Member Spotlight: Tyrel Suzor-Hoy

What is your name?

Tyrel Suzor-Hoy

What do you do for work and what is your slash (aka what do you do in your free time)?

I am employed by the Montana Department of Transportation. I utilize infrastructure development processes and perform quality assurance checks upon various paving materials. The Department of Transportation is vital to the State of Montana as it affects every single person that steps onto a sidewalk or drives down the highway. The work has allowed me to understand how local and state government operates.

I am currently an elected member of the Helena Neighborhood Council. In my work with the local government body I have focused on the infrastructure related to economic development. I am a voting member on the Transportation Coordination Committee, which is a collection of state, county and city officials working to better our roadways. 

I am very passionate about the community and state that we live in. It is because of this passion that I have decided to run for the Montana Public Service Commission: District 5, in 2018. I am looking forward to campaigning tirelessly over the next 14 months. The State of Montana needs elected leaders who understand the hardships that everyday Montanan's face. I hope you will join me on this journey to a brighter future for Montana. 

In my free time I am a Hot Yoga instructor here in Helena at the Hot Yoga Helena studio. This gives me a chance to unwind and balance my day. Yoga provides me an opportunity to refocus and rededicate my efforts on my own personal  development. 

How did you land in Helena? 

I am a Helena native, born and raised. This wonderful community is the only place I've ever felt truly at home. I have bounced around a little, lived here and there, but have never found a community more tight knit or gracious as this beautiful town of ours. I hope to live in this city for years to come. 

What is the best piece of advice that you ever received – career-related or otherwise? 

The best advice I've ever heard is a mantra that was discussed in a leadership training I attended. The gist of it is "Easy choices equal a hard life, hard choices equal an easy life." I've taken this saying to heart and used it to decide many fork in the road choices. If it's a life-changing decision and you decided to grow yourself as a human being, the hard choice is typically always the right one.

When do you feel the most yourself?

I feel the most myself when I'm out conversing with the wonderful people of this great state. You never truly know the place you live until you've had in-depth conversations with the various types of people that live there. I've learned more in a day of chatting with people than I ever could have imagined. The greatest resource we have here in Montana is the communities we have and the people that make up those communities. 

Where is the last place you explored and where do you want to explore next?

One of my favorite places to explore is the Seeley Lake area. It is my paradise up in that area of the state. It is terribly unfortunate that the entire area is currently on fire. The bravery of the men and women who risk their lives fighting those fires needs to be mentioned. Because of their hard work and dedication we will have a forest to return to next summer. 

I hope to spend some time  exploring the gorgeous wilderness that is the Bob Marshall this winter. I would very much enjoy doing some snowshoeing up that way in the near future. 

Tell us something about yourself that we didn’t ask:

I spend most of my time in the company of my little Lhasa Apso pup, Elle. She does a good job of keeping a smile on my face on a daily basis.