issue no. 5: Tyrhee Moore
On increasing access to the outdoors while navigating isolation as a young leader.
Tyrhee Moore (he/him) is the Founder and Executive Director of Soul Trak Outdoors - a DC-based nonprofit that connects communities of color to outdoor spaces through recreational programs and stewardship initiatives. Born and raised in Southeast DC, Tyrhee is a mountaineer and outdoor education advocate who speaks around the country on topics like the adventure gap and conservation leadership, while scaling mountains including Grand Teton, Mount Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, and the first all African-American climb of Denali. Here’s how Tyrhee is increasing outdoor access while navigating being in the movement for the long haul.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity — Jun 2024.
On the stretchy-ness of leadership:
I wake up to, no exaggeration, hundreds of emails and am extremely overwhelmed. I first try to decide whether I want to respond to those emails or start actually doing work. Before that, I'll work out in the mornings and then I take my dogs to the park, but I honestly can't resist responding to some emails and then I’ll start working.
I have a small team that I am extremely grateful for, and we'll check in at the beginning and end of each week. My days are filled with talking to different partners, trying to look at different opportunities for programming, keeping an organization running - which can be anything from going to storage, getting gear for folks, setting up and preparing for different initiatives, talking with different participants that have leadership roles in the organization - and honestly, the unfun stuff like finances, sending donor emails and donor calls — this role that I’m in is so dynamic. It is stressful for me, but I think if I didn't do this, I am so dynamic as a person that it would be really difficult for me to be in one sort of role. Sometimes I complain about the stretched aspects of my work, but I also know that that is sort of a space that I thrive in.
In summary, I do things that are related to programs. I do things related to fundraising. I do operational tasks. Some of this is because we're a really small team that it requires me to do so many different types of work, and it's really hard to answer a typical day because my days look very different — eg. today I have meetings with a capacity building strategist, but also then have a bike ride meeting with a volunteer to talk about programming. It can vary based on what the organization needs at any given time.
On choosing what gets prioritized:
Sometimes it is the urgency of it - if there's very clear deadlines, obviously then I try to be responsive to the things that do truly need to get a response. Other than that, sometimes it's someone's urgency that they create, which I try not to let that distract me, but I'm also one of those people that I feel other people stress sometimes. So, if someone is super angst about a specific response or need, that will draw a response from me.
I've been working with my capacity building strategist on just being very conscious of the organization's priorities. I have an Asana spreadsheet where I'll make a note in response to different emails that I get and try to prioritize them there in my task list. That sounds very ‘type A’ but I try to organize responses if I cannot get back to them immediately with whatever the request is.
I'll try to do it that way, but it's very hard to do. You’d be surprised by the amount of random emails I get where people ask for so many things - not in a bad way! Even if it's just like, “Hey, are there any jobs that you know of?” or, “Hey, I have a six year old kid. They would love to get involved.” Those things mean a lot to me even for my own urgency radar. I want to be attentive. I want to respond to people, and so sometimes it is really hard for me personally to create a spectrum of urgency, because I think that those people deserve a response, but I’ve had to try to work on dialing back sometimes on what is truly the organizational priority versus my own moral priorities.
On naming when you’re losing steam and burning out:
I'm gonna be very transparent — my job is forever growing. I enjoy that it’s an evolving role, but as the organization changes, the needs of my own personal capacity change. I've been with Soul Trak for six years now, and I'm burning out. I'm actively losing steam, and some of that is because I've given so much of myself to the organization.
At the beginning of last year, part of our strategic plan was to really try to support me right now and help me understand how to not give so much of myself to the work but also find time for my personal needs. Part of that has been working with a capacity building strategist through Fair Chance, which is an organization that works with smaller organizations who need additional capacity support. Then, I also have an executive coach that has been focusing on me a little bit more. Again, it’s still a work in progress, because I do think it's hard when you build something to just step away from that. But, those two individuals do help me lead with a sense of authority that allows me to not always be the center or focal point of the work and allows me to give myself time to check in with myself.
