A Beautiful Week of Mountains Work in Lake Tahoe
Recently I had the exciting opportunity to be invited to the very first “Mountains Work” Week in Lake Tahoe where a group of 21 young professionals and entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds descended upon the picturesque mountain town of South Lake Tahoe for a week of remote work, community building, strategic planning, and exploring the best of what Tahoe has to offer.
Like many place across America, Lake Tahoe is slowly feeling the pinch of the widening inequality gap. Gorgeous multi-bedroom chalets owned by wealthy families dot the landscape around the Lake but it turns out there’s quite a chasm between those homes and the service industry folks who live in long-term rentals that keep the community afloat. And the middle class is shrinking.
Tahoe is primarily an outdoor enthusiast destination. The area booms during the winter when the ski slopes are pristine and the summer when the crystalline waters are packed with boaters. But the spring and fall “shoulder seasons” are lean times for this mountain community when the primary source of commerce takes a break.
So a coalition of municipal groups and non-profits banded together to do something about it and thus Mountains Work was born. Co-Founders Aaron Darke, Lara Miller, and Devin Middlebrook jumped in with a can-do attitude to supplement the economic studies the local city governments are doing to attract more talent to the area. But Mountains Work is leading the pack with a “let’s just do it” approach. In seven short weeks, the team went from inception to execution and the next thing I know I’m getting off a plane in Reno and then cresting the pass from Carson City for my first glimpse of the Lake.
As the group arrived from all over the country, we began hit it off immediately. The Tahoe locals felt like old friends I’d known for years. They are the kind of people you want to surround yourself with: smart, engaging, getting things done with their life, and being intentional about where they live and work. Aaron is running his business and raising a family in a place where he hopes the kids will come to appreciate the amazing natural beauty they’re surrounded by. Lara is running a global public relations firm remotely thanks to the strong cell service and high-speed internet! Devin is actively organizing events and outings for young professionals in the area. They are great examples of making a life in a place you want to live, thriving in their chosen professions, and being the change they want to see in the community.
And that’s where the rest of us come in: young professionals and entrepreneurs from across all stripes that they’re hoping will join them in building out a vibrant middle-class in the area.
The 21 of us are quite a diverse group: former Obama Administration appointees, current U.S. Digital Service members, entrepreneurs and software engineers; technology, product, design, and policy people. The talent across the group was quite tangible and interesting to see how it combined across the week as our days ebbed and flowed between work and exploration.
The community-building of this group was one of the best parts about the week. Though we all had different focus areas, we spoke a similar language about a passion for transforming communities and using our skills for the better. Many of us are still in transitional periods of our lives, trying to work out what to tackle now after serving the 44th President for years, and what the next chapters of our career and lives look like.
The other aspect of this great week was the idyllic backdrop. I’ve traveled a fair share while working of the State Department and since Inauguration Day (over 35k miles in 2017 alone!) and while I’ve experienced the things Tahoe has to offer separately and to varied degrees, I’ve never encountered it all in the same geographic space and so nicely tied together! Tahoe is unmatched in its combination of physical aspects: majestic snowy peaks like Wyoming or Montana, great powder for skiing like Colorado, a high-desert climate with low-humidity like New Mexico, a freshwater lake and boating community like my own native Lake Texoma, crystal clear blue water like the Mediterranean, and stunning purple sunsets that will leave you standing in awe. Tahoe literally has all of this in the same spot; everywhere I looked was like a postcard photo.
The week was quite action packed: mornings of typical telework with conference calls, or some coding, and making sure the normal day-to-day professional activities were managed in our “normal” lives. But then in the afternoons we went mountain biking, hiking, or out on the lake to explore this new (to us) world.
For a country boy who feels a bit stifled by the daily tedium of city life, getting out into the mountains and experiencing the fresh air, quiet solitude, and uninterrupted space for reflection was something I’ve been chasing for a while. And the pitch from the organizers was quite simple and with no pressure attached: consider living here and being part of our community. It resonated with me quite deeply.
Each night we’d gather around the fire to chat and make S’Mores. Sometimes the banter was a light recap of the day, other times it got heavy on the policy of making positive impacts on the community. But on the other side of the week, I came away having made great friends and leaving a little bit of my heart in Tahoe.
I can’t speak highly enough of the experience or the organizers. They’re looking for folks with vocations that lend themselves to working from Tahoe to relocate there and become active in the community. Tahoe stands on the edge of becoming a booming mountain town with a thriving middle-class and leaving behind it’s days of being a sleepy off-season, destination-only locale.
So if any of this resonated with you as well, join us! The Mountains Work crew is already planning the second iteration of the program, but all the organizations and resources are available right now. Follow Mountains Work for announcements and ways to plug in on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Stay at the luxurious Coachman Hotel for your visit. It’s an old mainstay hotel in South Lake Tahoe that has been rebooted with amazing innovation concept for the common spaces and brand new rooms.
Grab a bite to eat at Base Camp Pizza, Azul Latin Kitchen, California Burger Company, or Chimayo. And follow that up with a beer at the South Lake Brewing Company or Himmel Haus.
And once you live there, support the local organizations working on the whole effort: Tahoe Regional Young Professionals, Tahoe Prosperity Center, Sierra Small Business Development Center.
Read more at the Tahoe Daily Tribune or visit Mountains Work online.
