How Natasha Broxton Built a Different Kind of Automotive Business

Natasha Broxton calls Select Auto Parts "the concierge service of auto parts."

It's not marketing language. It’s how she fundamentally reimagined what an auto recycling business could be. In an industry where customers typically trudge through outdoor yards, brave the elements, and pull their own parts off vehicles, Natasha built something different: Milwaukee's only indoor auto recycler, where parts are already removed, shelved, and ready when customers arrive.

"My parts are already off the vehicles, they're on the shelf, and they're ready to go," she explains. "This building is 125,000 square feet filled with auto parts."

Fourteen years in business. One of the nation's few Black woman-owned auto recycling operations. No traditional outside funding; and a team so committed that some employees have been there since day one.

This is what happens when someone sees problems that others have normalized and refuses to accept them as inevitable.

From Family Roots to Industry Innovation

Natasha didn't enter automotive recycling from the outside. Her husband has run a tire recycling business for over forty years, maintaining relationships with yards like hers across the region. She watched the industry up close. She saw the delays customers faced when ordering parts, the harsh conditions workers endured dismantling vehicles outdoors, and the inefficiencies everyone seemed to accept as “just how things worked.”

She saw a better way.

Select Auto Parts became the solution to problems she'd witnessed firsthand. Repair shops, body shops, and fleet operators needed parts quickly and reliably. They didn't want to wait while someone pulled a component off a car in a rainstorm. They didn't want to wonder if the part would actually be there when they arrived.

"When you read our Google reviews, that's exactly what they say," Natasha notes. First-time callers are often surprised: they don't have to pull parts themselves. Everything is ready when they get there.

The concierge approach extends beyond local customers. Select ships parts nationwide, serving mechanics and shops across the country who've discovered that this Milwaukee operation delivers what it promises.

Scaling Without a Safety Net

Fourteen years of business built without traditional outside funding. No venture capital. No bank loans cushioning the risks. Just grit, creativity, and the weight of responsibility for everyone depending on her.

"I have to make this work," Natasha says simply. "Not just for my family, but for my team members, for my community. We're one of the only auto parts facilities on the north side of Milwaukee."

The pressure of self-funded growth taught her to be resourceful, studying the numbers, sharpening her marketing, and getting creative with both internal and external strategy. It wasn't easy. She's honest about that.

"I'm grateful for how far we've come and how we've been able to grow and that we're still here. There's so many businesses that don't even make it this long."

But she also holds space for the question that entrepreneurs who bootstrap alone inevitably face: what if? What if capital had been accessible? How much further could she have gone?

There's no bitterness in the reflection. Just clear-eyed acknowledgment that access shapes outcomes and pride in what she's built regardless.

"I get to take that bragging right," she says. "That headline: scaling the business without the capital."

Systems That Transfer Knowledge

Early in her career, Natasha did everything. Inventory. Marketing. Customer service. Answering phones. Every position in an auto recycling facility short of physically removing parts from vehicles. She had to; there was no one else.

The challenge became transferring that accumulated knowledge to others. How do you teach someone to evaluate a vehicle when you've spent fourteen years developing that expertise?

Technology became the answer. AI tools now allow her to photograph a vehicle, input the make, model, and VIN number, and generate a dismantling report that outlines exactly which parts can be salvaged and how.

"Now I can bring my high schooler in and teach her to do the same thing," Natasha explains. "Giving access to someone who may not have that fourteen-year tenure in this industry to be able to pass the torch."

One young man from a workforce development program learned inventory management through these systems. He took initiative, using AI tools to research which batteries would fit which vehicles, problem-solving independently because the technology empowered him to do so.

"That's the type of things that you see around here a lot," Natasha says. "I'm actually learning from my team members."

The operational excellence isn't about rigid control. It’s about clarity in how expectations are set, how processes are structured, and how ownership is defined. When systems are laid out and reviewed regularly, when team input shapes processes, when data informs decisions, accountability becomes natural rather than imposed.

Culture That Keeps People

In an industry notorious for turnover, Natasha has team members who've been with her since the business opened. That longevity isn't accidental.

