Meet the Team Team
Jess Bernbeck & Elias Jasso-Cardenas met in college in Kansas and moved to Colorado in 2017. They began their journey in reclaimed barn wood when Elias saw an accent wall in a model home his electrical crew was working in. Thinking back to Jess’ roots in Western Kansas, they realized the readily supply of barn wood and the matched desire of quality woods here on the front range. For many trips back dis-assembling old barns, granaries, and other farm outbuildings the enterprise became a family affair. Their marketing expertise back in Colorado provided them with several buyers for their product. However, the relationship they built with the then owners of Authentic Barnwood and Reclaimed Lumber in Longmont, proved to be the right match for a long-time friendship. When the previous owners wished to step back and put their business up for sale in 2019, Jess & Elias were ready to step in and become business owners at the young age of 21 & 22. They eventually moved from Westminster, Colorado and have made the Longmont community their home.
From then on, the new relationships with suppliers have provided them with many opportunities to provide their front range customers a variety of wood species for shelving, tables and countertops, interior and exterior siding, beams, and flooring, that has become many outstanding projects for their customers.
Just US
Our Team
This business wouldn’t be the same without these influential people!
Jessilee (Jess) Bernbeck
Jess was born and raised on a wheat and cattle farm in Western Kansas. She graduated in 2015 from Ness City High School and moved to Hutchinson, Kansas to attend Hutch Community College as an athletic trainer. There she met Elias and she moved to Colorado at the age of 20 to pursue a career in real estate. She loved the fast paced market of Denver, but the country girl always missed the wide open spaces of home. The love of reclaimed barn wood was exactly what she needed to escape the city life. Longmont provides them with the small town feel with all that the city has to offer. You can find Jess at the showroom during business hours and marketing the products at the store.
Elias Jasso-Cardenas
Elias is a native to Colorado, but moved to Kansas with his mother at the age of 5. Growing up in Hutchinson, he attended Trinity Catholic Jr/Sr High School then moving on to Hutchinson Community College. That’s where he graduated with a degree in Entrepreneurship and Business Management. This is where he also met Jess. They then decided to move to Colorado so Elias could pursue electric work. The purchase of Authentic Barnwood came along in the summer of 2019. He is now a Licensed Residential Electrician and continues to work full time with his crew. Weekends you can find the couple working on projects for clients, with an occasional drive to the mountains or spending time with extended family in the Denver area as well as Western and Central Kansas.
Laurie Bernbeck, aka “Mom”
Our Business Manager, Laurie, still hails from Utica, Kansas and provides Jess, Elias, and Authentic Barnwood her 40 years of bookkeeping experience to keep them afloat in this fast paced business. She has made many trips to Longmont with loads of wood and materials for the store, but enjoys helping with display ideas and has a great sense of entertaining, design, and catering extra flair for our special events and Longmont Chamber activities. Seen here with her husband Terry, Jess’s Dad, they hope to someday make Longmont area their forever home.