Darci Shannon, National Hardwood Lumber Association

Darci Shannon walked into her first hardwood convention determined to spend as little as possible. She had talked her boss into joining the association, negotiated the booth cost down, and told them she would bring her own trash can rather than pay for one. Fifteen minutes onto the show floor, the small saw shop she worked for closed the biggest sale in its history.

In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with Darci Shannon, membership services advisor for the National Hardwood Lumber Association, to talk about what an association actually does for a hardwood lumber business and why the smallest members get most of her attention. Darci trained as a teacher, walked away from teaching and coaching during COVID, and took a job running the office and the sales desk at a small saw shop in rural Missouri, handling band and circle blades for mills. She pushed her employer to join the NHLA before she fully understood what it was. A few years later the association wanted her, had no open role, and made one.

You'll hear how membership actually breaks down, from the mills and cabinet makers through to the sustaining members who serve the industry rather than produce hardwood lumber. Saw blades, lubricants, even the trash bags every sawmill goes through. Without those services, as Darci puts it, nobody produces anything. She describes the part of the job she cares about most, which is being the person someone calls when they do not know who to call. One member, a small distributor hunting for walnut who had never been to a convention, got pointed toward a source in Missouri and is still buying from them. She also covers the saw filing classes she set up, the scholarships attached to them, and the thermally modified wood session drawing the most interest at this year's show in Cleveland.

The conversation gets honest about the mood in hardwood lumber right now. Darci names the doomsday mentality as her biggest obstacle and lays out what the association is doing about it: new publications aimed at architects and designers, a push to get wood specified before the job goes to an alternative product that costs less and gets replaced sooner, and the federal advocacy work she has joined in Washington the last few years. Jennifer, who was born into a forestry family and works in urban salvaged and reclaimed wood, makes the case for wood as a future antique, the one material you can keep reusing while the carbon stays locked inside it. Darci can be reached at d.shannon@nhla.com, and the association is at nhla.com.

Chapters00:00 What the NHLA Does for the Hardwood Lumber Industry01:13 From Teaching to a Saw Shop to a Job They Created03:55 Membership Levels and the Services Behind Hardwood Lumber05:38 The Job Is Connecting People10:45 The Walnut Buyer Who Found a Source at Convention12:31 Saw Filing Classes and Thermally Modified Wood22:14 Fighting the Doomsday Mentality in Hardwood Lumber

The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger

For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com

See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com

Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io

Connect with us at:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetworkJoin our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork

You can connect with Darci at:https://www.linkedin.com/in/darci-shannon-9054222a5/