Nominated by Cynthia Crutchfield of Innovate Alabama, T.C. McLemore was honored at our 2024 Soul of the South Awards as our Innovation & Entrepreneurship category winner.

Biography

Following my undergraduate degree, I did a year of AmeriCorps VISTA working at Alabama Possible. One of the organization’s founders was well-known Alabama historian Wayne Flynt. I asked his advice on pursuing graduate school for history. He replied simply, “Nothing you learn is wasted.”

That bit of advice unlocked for me all of my experiences to that date and framed what I would learn throughout graduate school and my early career.

I worked for Alabama Possible after graduate school and I had a chance to work at the Alabama Humanities Alliance during the lead up to the Bicentennial.

The opportunity to lead Red Mountain Park in Birmingham allowed me to connect my educational and professional background rooted in community history to my passion for outdoor recreation.

Working at Peritus last year with clients like Innovate Alabama would have felt like the culmination of all of these experiences if my current role hadn’t been created. Leading outdoor recreation programming for Innovate Alabama feels like the culmination of these experiences.

 

Soul of the South Q&A

1) What was your “aha” moment or when did you decide that this was the industry for you?

I had all of these constituent experiences and this educational background that serves my current role when in 2020 Governor Ivey, the then Alabama Innovation Commission, and the Hoover Institution released a report entitled Innovative Alabama where the entire second chapter focused on investing in and shining a light on Alabama’s remarkable natural endowments—its great outdoors.

Reading that report and seeing the emphasis our state’s leaders were putting on outdoor recreation was really a catalytic moment for me. It made all of those experiences click together in a new and exciting way.

 

2) How did your upbringing or time spent in Alabama shape your career?

I grew up exploring the outdoors of Northeast Alabama with my dad. Through outdoor pursuits programming at UAB as an undergraduate, I discovered hiking. I got increasingly interested in backpacking some distance of the Pacific Crest Trail which I wound up backpacking about 1,000 miles of. I came home to finish my program and get married, but I was convinced that I needed to be out west.

Fortunately, Red Mountain Park opened while I was gone. By the time I finished school, I was convinced that I didn’t need to go anywhere to satisfy my appetite for time spent on trails. I could have the career I wanted, stay close to family, and maintain the outdoor-oriented lifestyle I sought by staying in Alabama.

3) What keeps you moving forward in the industry, and do you have a quote or motto that resonates with you?

I think the quote I mentioned that’s generally set the course for my career, specifically applies here. I’m always looking to learn and experience more to bring more to the outdoor recreation and innovation ecosystems in Alabama.

 

4) How has your nominator made a positive impact on your idea of and/or relationship to your industry?

Cynthia Crutchfield is the exact sort of leader I get excited to work for. She’s incredibly driven by our mission, maintains laser focus, and leads so many different groups—both internal and external to the organization—in order to realize Innovate Alabama’s mission.

 

 

5) What would you consider your greatest professional accomplishment?

Firing myself from Red Mountain Park. When I started in that role, I had one board member on my fundraising board, a commission that was so under-appointed it couldn’t establish quorum, and less than one month’s operating expenses in the bank.

By the time I left five years later, both the commission and board of directors had been reinforced with full 15-member rosters of engaged and passionate members. Getting the organization to a place to where I could leave and the work would continue has been my greatest accomplishment.

 

6) What would you like to see more of in Alabama as it pertains to your industry?

A lot of the work that’s been accomplished in the outdoor recreation space and outdoor recreation industry to date has been accomplished through more grassroots or community-based efforts. My hope is that Innovate Alabama can be a catalytic convenor of those groups enabling them to do their best work in coordination with one another.