families across the United States.
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