Soul Trak has been fortunate enough to have very amazing volunteers that are giving their time, and that was something that was great to me, but I was extremely conscious of checking in with them, asking, “How are you? Are you okay? Can I come do this for you?” and trying to pay it forward to every single person and be super present for everyone. A lot of times people don't need that - people do not care. They are there because they care about the work that's happening, but it took a toll on me quite a bit. Right now, I’m trying to build infrastructure that does not require me to always give 110% of myself.
On not taking calls after 5pm but working til 9pm:
I'm starting to get better at shutting down work at a certain time. I don't take meetings after five at this point, which is a result of some of the support that I have, like my staff — we work with community members and a lot of time their availability is in the evening, but I try not to be a part of those calls anymore. For a very long time, it was hard to not do that because of the types of work that we did, but now, personally, I don't take any direct work calls after 5pm. Sometimes I will join calls but it's not a necessity. However, outside of meetings, I do typically work pretty late in the day, though I will say that now it has become how I've stretched out my work day — I have tried to give myself more flexibility in the day.
Again, it goes back to this internal urgency that I have around work. Remote work has created this really invasive culture in my household — right now I'm right next to my bedroom and I'm right upstairs from my kitchen. Sometimes it’s great that I don't necessarily have to leave my home to be productive, but I also do think that it has created a really toxic overlaying presence in my house —Are you going to get back to that email? Are you going to do that grant?
Sometimes it is really hard, because I know that some of my peers are able to clock out, leave work, and say, “I'm not doing anything else. I'm off.” I'll get texts and calls saying, “Let's go and do this,” and I don't feel that same level of freedom to just let go of work.
I would say typically my work days ends at 8:30 or 9pm when I’ll try to completely stop working, but I would say most days my work day goes pretty late which is just the nature of me trying to close out some of those extra emails I mentioned, that I probably don’t need to do, but it’s how I’ve become accustomed to being in this work.
On aging out of ambition:
For context, I started Soul Trak when I was 25 years old, and I don't know what I expected — I don't know what I thought it would feel like or be like, but I definitely did not expect it to formalize so quickly or so early that I truly felt like I was an executive director at 26 years old.
I'm very fortunate for that rapid growth - (laughs) mhm, maybe not - I'm glad that I had the support and ability to do that, but it was very stressful. This role is very demanding. It comes with a huge weight and a huge burden of responsibility. Like now, I'm responsible for so many people that expect so much from the organization — staff, their livelihoods, and supporting their own attachments to the work that we're doing, other board members and volunteers that are dedicating so much of their free time — and that stuff weighs on you. I don't know how to explain that, but so much has turned from my own passion and attachment to the work that now is also carrying other people's investment to this, too.
To do that at such a young age, at least for me, I needed that spark and fire that I had when I was 25 because I, quite frankly, don't know if at this age I have the same sort of ambition. I was just very rebellious and had the spark to just say, “Whatever, I'm gonna do this.” Now, the world is sort of weighing on me a bit and has taught me a few lessons that now I’m like, “How can I support? How can I come in and be of assistance to this?” But, at the time, my personality was very much like, “How can I take this on?”
At Soul Trak, we work with college students at Howard University, and out of all the programs that we have, our college students are just so inspiring. They're so motivating. They see so much optimism in the world, which is so valuable at that time in life, that you really should pour so much into them. They are the ones that are going to really shake up the world in a way that when you get older, you have to dig deep to still see the world for what it is, and to want to create that change. I don't want to be a pessimist, but that time is really valuable — you're learning who you are, and you want to attach yourself to the things that really have purpose.
I think that that's what I did and I quickly realized that many of my peers were already where I am now mentally — ie. I found a job, I'm climbing this ladder, I have my head focused, and I don't want to get too involved or too out of line with where I am. That was really challenging to me, and I started to feel it more so when I got older. When I first started, I didn't care — I was locked in and hyper focused on what I wanted to accomplish. Whether or not my friends were on board, this was going to happen. But, when I got to be 27 or 28, and I really needed resources and support when the organization was growing, I was like, “Hey, come help out now. I can't carry all this anymore. I'm not this super strong, motivated 25 year old anymore.” I realized that a lot of my peers didn’t have that same excitement or big vision for the agency that we had. That was really eye opening. To be very transparent - I talk about this a lot even with my board - I felt very isolated for a long time.
