Jamie Ann Yocono is the definition of "girl power" in the woodworking community. She is killing it both with her custom furniture and her thriving wood school, Wood it Is! in North Las Vegas, Nevada. She's made pieces for exacting customers around the world (one particularly funny story she told me involved building a piece for the Prince of Saudi Arabia), and every woodworking class she runs is sold out with a waiting list. I had a ball interviewing Jamie this past weekend in her shop- we laughed a lot, commiserated about some of the finer points of being a woman woodworker, and, as I'm sure is the case with everyone who talks to Jamie, I learned a whole lot too.

Jamie grew up in Los Angeles and started doing woodwork in her dad's workshop as a child. She took woodshop in high school and went on to get her BGS in Furniture Design from Ohio University. She's very grateful for the flexibility her undergrad program afforded her, as she was able to take upholstery, engineering, glass blowing, stone sculpture, bronze casting and jewelry casting. After university, Jamie studied to become a journeyman carpenter, "but," she laughed as she told me, "I'm only 5 feet tall. So I opened my own cabinet shop."

Eventually, she "fell into" teaching, filling a position at a local college, when a friend was in a bind to find an instructor. Even though I only spent a weekend with Jamie, I can tell she's a fantastic teacher. She's kind, patient, insanely talented, fun to be around, and her passion for the craft is infectious. Her instruction style is also fairly unique. She teaches students to build without a tape measure, and doesn't allow students to use cut lists. "Cut lists are just asking for you to make a mistake." Jamie inspires creativity by requiring students to include, in every piece, at least one design element that reflects something personal. The students in her beginning classes often make cutting boards with decorative plugs, each of the plugs with personal significance attached for the maker. Four plugs for the maker's four children, one plug for a deceased family member, and so on. You'll find such markings on Jamie's own pieces - on the final chair for the dining set she built for her home, there is a Morse-code message inlaid on the back reading "finished."

Many of the skills she learned in university have come in very handy as she continues to diversify her designs, often incorporating more than one medium in a single piece. With the Air Force being such a huge part in Las Vegas, Jamie makes a lot of commissions for military people - both past and present. One of my favorite pieces she's built, a display case for a pilot helmet, incorporates pieces salvaged from an aircraft in the place of every-day cabinet hardware. In the 1990's she started getting into ceramics and started incorporating them into her projects - inlaid ceramic tile in the tops of tables and buffets to protect the wood from hot pan bottoms, and things like that, but has since begun to design entire projects around the tiles she wants to include.

I asked Jamie if she had any funny stories about being a woman in a male dominated industry. She laughed and said funny things happen all the time. One time she was teaching a class and an elderly gentleman came in to speak with her before the rest of the students arrived. As the students filed in, one by one, they introduced themselves to the gentleman, assuming he was the teacher. Jamie winked at him and told him to play along, and finally, after everyone had arrived, she stood up and introduced herself as the actual teacher and the room filled with embarrassed giggles.

When it comes to the novice woodworker, Jamie has three really valuable pieces of advice. First, "I think anyone can make a living as a woodworker, but you have to find a niche, know it backwards and forwards, in and out. Make it something you're never going to get tired of making. Focus on something, some skill, some piece, and master it. If you're making the best of something, no matter what it is, people will want it." Second, "don't use crappy tools as an excuse for crappy work. Use whatever you've got to make cool stuff. I could remodel a whole house with a Ryobi tablesaw." And third, "everyone, regardless of their skill level, should take a beginning woodworking class. There is always something to learn, and humility goes a very long way in this industry. Even if you're an expert in the field, it never hurts to learn a new method of doing something, to get a refresher in safety, or, if nothing else, to build community with other local woodworkers."

So instead of our usual beginner's project for this month's edition of "Where are all the girls in the shop?" Your homework is to sign up for a beginning woodworking class. Take it, and share with us what you learned.

Anne Briggs Bohnett is a 26 year old woodworker out of Seattle, Washington. She and her husband Adam own and operate a small farm aimed at teaching youngsters about animal husbandry, traditional woodwork, and it's also where their food comes from! Anne has been seriously pursuing woodwork with a focus on handtool use for three years and is passionate about the preservation of traditional methods and skills and building community.

Anne can be reached directly via email at briggs.anne@gmail.com and you can check out her website at www.anneofalltrades.com .