Natasha Broxton, Owner of Select Auto Parts & Sales

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Photo courtesy of Natasha Broxton

Natasha Broxton

Natasha Broxton

A junker is a car most of us have already given up on. It’s been smashed in a crash, flooded out, rusted through, or simply worn down by time and neglect. It won’t start. It won’t move. It’s the kind of vehicle people call a clunker, a heap, a rust bucket, a hooptie, and then forget about as soon as it’s towed away. But junkers aren’t worthless. Not really. Inside them reside parts that still work, metal that can still be reused, and stories that aren’t quite finished yet.

That’s where Natasha Broxton enters the scene.

Broxton is the president and owner of Select Auto Parts and Sales, a business she has quietly built into a success by seeing value where others do not. Her operation sits at 2500 W. Cornell Street in Milwaukee’s central city, inside a massive 145,000 square foot indoor salvage yard. It’s one of the few Black-owned auto parts recycling businesses in the country.

With a staff of eight employees, Broxton has a team that dismantles dying vehicles piece by piece, pulling engines, doors, transmissions, and scrap metal from cars that have reached their last stop. Some vehicles even get a second chance. They are repaired, restored, and resold. It’s hard, hands-on work, but it matters. The work keeps parts affordable, materials out of landfills, and people moving.

So how does a 44-year-old Black woman with six children run this demanding business for more than a dozen years? I decided to find out. What I discovered was a sharp entrepreneur with a big personality and a habit of helping others while she’s building something of her own. 

Tell me about your background, where you grew up, your parents, neighborhood, and schools.

I was born and raised in Milwaukee. Single mom. My dad was not a part of my life. We lived in various places, mainly in the north side areas. I attended different schools, but I graduated from Milwaukee High School of the Arts in the year 2000.

You are the president and owner of Select Auto Parts and Sales. How did you get into the salvage yard business?

My husband has owned a tire recycling business for about 40 years. It’s called Tires Express. He processes a million tires a year. Auto dealers and repair shops pay him to get rid of their tires. I had just stopped working for AT&T, and we were raising our family. I was also doing the accounting and marketing for his tire business. In 2012, we came across this 145,000 square foot building that housed thousands of junk tires. It’s located on Cornell and Teutonia. The owner was unable to sell the building, and we bought it. We decided to turn it into an indoor used auto parts and salvage yard business. That’s how Select Auto Parts and Sales began. We opened in 2013.

Are you selling only used auto parts? Are all of your junk cars inside the indoor salvage yard?

We buy cars and pay the customers cash. We take all the salvageable parts from the cars, recycle and sell them. We partner with a repair and body shop who might buy some of the parts. But I do have a dealer’s license and sell some of the used cars. All our cars and parts are housed indoors.

You are head of this business. How did you learn about auto parts and salvaged cars?

Just had to figure it out on my own. I learned all the auto parts from my customers. I had to learn the industry language and the standards. 

What is the most challenging thing you deal with on a day-to-day basis?

Learning the different auto parts terminologies that customers talk about. I also had to learn the inventory system in order to manage the whole thing. That took years. If you’d talk to me today, you’d think I am a mechanic, but I’ve never worked on a car. I’ve also had to learn to handle customers. They sometimes might get mad.

You once said, “I’ve learned over the years that most business founders don’t struggle because they lack ability, they struggle because everything lives in their head.” What do you mean by that?

That describes me in the beginning. Not wanting to let go, controlling everything. I’ve learned to carefully train my team members to have the same knowledge I have and let go of control. I’ve hired people who have no experience because I have the tools to train them. I partner with MATC and Milwaukee Vincent High School, and I train students over the summers. I teach them how to answer the phones, how to search for the auto parts, do the paperwork. I teach them money management. 

Here is a quote from you: “We make the process of selling a junk car even easier for our customers. At Select Auto Parts & Sales, we are more than just a junkyard.”

I have the knowledge to give a good quote for a junk car. I know what every part would be worth. I don’t even care what the car looks like. Generally, a customer will just want the cash. But we make sure the customer owns the vehicle, has the title, and we record the vin number and the id number. We are licensed by the state. Our goal is to pick up at least five cars a day. That keeps me in stock with the auto parts that customers need.

You are a Black woman in a male-dominated field. How does that feel? 

It can be intimidating. When I went to a conference of auto parts industry people in Utah several months ago, I was the only Black person there. I had to remind myself that I’m supposed to be an equal because I’m working as hard as anyone else. I’m one of the only Black women who owns a recycled auto parts shop in the nation.

Being a woman business owner, have you been able to get access to capital?

I built this business without any access to capital. That is not an option for me. At the same time, if I had access to capital, I could probably do a lot more. I could grow this business by 10 times and offer many more jobs. 

Last year, you launched Automotive in Black to highlight the contributions of African Americans in the automotive world. How is that doing currently?

This will be my third year of Automotive in Black. I love Black history, but I wanted to go deeper, and honor Black people involved in the auto industry. Every February, I honor a Black person influential in automobile history, from Garrett Morgan, the inventor of the traffic light, to C.R. Patterson, the first Black automaker. I do this online, and people love it. This year in 2026, I am partnering with local colleges and schools. My goal is to attract more people of color in the auto industry.

I read that you had planned to expand Automotive in Black into mentorship programs with schools. Have you been able to do that? 

Like I said before, I work with the Milwaukee Vincent High School students. What’s great is that these kids are computer savvy. I teach them how to scan and take pictures of the parts. They learn e-commerce and sales, and also customer service. Those kids know how to use their phones, so it is easier for me to teach them about inventory. Some of them are easier to work with than adults. They don’t complain. They show up on time, and they love getting their paychecks. 

I understand you put together a Playbook that walks through the 5-Step system you use to help business founders scale with more clarity and simplicity. What are some of those steps? 

Let me name the five steps: 

• Systemization: implementing systems for clarity and control, turning chaos into calm.

• Community Focus: on economic mobility, sustainability, and visibility.

• Practical Training: content planning, and value-driven marketing, not just selling.

• Breaking Barriers: empowering women and minorities to enter non-traditional industries.

• Documentation: keeping documents organized, making them simple.

Here is another quote from you: “This year didn’t just grow my business—it grew me.”  Can you elaborate?

I’m kind of an introvert, but when I started posting about Automotive in Black, I realized that people wanted to see me. I love teaching and helping people, but I’m in this shell. Over the years, people would come in and express amazement that I was a Black woman who owns this auto parts business. In 2025, I realized that it was important for me to be seen, locally and on a national level. In 2025, I won a Black Excellence Award, and I also completed the Goldman Sachs 10,000 small business program, which forced me to get outside my business. I learned that my business could run without me always being there because I have the procedures in place. 

You are a co-founder of Unity in Action, a faith-based nonprofit organization working to bridge racial divides. What does Unity in Action do to bridge the divides?

I live in Brookfield in order to get better schools for my kids, but I rarely see people that look like me, even in church. This prompted me to study racial history and how whites left some city neighborhoods for the suburbs after Blacks came up from the south. We try to get the Brookfield schools to include Black history, arts and crafts in the curriculum. We have plans to set up play dates that are multicultural. Most city Black people will never go out to Brookfield, and most suburban whites will never go into the Milwaukee central city. I am involved with Build a Bridge, bringing racial groups together.

You are 44 years old.  How many children do you have?

I birthed six children. My youngest is four, and my oldest is 26. I have two grandchildren.

How do you possibly find the time to be a parent and a successful business owner?

Many of my kids grew up here in this building. I’d even bring a baby here with a bassinet. My 22-year-old daughter works here in customer service. My 9th grader comes into work here on Saturday.