On the responsibility gap between young leaders and their peers:
In this past year and a half, I’ve actively dedicated time to rebuild my own community. I know this sounds very weird, because I’m organizing community, but there’s even a disconnect between the organized community that I built with Soul Trak and my own sense of community, because I was so misunderstood as a young leader since a lot of my peers were not in leadership roles. They didn't understand what it meant to build and be in this huge position of responsibility with the community that we were in, and so I distanced myself. I slowly found myself in a place where I was like, “Okay, I don't have anyone that truly understands what I'm dealing with,”and that's why it was important to get things like coaches and join cohorts with leaders.
In 2020-2021, I was head first in so many different incubators and cohorts trying desperately to find other leaders that I could connect with and who also understood where I was at that time. It is still actively part of my journey to find other people because even now, I still look around at my peers, and nothing to be said negatively, but they’re like, “Hey, let's go do this this weekend,” and I do not have that type of freedom. I know that sounds contradictory because it’s like, “Oh, Tyrhee you get to go to France,” but let me be very clear that I have to organize time for myself like that. Two days after our fundraiser, I just needed to get on a plane. I left. I didn’t want to talk to anyone.
From starting at a very young age to where I am now, my connection to work, my connection to purpose, my connection to responsibility of community has looked so much more defined for me than my peers. I come to my friends sometimes, and I struggle. I really struggle, because I am so stressed out. I'm overworked. I'm tired of work. It's really hard, and I sometimes feel that I'm really burning out. It's hard because my friends also say the same things, but I realize that they were not dealing with the same thing. I don't know how to explain that — it was hard to articulate how much it is that I’ve been attached to the work. That sense of weight for a young person is something that is very unrelatable. Even my best friends, the people closest to me have been the most understanding and can articulate it better and they say, “Today, I can decide that I want to call out. I don't like work but it gets the job done. It pays my bills, but you truly do have to be present. You do need to care about this in a way that I don't.”
On organizations having lifespans that might pivot, evolve or end (and that’s okay):
Now, when I think about the past six years of my life, it's like, “Wow, Tyrhee, this is a lot that you've been doing for some time now.” Something that also weighs on me is that I love this organization. I love the work that I'm doing, and I hope that it continues. However, what I've struggled with is that even if at some point I transition away from my role, Soul Trak is still so personal and close to me that it will always weigh on me. Well, maybe not — because I am starting to realize, as I grow as a leader, this isn't who I am. This doesn't always define my impact.
I am starting to get to the point where there may be a lifespan. There may be an opportunity to say, “Hey, this is beautiful. This work is great. How can you pivot with me because I'm a forever changing person and what does that look like?” Right now it’s been questions like, “What does the organization look like with me in a different role potentially?” I'm not 25. I am building a family. So many things are changing. I want to be conscious of my own personal needs, but that has been hard because so much of work has always come with me through my development as a person.
On the difficulties of finding organic connections within leadership cohorts:
*Note: Leadership cohorts are groups of leaders - like Executive Directors or C-level professionals - who come together to learn and hone their leadership skills, usually in a group setting.
What I've learned with cohorts is that sometimes I just want things to be organic. I want something that feels very natural that brings me to a community. For the same reasons that I feel slightly apart from Soul Trak, I'm building this space and so I'm working now. When I was younger, I was a part of that — I was starting those Soul Trak communities and it was great. But now, so much of my work takes me out of that because I need the resources to bring others to create this. When I show up to those spaces, it is very formal — it feels very curated in a way because I know so much about how this space has come together. That is great for you all, but now, for me, it has become work where this is no longer now a space of comfort for me because there's underlying stress that comes with this.
Similarly, when I am a part of these formal cohorts, in many cases it requires scheduled check-ins or homework. While that part is not necessarily undesirable, it reminds me of work. It comes with additional responsibilities that are not relaxing or soothing to my day-to-day life. I'm in another group where we have scheduled Zoom calls 1:1 with our peers and it's like, this is nice to know you but I feel like this is also a requirement and now I'm like, “How much of this is an organic connection?” When that cohort no longer exists, I attach those relationships sometimes to that space, or the work that needed to be done in that space, instead of that we were brought together to just enjoy each other’s company. That part for me has been really hard, and I don't know if that is my own problem with work. I’m at this stage of my life where either things are work to me or they are truly self-fulfilling, personal spaces — that latter space is so small for me right now and is just generally the comfort of my home, walks with my dogs, or literally getting on a plane and detaching myself from everything around me.
