My love for the outdoors started during my last couple years of undergrad, when I was selected as an student adventure leader — spending weekends backpacking, camping, and snowshoeing in national parks. That opened something in me. I added environmental studies electives, interned in equine therapy, and after earning my BA, became a beekeeper, volunteered at an animal sanctuary, and took a gardening class.

Post-grad, I got into outdoor rock climbing and mountain biking — still realizing I was often the only Black person in the group. My kind of “outside” is balanced: getting cute for live music, traveling, walking local trails, and learning new skills — not a turn-up scene, just genuine connection and peace.

Early YBO experiences — a late-night bonfire close to home, a weekend in Big Bear — sparked something that’s been growing ever since. Making friends as an adult isn’t always easy, but those moments doing what I love with people who look like me helped me find community after moving back to my hometown. By February 2024, I began hosting Young, Black, & Outside (YBO) experiences while balancing grad school and teaching full-time.

What started as shared adventures became something deeper — a space where locals and transplants alike come together to be “outside” socially and “outside” in nature: camping, fishing, hiking, and traveling. Strangers turn into friends, and friends turn into family. 

- Darian Moore