"When you recognize that your employees, I like to call them team members, they're the reasons why we're able to serve our customers," she reflects. "They're the reasons why we've been here for fourteen years."

The relationship is reciprocal. Natasha entered the industry without experience and relied on her team's expertise to learn. "Iron sharpens iron," she describes the dynamic. She trusts them; they trust her. The knowledge flows in both directions.

That culture extends to how she builds her workforce. Natasha partners with local workforce development programs, hiring individuals who might face barriers elsewhere, including people with disabilities.

"If you know how to use a phone, I can teach you how to do inventory," she says. "I'm willing to be patient and teach people and introduce them to this industry."

The 2025 Wisconsin Exemplary Employer Award recognized this approach. The award honors businesses that support people and families with disabilities, a cause personal to Natasha, who serves as caregiver to her disabled sister.

"Having the type of environment that's welcoming, that's inclusive, actually put us at the top of the list for that award."

Customer Service as Competitive Advantage

Before auto recycling, Natasha spent ten years in AT&T's business office. She handled difficult customers. She learned to keep composure. She developed a service orientation that most auto yards have never considered.

"It's a rough, rugged type of environment," she acknowledges of the industry, "even from yard-to-yard communication. And I bring something different."

That difference shows in every customer interaction. When someone calls and she doesn't have the part, she refers them elsewhere; even to competitors, even to eBay if that's the best option. The honesty sometimes disappoints regular customers who'd rather buy from her.

"That stuff is never right," they tell her when she sends them elsewhere. The trust she's built makes her referrals painful, because customers know what they're missing.

Integrity extends to peer relationships. Yard-to-yard dynamics have shifted from competition to collaboration.

"If I don't have it, they're referring customers to me, and I know I can refer customers to them as well."

Even when a customer doesn't buy anything, Natasha's team asks for a Google review. "Google is working for you when you sleep," she teaches them. Reputation compounds over time.

Recognition That Validates the Work

In 2025, Select Auto Parts was named one of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Top 100 Businesses, a recognition that brought Natasha to Washington, D.C., surrounded by honorees from across the nation.

"Me being in the automotive industry and being one of the top 100 businesses in the nation was just an amazing experience," she reflects.

The award validated fourteen years of work she had been too busy building to fully measure.

“We get so caught up in the work that sometimes we don’t see the impact until something like that happens,” she reflects. “Now that I have that, they can’t take it away.”

Building Space for Others

Select Auto Parts operates with a team of seven. Three are women, including Natasha and her daughter, who handles sales. The representation isn't about quotas; it's about seeing potential over pedigree.

"I'm not going to not hire you because you've never worked in this industry before or you don't know what a specific auto part is," Natasha says. "If you're coachable and willing to learn, I can teach you how to do auto parts. Because that was me."

She hires for culture fit, curiosity, and coachability. With technology eliminating knowledge barriers, there are no excuses for gatekeeping anymore.

The legacy Natasha wants to leave extends beyond her own business. She wants to see more Black and Brown people in automotive recycling. More women, period. She wants the next generation to look at the industry and see themselves reflected in it.

"I would love to be able to say that I was at an automotive recycling conference and they were going around the room, first generation, second generation, third generation. I'm first generation. I want my kids to be able to say, 'I'm second generation.'"

Let Your Light Shine

Natasha's advice transcends automotive. It's about the mindset required to build anything from nothing.

"Having a willingness to be able to figure it out," she says. "You have the mindset that you're going to make this work by any means necessary. What do I need to do? What spaces do I need to be in? How do I need to educate myself? What do I need to change?"

And then: "Go out and just let your light shine in whatever field that may be in. If it ends up in automotive recycling, welcome to the party."

Fourteen years ago, Natasha saw problems the industry had normalized. She didn't accept them. She built something better. Indoors. Organized. Customer-centered. People-first. She scaled without outside capital, developed systems that transfer knowledge to the next generation, and created a culture where employees stay for years.

The concierge of auto parts. It's not just a tagline. It's proof of what's possible when someone refuses to settle for how things have always been done.

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