Again, I'm actively trying to change that, but so many people expect me to have my Soul Trak hat on all the time. It's really difficult for me to even go out to a bar and have drinks, because I'm talking about Soul Trak. I'm talking about how to get someone on a program. I hate this, but immediately when that happens, sometimes I’m no longer comfortable —I’m no longer in my “Tyhree” space. I've learned that it's really hard for me to find those sorts of releases — I don't want to say “safe” but just “Tyrhee” moments where I'm no longer attached to Soul Trak.
On building orgs that evolve as the team evolves and finding the right balance between grassroots and formal structures:
I would say the biggest pressure point right now is that we're a small team where it's three of us primarily attached day-to-day working on Soul Trak, and we are all so valuable to the organization right now. I have my own life, they have their own lives, and if at any given moment they decide to transition from this work, what happens? How does that impact the work that is taking place within Soul Trak?
Right now, I’m focused on what the organization needs to be stable and to feel strong. That sounds very cliche, because that has been a conversation from the start, but a pressure point for me right now is getting the organization to a place where we have a few more substantial components that keep the organization strong, with the understanding that we are continually growing as people that are attached to the work, but also as a community moving forward.
That looks like additional human-power, but also going back to some of the communal aspects because it does feel very formalized right now. We worked towards this structure, which is really interesting, but there is power and strength in being on the ground, feeling very attached to the community, and very grassroots. We're trying to work to be very corporate-like or formal in our approach and that is starting to negatively impact us. So, I want us to return to where we started a little bit more, because the community and the village does a really good job of upholding this work much better than one individual can. That is a pressure point — trying to figure out a balance between being too small and then also being too informal as an organization, while also understanding that I'm currently going through my own life changes. I really want the organization in good hands to navigate that.
On orgs being stretched internally at the same moment that they appear to be thriving externally:
For a long time, it was just me in an administrative role. When I brought in new staff, they came in with a very specific view of the organization, and they got to learn parts of the organization that everybody doesn't see — some of that is the business components. That is very eye-opening, right?
Something that I do struggle with is defining access as an organization and immediately, obviously, that's financial — especially in DC, that is a barrier for everyone. However, for me, someone that is directly over fundraising and looking at the budget consistently, that financial accessibility isn't always possible for us. So, when I have someone that manages programming and they say, “We need to make this accessible by cutting this cost,” there have been many times in the past few months where I'm like, “We have to keep this cost. We have to charge the community in this way.” That morally feels bad to me, especially now that I have to go above someone else, because for awhile I was okay doing that for myself versus now having to articulate that to other people — I become the bad guy.
That has been a really challenging position to be in because in many ways - it's so odd- but I'll see in meetings where staff are looking at me like, “Are you serious?” I’m struggling, because I started this organization. Trust me, I don't want to do this but this is the reality of where we are and that has been very challenging. That has probably been one of the hardest things. In grassroots work, there is this core vision and passion that the organization has, but so many people don't fully understand just what goes into this — how much sacrifice is made.
Sadly, I say this particularly for Black-led organizations, there are so few resources and people take pride in free labor and dedicated volunteer time, and it's so hard. It's so frustrating, because the moment that an organization like Soul Trak starts to look like it is thriving, it's almost too much — like “Oh, you all are doing so great. You don't need this help. You don't need the support.” One, we are not doing nearly as good as so many other organizations that I'm attached to, but also help us. It's okay to give us more support, because when our organization is growing, that means that our resources are stretched.
It means that when we were smaller, we could host a camping trip for free because we had $5,000, and we could give everything away for free. But now, we have staff and we have to pay for more things, so now this camping trip is $50 to actually sustain this in the long term, because it’s not sustainable to have 16 people go camping for free every year, because who's going to continue to do that? Who's going to continue to help support that? We might need to put some sort of foundational support to this and that may require some investment from the community.
I don't necessarily feel like I've done the community wrong, but now I've been put in positions where I'm making really difficult decisions that feel or may at first glance feel in contradiction to where the organization started, and it's been just icky. It's been a very compromising role to play within the organization for sure.
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