TJ WOODBERRY
NEW IN TOWN
TJ Woodberry has always been set apart in Tulsa.
While we may never always see her face, this mother, entrepreneur, and creative continues
to bring a new image to this city one leap at a time.
Black women move through this world
graceful, powerful, yet too often made to shrink.
We carve out space where there was none,
squeezing into conversations that should have always held our names.
In this edition of New In Town, I sat down with TJ Woodberry,
a visionary whose own journey gave life to Silk—
a sanctuary for “nappy-headed girls”
nestled in the heart of downtown Tulsa.
TJ has made it her mission to elevate Black women,
to craft experiences where we are not an afterthought but the foundation.
She has built a culture of inclusion, reshaping the norm,
creating wellness spaces where we are seen first—never last.
With a vision that stretches far beyond Tulsa,
she challenges the notion that wellness belongs only to white women.
Stepping into Silk, I felt memories long suppressed rise to the surface—
a recognition, a reclamation, a homecoming.
Every inch of Silk—its experience, its design, its intention—
is a love letter to Black women.
A reminder that we are worthy, that we belong,
that we have deserved to have our crowns adjusted.
Don’t forget to experience Silk for yourself and book an appointment.
Thank you TJ for your time and devotion to making our community better.
– Ashlee Reign
I have gotten the amazing pleasure of knowing you these past 3 years but can you formally introduce who you are and what you do?
Hi. My name is TJ Woodberry. My work consists of building elevated experiences in my community that are, women-led, women-focused, and black women-focused.
How has your experience been as a founder?
It's kind of fucking painful, honestly.
Maybe we shouldn't talk about that…but no- yeah. Let's talk about it. I think there's too much romanticizing entrepreneurship.
I hate that there's this big push for entrepreneurship.
A lot of people get into the business thinking they're gonna make their schedule and have a lot more freedom. That just could not be further from the truth. It's a lot of sacrifice, dinners with friends. Balancing social life and eighty-hour work weeks. It is also really special to be able to create something that just lived in your head and is now, you know, a manifestation of belief and power.
You're from Oklahoma City originally- what made you want to move to Tulsa and why build your concepts here?
Man, I kind of consider myself a Tulsan now, like I've been here since 2012. I built my first business here. I had my first exit here. I raised my daughter here. Tulsa has its challenges for sure, but Tulsa is a good town to build in. People are super supportive, and community is the primary focus. People will show up and people will support.
I am probably a tulsan for life.
Why startup a concept like Silk?
I've grown to realize I'm not special.
My experiences aren't super unique and so when I was experiencing this pain point, I knew that if it was an issue for me it's definitely an issue for other women, especially women with textured hair. I started with the idea of blowouts and silk presses. I love blowouts, it's my favorite thing. I love to have somebody else wash my hair, I just like being treated in that way. I would go to blowout bars and always have a sort of hit-or-miss experience. Either my stylist knew what she was doing and knew how to cater to my textured hair, or I was going in there and paying for my hair to get washed, and then I had to fix it afterward.
I remember reaching out to a couple of places I liked and reaching out to the ownership team to say, “Hey, this is my experience as a woman with kinky hair. I like this service. I like this experience. I would like to be able to leave with what I paid for and get my hair styled”
and that experience just led me to believe that there weren't a whole lot of people or organizations that had any interest in catering to nappy-haired girls like me. That silence was just deafening. Shout-out to Pressed Roots. I don't know if you've ever been there in Dallas, and now she's in Houston, Piersten is killing it, and so I started, and I wanted to bring something similar. Express services that cater to textured hair, and so I kind of just started pulling that thread.
In the process of that, I was finding opportunities to weave in my zone of genius, which is creating experiences. My sister is one of those people that loves to get her hair and nails done for me it's just always been a chore. So I began to ask and question how we can make this more of a vibe, more of an experience that I look forward to? This is why I built the parlor waiting area in silk, because I want your experience to start when you get here, and not necessarily right when you get in the chair.
