Some of us grew up camping. Maybe it was an annual sleep-in-a-tent event at the closest state park, eating hot dogs and s’mores cooked over a campfire. Or perhaps it involved filling backpacks with freeze-dried meals and trekking a couple miles into the mountains for a night far from modern amenities. Regardless of the regularity, some folks became familiarized with the concept of sleeping on the ground from an early age.
Lestarya Molloy is not in this, well, camp. “Growing up, I had never been camping and knew nobody who did,” she says. When it came to going on her first camping trip as an adult, Molloy, who has been an REI member since 2012, was starting from scratch. She grew up in Long Beach, California, in-line skating and volunteering at the local library instead of pitching tents. Climbing trees and tromping along trails: Other kids did that stuff. “It’s really intimidating to make that leap.”
That’s why she created Fridie Outdoors, an app designed to turn that massive jump into a manageable baby step. The app provides beginner campers with a collection of written tips and video tutorials about everything from what essentials to pack for an overnight outdoors to how to safely cook meals over a fire. In case you need in-the-moment guidance in the backcountry, the info is available offline with a subscription. “Fridie Outdoors makes camping and outdoor know-how more accessible,” Molloy says. “We want every person to feel joy, confidence and freedom outdoors.”
Molloy’s relationship to the outdoors changed drastically when her mother passed away, three years after she lost her father. Just 11 years old, she moved to San Francisco to live with extended family. There, her cousins introduced her to hiking. Through high school and college, putting one boot in front of the other was Molloy’s go-to way to process and plan. “That was the start of it,” Molloy says. “As I found healing on the trails, I enjoyed spending more hikes dreaming up what I wanted for the future.”
Her hikes often began from Samuel P. Taylor State Park in Lagunitas, California. Walking from her car to the trailhead, she would notice colorful tents and people who seemed like they were enjoying themselves. “But I didn’t really get why you would want to give up the comforts of home to sleep outside,” Molloy says. “My African American mother, Ivy Fridie Tuadi, and Indonesian father, Muhammad Tuadi, taught me life skills like how to pay bills and balance a checkbook so that I could enjoy the comforts of a home. Why would you want to give that up to spend the night outside—in the woods?”
After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Molloy decided to find out for herself. She reserved a campsite at Lockaby Campground in Oregon’s Mount Hood National Forest, invited a gaggle of friends who were all fellow camping newbies and gathered $25 per person to buy an eight-person Coleman tent. She packed up her sleeping bag (the same one she used for slumber parties at friends’ houses), a mishmash of pots and pans from her home kitchen, and a folding chair. She slept on a twin-size air mattress; a few of her friends made do with a yoga mat. “We didn’t have all the gear we needed, but we had just enough to get started,” Molloy says. “I didn’t know exactly how it would all turn out, but I was enjoying having this time carved out to just be present.”
Camping—and the joy, confidence and freedom that come with it—became her passion. Over the next decade, she regularly invited friends along on single- and multi-night outings. She learned how to camp the hard way: trial and error. One time, while sitting outside her tent, Molloy saw someone at the campsite next door clearly trying—and definitely failing—to make a fire. They had their smartphone raised high overhead in a fruitless attempt to find coverage and audibly grumbled, “I thought I’d be able to look this up.”
Molloy offered them some wood, showed them how to create a mini log cabin and empowered them to build their own fire. That process sparked the idea of Fridie Outdoors (named in honor of her trailblazing African American ancestors). “People are curious to try camping and have these outdoor experiences,” Molloy says, “yet it’s so hard to get into camping if you didn’t grow up doing it or have someone to show you the ropes. I realized that there had to be a way to help people get access to the outdoor skills they needed in the moment that they needed them.”
Having worked for more than a decade in the tech industry, she knew how to do just that. She built a rough prototype of the app, pairing her expertise in creating innovative technologies with research, including speaking with more than 100 people, about what new campers find intimidating. She also brought in her personal camping experience, particularly as a woman of color. In 2022, she refined the app, in part while participating in Embark, a program developed through a collaboration between REI Co-op Path Ahead Ventures and Founded Outdoors that provides resources and guidance to new and aspiring entrepreneurs from Black, Indigenous, Latina/o/x, and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
Since officially launching in the summer of 2023, Fridie Outdoors has helped users—80% of whom identify as people of color—feel more confident camping. After accessing the app’s more than 50 (and counting) camping skill tutorials, 75% of users report spending more time outside.
Those stats represent quite an achievement, but Molloy isn’t resting on her laurels. Her hope is to continue getting as many people outside as possible. “The people who can use the healing powers of the outdoors the most, aren’t getting out there,” Molloy says, pointing to a 2022 Outdoor Participation Trends Report showing that people of color make up just 28% of outdoor participants. “Our research pinpoints a key barrier: lack of confidence outdoors.”
That’s precisely the issue that Fridie Outdoors aims to solve. “We know that [the app] is empowering people from different backgrounds and walks of life to get into camping and have an epic time connecting with yourself, friends and nature.”
Lestarya’s Camping Tips
We asked Lestarya a few rapid-fire questions—from advice she’d give to those new to camping to her fave s’mores combo. Here’s what she shared.
Advice for first-time campers: Our research shows getting a good night’s sleep is a real problem for more than half of people camping. We have created a very specific curriculum to address this need. It’s really about tuning into your personal needs for camping to make sure you get the right tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad for you. Once you have that, then know how to set up your tent and sleep system properly.
What she wishes she knew when she first started camping: It could be a hot summer day when the sun is up, but when the sun goes down it gets colder. Layers of clothes and closed-toed shoes make a difference with adjusting to the changes in temperatures throughout the day.
A camping skill she’s still honing: Foraging [finding and identifying wild edibles] is a continuous learning experience.
A camping destination on her bucket list: Olympic National Park is next up!
Her favorite piece of gear: A hammock.
Her go-to camping breakfast: Oatmeal with berries and nuts is what we do most frequently, but cheesy grits: so good.
Her go-to s’mores combo: Definitely s’mores with graham crackers, marshmallow and peanut butter cups.
Download Fridie Outdoors for free to get basic tips and videos available online. Subscribe to Trailblazer status in the app for full offline access.
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