College student from Crystal Lake launches lip balm company, latest in series of ventures

For Crystal Lake native Nick Militello, entrepreneurship has always been in his blood. Before graduating from Prairie Ridge High School in 2023, he sold carp fish, did technology repair and even peddled bonsai pots. “I’ve been messing around with businesses since I was, I think, 5,” he said. In high school, Militello started McHenry County Riding Mower Removal, a business where he would pick up people’s broken-down mowers for free, fix them up and resell them online. Now a senior at the University of Illinois, majoring in mechanical engineering, Militello launched a patent-pending lip balm company called VORO. He said the funds he saved from his mower removal company helped him with this latest venture. The innovative lip balm design looks like a flat card that easily fits in a wallet or phone case and can clip onto a keychain.“My girlfriend, the other day, she went to a concert and slipped it into her boot,” he said. Militello came up with the idea with a classmate during his freshman