The skilled trades have built nations — from homes, schools and roads to commercial buildings and infrastructure that power daily life. Yet too often, the tradespeople who weld pipe, and the plumbers and HVAC technicians who ensure necessities (and even luxuries) are installed and working properly — remain invisible.

We take for granted that they are always there, so it’s easy to forget what life looks like without them.

Frankly, we wouldn’t be a civilized nation without the builders who bring blueprints to life.

A new grassroots initiative is working to change that.

Trades Build America, a newly formed, family-led for-profit organization based in Iowa, blends patriotism, humor, entrepreneurship and storytelling into a movement aimed at elevating the skilled trades and strengthening the workforce pipeline. The heart of its mission is simple: celebrate the people who keep America moving forward — and help ensure that the next generation knows the trades aren’t a backup plan, but a powerful career path. 

How? 

By raising awareness of how integrated the skilled trades are in our everyday lives and providing an opportunity to fund scholarships for those who want to be plumbers, HVAC techs, pipefitters or electricians.  

Jennie Wunderlich is president and owner of Studio H20, a wholesale luxury showroom in Iowa City, Iowa, and a leader in her family-owned company, PSC Distribution. She and her family launched Trades Build America, a for-profit organization with a clear mission: to celebrate the people who keep America moving forward and bring the trades into the spotlight.

Her children — Gwen, 15; Samantha, 17; and Calvin, 11 — also wanted to make an impact. Together, they aim to draw attention to the trades and help more people enter the industry.

“Trades Build America is a business we created to highlight the people in the trades, introduce these occupations to those who might not have thought of them as a career path, and let everyone in America and the world know that trades are very much needed,” says Gwen Wunderlich, the middle child of the Wunderlich family and a 10th grader. She adds, “Unfortunately, the trades are overlooked most of the time.”

Today, the family is building what could become a national platform: part awareness campaign, part community connector, part scholarship engine — and part brand.

Through merchandise sales of creative T-shirts, hats and decals via social media outreach and video spotlights of trades professionals, Trades Build America raises awareness for the trades while also working to fund scholarships for students pursuing trade careers. In the long term, the organization hopes to connect young people with training opportunities and encourage schools and communities nationwide to bring skilled trades back into the center of career conversations.

“We’re hoping we’ll be able to not only recognize those in the trades, but also provide scholarships for people who need financial help to get into the trades,” Gwen Wunderlich explains, “and highlight trades programs to hopefully help kids around the United States find places where they can find their passion, whether as an electrician, plumber, builder, or other tradesperson.”

AI cannot install your toilet

Trades Build America was born from a familiar refrain.

Jennie Wunderlich is a former winner of The Wholesaler magazine’s Showroom of the Year award. She has deep family ties to wholesale distribution and industry circles and has heard the same message repeatedly from trades business owners, including builders, plumbers, electricians and HVAC contractors.

“I would hear over and over again — I need workforce, I need workforce!” she says.

To address the pipeline issue, Jennie Wunderlich created Grow and Connect, a program designed to connect students with job shadows and career exposure through Home Builders Association businesses. However, even with opportunity available, she saw a major obstacle: many students and parents are not aware of what the trades can offer.

“I was so frustrated because quite often schools or parents were unaware of the opportunities in the trades,” she says. “They weren’t even on their radar at all.”

That awareness gap, paired with the perception that the construction trades are “less than,” is what Trades Build America is designed to disrupt. “If you don’t have someone you know in the trades, it’s hard to get people to understand what a viable and fulfilling career path it can be,” Jennie Wunderlich explains. “I want to change that. So, how can we change that? Then we had an idea.”

The idea took shape through a familiar Midwest lens: identity-based slogans and brands that represent pride and purpose.

“In the Midwest, ANF, which stands for America Needs Farmers, is really popular,” Jennie Wunderlich notes. “I thought, ‘Why can’t we do that for the trades? Why can’t we have something that, when people see it, it reminds them of the impact of the trades?’”

When brainstorming about a name for outreach, they drew on familiar territory. “First of all, we’re patriotic, so we wanted something with America in there,” Jennie Wunderlich says. The Wunderlich family has deep ties to the military: both Jennie Wunderlich and her husband, Ben Wunderlich, graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point. She served as a quartermaster officer and he as an ordinance officer — and they wanted a name to evoke patriotism and mission.

They also wanted something that would stop people mid-stride and make them smile. The result was a line of T-shirts featuring bold slogans that spark conversation — and shift perceptions.

The first T-shirt created was: “AI won’t be installing your toilet.”

Jennie Wunderlich notes, “We are trying to use humor to catch people’s eye, and then we can start talking about it.”

The message is timely. While artificial intelligence (AI) is changing parts of business, it is not replacing the realities of skilled labor — the hands-on work that keeps buildings, infrastructure and communities functioning.

A youth-driven initiative

Trades Build America isn’t only a symbolic family project. Each member plays a working role in the business. Samantha Wunderlich, an 11th-grader, leads creative execution and video editing: “I help with the social media aspect. I’m not on social media myself, but I help create and edit the videos.” In addition, she supports the branding and collateral. “I help with designing the thank-you notes, the T-shirt designs and the website — everything on the creative side!” 

Sibling Gwen Wunderlich tracks performance, product trends and the business details behind Trades Build America’s merchandise drops. “I mainly do the finances — the spreadsheets, running the numbers and paying bills,” she explains. She beams as she says, “I love talking about Trades Build America!”

Calvin Wunderlich brings energy and confidence to the endeavor.

“I share ideas, help sales and also model the shirts,” he says, smiling. “We have long-sleeved shirts, short-sleeved shirts and also decals.” Jennie Wunderlich adds, “He is our salesman, promoter and cheerleader.”