It started with an annoyance, that I was experiencing myself and talking with friends, hearing that it was an ongoing issue for other people, like patiently waiting for somebody to fix it.
In our first ever conversation we chatted and bonded over how I was at the time working for a dry bar. You were telling me how you were thinking of one day starting this concept we are now sitting in 3 years later.
That’s so funny three years, wow I thought that maybe I just started taking it seriously about two years ago.. not like I'm, you know, skilled in this way. I can't do hair, I can't massage, I can't, you know, give you a facial-
Which is captivating as well, because most salon owners are hair stylists themselves. What made you want to take the unorthodox route of being more of a founder and finding talent to fill the space?
Being, essentially an outsider, is kind of what has set us apart. When you are a massage therapist that decides you want to open your practice- or a stylist you're looking at it through that very narrow lens, and because I am looking at it from the client's perspective, I'm building it the way I want to experience as a client.
Imani, an amazing stylist and colorist here in Tulsa. Her client, who I enjoyed visiting with, goes “Honey I know Imani is talking about, she don't like the lighting in here, but I'm gonna tell you, for me, I love it” And that was all of the validation I needed. I said, “Baby, I built it for you.”
When I envisioned this space, when I decided to move forward along this path, I was doing it from the perspective of this chair. Thankfully, with the team, oh my god shout out to Stephanie shout out to Jaslyn but they have just empowered and enabled me to be able to deliver top-level service and to attract, and retain some amazing talent. So yeah, shout out to the team.
I'd love to hear more about the process of designing the space what was the ideation process like? Why design the space to be so immersive?
Shout out to Bailey Lafitte, A, B. Lafitte design- one of my best friends and favorite humans on the planet. I've had the good fortune to work with Bailey multiple times across multiple projects, and she's just amazing. She and I have developed a sort of shorthand that is so rare, and I know you can appreciate this as an artist yourself, but half of the challenge In branding and messaging is being able to transcribe what you see in your head and communicate that effectively to someone else. I can see things, but I can't do them. So Bailey and I have worked together really well. When we were in the ideating stage, we were talking about everything- down to the simplicity of the name Silk. Silk is what you wear when you want to feel sexy; it's an elevated material. It's soft, it's enveloping, but it's also one of the strongest materials, like us, girl. So trying to bring that feeling into every element of the interior design. I wanted it to be fun and feminine, but not too girly. That's why we went with the fig maroon it's like, this is very feminine but a little more mature and sexy. We got more playful in our V.IPink suite here. I just wanted the features to speak for themselves and we like round shapes. It’s a feminine shape, it's fun and flirty. You see it with the arches and waves throughout the space. Lighting was a big focus, we probably spent the most time working on the lighting pieces. I think it is so unfortunate that lightning is often overlooked in design, lighting sets the tone for the overall feel and experience so we wanted to get this part right.
We were trying to bring that elevated experience in, but also to make it fun.
It's beautiful. I know that you guys created space for men to come and experience what silk has to offer as well. I commend you guys for doing a great job of balancing the two and allowing many types of people to come and experience this.
You've focused on curating safe spaces for black women. What is the importance of a place like silk for black women?
I feel like normally, when you are a woman or man with textured hair you're getting some of these services done in a household or a studio/ shop. You’re not getting that luxury salon experience - the fact that you were able to merge the two fascinates me.
Yes, so to be clear, silk is focused on experiences of black women. We have historically been an afterthought in every space. Because of this I wanted to center these experiences for black women, but we cater to all hair textures and types, and that's something I'm super proud of - so anybody can come in and get an amazing experience at Silk.
Wellness is not just for white women, in so many spaces and experiences where I did want a luxury experience- Because you know, before I did this, your girI had a company doing $30 million in annual sales. I was blowing a bag at the spa, blowing a bag at the salon and I felt like it was time for us to be centered and catered to in these spaces. We deserve luxury and there's something so special and intimate about getting your hair done and having your crown adjusted as a black woman. For so many of us black women, that is our crown of femininity. The confidence that a woman exudes when she feels good about herself and when she feels good about how she looks is something that is game changing,I love and am proud of what we've done at Poppi’s, it being an equalizer and a safe space for everyone. I wanted to kind of build on that with silk and I think we did.
