In spring 2020, during the COVID pandemic, Tonda Thompson’s son accidentally broke her coffee table. Instead of buying a replacement – most nonessential businesses were still closed at the time – she looked up a few furniture-making tutorials on YouTube and started building her own.
She posted photos of the results online, hoping a few friends might appreciate the work she put into the project. “Ten days later, I had ten orders,” she says. Thrilled with the instant interest, Thompson decided to launch a woodworking business: She Slangs Wood.
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She had learned about the basics of woodworking while enrolled at Valley Tech High School but lacked professional training. She made up for it in determination and creativity. “It’s pretty therapeutic,” she says. “I realized that I like being creative.”
Now, from her Harambee workshop and storefront, Thompson creates everything from cutting boards to bookshelves to a bench that folds into a table – the last one a viral hit that landed her on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” in 2021.
Soon after opening, Thompson started teaching woodworking classes, operating a sawmill and carpentry construction company, and offering custom fencing for Milwaukee-area homeowners. She sometimes hires young Black women to help with these fencing projects.
“Last year, there was a 17-year-old girl that worked for us, and she was making the kind of money an actual carpenter makes,” Thompson says. “She was only in high school, and she can build fences better than any man I know.”
Sustainability is another cornerstone of her work. Through a partnership with Forest Home Cemetery, she repurposes their fallen logs into furniture.
Overall, the community response has been overwhelmingly positive, she says.
“We put a lot of quality into the work.” Thompson has become passionate about helping her apprentices find opportunities in the trades.
As she gears up for her five-year anniversary, Thompson hopes to continue scaling up her business. “I’m trying really hard to delegate right now,” she says, adding that she’d love to help more women of color follow in her footsteps and take up carpentry.