It is truly a family affair — and one driven by a mission the next generation is helping lead.

Why the grassroots matter

For the Wunderlich family, the mission isn’t abstract. It’s rooted in what students do and don’t notice. The opportunity for a career within the trades often isn’t on their radar, and the family believes it should be.

Gwen Wunderlich sees it in her own peer group, where friends may not understand how directly the trades impact daily life. “We see the house already built with all the lighting, the plumbing and HVAC that works,” she says. “Others don’t understand what or who it takes to make these things work.”

For Samantha Wunderlich, her peer group sees the issue a little differently: “I have some friends who understand (about the trades). We have a good student build program at our school, but most schools do not. So, people in our school understand that we really need trades, but they don’t understand how to get into the trades.”

When the trades are invisible, it becomes easier to dismiss them. Yet the work requires intelligence, skill, constant learning and problem-solving — and it directly impacts everyday affordability and access.

Trades Build America is an answer to Jennie Wunderlich’s central question: How do you make trades pride contagious?

Her goal is ambitious and national in scope.

“How do we get a movement to go across the country so people can understand the trades, and that there are some fantastic opportunities there?” she asks, emphasizing that tradespeople are not only essential, but they are also often some of the smartest, most adaptive professionals in the workforce.

“Some of the smartest people I know I’ve worked with, and they are constantly problem-solving,” she adds. Something had to be done.

Merchandise with a mission

Merchandise helps fund the effort, but the shirts are also a message tool — mobile billboards for the trades. And the message is working.

Samantha Wunderlich tells about the reactions she has received. “I’ve worn a slogan shirt to school, and I do get some reactions out of the students. They ask me about it, but it’s mainly the teachers who say, ‘Wow, that is a great shirt. You should wear that all the time.’”

Gwen Wunderlich has experienced the same. “I hear all good things,” she says. “I’ve gotten a lot of reaction, especially from my teachers, and have been able to share, ‘Hey, this is what we’re trying to do.’” 

The T-shirts, with their eye-catching slogans, strike up conversations every time. Gwen Wunderlich’s cross-country coach asked about it. “I wore the shirt one day, and she asked what it was about,” she says.

Those small interactions are part of the mission: spark curiosity, start conversations and normalize trade careers as something to be proud of.

The T-shirts available are:

AI Can’t Work with Hands

Welders — Keeping it All Together

AI Won’t Be Installing Your Toilet

Electricians: Currently Working

Building America’s Future – One Job at a Time

America Needs Housing. Join The Trades.

Smile, you’re on camera

Trades Build America is also building a library of short videos spotlighting tradespeople and trade-related programs, designed for modern audiences and shareability.

“One of the ways we do that is highlighting trades people in our videos,” Gwen Wunderlich explains. “We really want people to know what amazing jobs these people are doing.” By spotlighting tradesmen and tradeswomen from across the United States, and in different sectors, the organization makes the career path personal and relatable through real stories.

The first video featured Eric Reiselt, Reiselt Machine Works in Ohio, and included welding visuals designed to grab attention. “He’s got sparks flying in the video,” Jennie Wunderlich smiles as she describes how eye-catching visuals attract attention.

Additional videos highlight a local Iowa City plumber from Muller Plumbing, and video featuring a Florida landscape architect, who emphasized the strong earning potential and accessibility of the work.

“We don’t have enough people,” Jennie Wunderlich notes of the landscape professional’s message, adding that he stressed many can learn on the job if they are “teachable and trainable” and willing to work hard. “You can do really, really well.”

The videos currently run on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, with plans to expand to TikTok and YouTube.

Scholarships and deeper community impact

Scholarships are a long-term goal for Trades Build America. The organization is a for-profit business, with a percentage of profits going toward youth scholarships for the trades, investing in the next generation of builders and makers. The family is serious about ensuring recipients are committed to the trades and supported beyond the scholarship itself.

While they are gearing up for when funding for the scholarships is available, selection will likely focus on character, investment and goals, Samantha Wunderlich notes.

“We would have to ensure the individuals who receive the scholarships are invested in the trades,” she says.

Gwen Wunderlich describes a likely multi-step process that includes interviews and accountability. “We will have phases of interviews with them,” she says. “‘And ask, what is your goal? Are you getting a scholarship to get a scholarship, or are you going to run with this idea in the trades?’”

Jennie Wunderlich emphasizes values and leadership as essential criteria. “Leadership and character are really important to us,” she says. Just as important, the family wants to connect scholarship recipients to employers and resources.

“We would connect them with those resources,” she explains. “We would help them assess their strengths and then connect them with local trade businesses.”

Trades Build America’s first merchandise drop was in November 2025 and generated a lot of attention. In addition, the organization is in exploring community partnerships – with local sports teams, trade organizations and others. For a young organization, it’s more than visibility. It’s a validation and a chance to engage with supporters face-to-face, as well as introduce the subject to those who might not have thought of the trades as an option. 

Industry support 

At its core, Trades Build America is about recognition, pride and the people behind the work.

Calvin Wunderlich captures it best: “There are people out there who don’t get the recognition for either building your house or selling you the products you need to live in a good structure. Just make sure that you support those people.” In turn, we all thrive. 

For the wholesale distribution community, that message lands because it’s true: The trades are not only essential, but they are also the foundation of the economy and the fabric of every community. And in Iowa, one family is making sure the next generation hears that message — loudly, proudly and with a little humor.

Trades Build America merchandise is available through limited time drops. Supporters can find ordering links through social platforms when the shop is open. How cool would it be for companies in the PHCP space to support the endeavor and purchase T-shirts? It would be a win-win for everyone.