I'm excited to see how many different types of people your space will hold because I do think it will be one of the more if not the most diverse salons in the city.
And that's something that I look forward to Creating inclusive spaces is my overarching why, so excited to see how that develops.
Where do you think Silk is headed as a company and concept?
We are super excited to continue to develop our brand here locally, but we already have had a handful of clients that have traveled to experience this. I hope that we can serve other communities in the future. We are super excited to continue to develop our Special Event Services like bridal parties and we're excited to work with the developing film community here in Oklahoma.
It’s an exciting thought, to think that a concept like Silk could be acquired by or a source of inspiration by entrepreneurs in New York, Dallas, Or LA. Normally it's those big city concepts coming to smaller cities. So Silk expanding is exactly what we need for the city. That's the whole purpose behind articles like New In Town, our aspiration for Tulsa as Revision Studios is that larger cities wouldn't sleep on what smaller cities have to offer, we have this beauty about our community and we have crazy grit.
People who are still looking at Oklahoma and Tulsa as a flyover state are playing themselves because we have incredible talent. So yes we've got some global ambitions for Silk.
What would your advice be for someone who has great ambition but struggles to find an opportunity?
I would say, if you're looking for an opportunity to match that level of ambition, don't quit your day job. I can't tell you how many different careers across so many different fields that I’ve had. The things that I've learned in the car business are completely applicable, and I use them in daily life. What do they say? Luck is the intersection of preparation and opportunities. Continuing to work on that skill set and waiting for that opportunity but leveraging your daytime job and your steady, stable income. You can learn, you can get an education on somebody else's dime. I think that's underrated as an entrepreneur, look at your job as more of a paid internship
What is your take on Tulsa? What would you say our strengths and weaknesses are as a city in regards to supporting concepts like this?
I'm very grateful that Tulsa is getting the well-deserved national recognition it has been getting through our cool creative businesses like Et.Al, like Cat Cox's Country Bird Bakery, the Gathering Place. What I've learned in Tulsa is that our community is thirsty, excited, and ready to support great ideas.
How do you think creatives can embrace business? And how can businesses embrace creatives? Sometimes, especially in Tulsa, it could feel like oil and water and the result of that is an opportunity for a good partnership missed. So with you being someone who's versed in both worlds and has been able to successfully collaborate with lots of creatives, and with lots of business owners, what would your advice be for us to merge the two
You don't have one without the other is the issue. Approaching with more curiosity on both sides is a good place to start. I think just knowing that one doesn't exist without the other. It's hard to answer. It's just like breathing for me, it's just something I've never even had to consider how do I embrace creatives I've always just done it.
You kind of are in this twofold. I think that's why people resonate with what you create because it's so thought out, not only experience-wise or creatively but functional to the point where it can succeed as a business and stay thriving.
That is kind of an unfortunate thing we've had some cool concepts that didn't make it, and that's unfortunate. I think the biggest thing is just knowing where your strengths lie and knowing that, especially in this community in Tulsa, everybody wants to see you win. I do feel that. For me, one of my biggest challenges was getting out of my way and asking for help, being humble enough to reach out and ask for help was super impactful.
How can the city champion you, this vision, and this beautiful space you've provided us?
I love hearing real feedback and real experiences. I'm one of those people that is annoying and always wants to hear feedback. I'm always thinking about how it could be better. I kind of did that earlier, when you were here. You were talking about the space, and I was picking it apart. Yeah, it's like 80% good, but how do we get to that next level? How do we make it a little bit better? So I welcome feedback,
I would love the opportunity to continue to collaborate with the community and collaborate with my peers too. I think that there is enough for all of us, I am not overly competitive in the space. So book an appointment, and give me some real feedback. Reach out!
