Friendships, understanding and caring make up Black History Month and beyond

Written by Sally Crocker for the Tarrant Regional Water District, Tarrant County, Texas, Feb. 27, 2024

Christal Moore can tell you about an amazing number of Black inventors who have made an impact on the world.

For example, Sarah Boone, who was born into slavery and barred from a formal education, patented an improved ironing board in 1892. Housekeeper Ellen Eglin made her mark on African American history in the 1880s when she invented the wringer washing machine. Black businessman William Purvis patented an early fountain pen design, and inventor Lonnie Johnson created the popular Super Soaker® water toy. The movie “Hidden Figures” tells of three Black women who did the math that helped send the first U.S. astronaut to the moon.

Christal is proud of her history and has spent time both learning and teaching this important ancestry to children at her church.

“Black History Month has great importance, yet it means so much more than just one month a year to our American culture and growth. The more we listen and learn about where we have come from and share with others, the more we all can understand each other better,” Christal says.

Christal is a senior accountant for the Tarrant Regional Water District. She’s a pretty popular person around the TRWD administrative division, as she’s one of the ones who processes payroll and makes sure everyone gets paid. She’s been with TRWD since 2014, when she started as an accounting liaison.

Christal also manages accounts receivable, oil and gas revenues and other TRWD accounting functions. She’s approaching her 10-year anniversary with the water district in June 2024.

“I’ve never seen people stay at one place as long as they do at TRWD,” she says. “We have 50-year employees and others who are celebrating milestones of their own, as part of this big, cohesive work family the water district has built.”

Christal enjoys being part of this team, where you “get to know what makes your coworkers tick, what makes them happy” and develop friendships that go beyond the everyday jobs that people do.

Christal started her accounting career in the auto dealership industry and later worked for a business process outsourcing firm before joining TRWD. She holds a B.S. in accounting from Prairie View A&M University. She became interested in the field during high school, when she took her first accounting class and really liked it.

When Christal joined the water district, people from other departments were quick to stop by her office to introduce themselves and say hello. Orientation also gave her a chance to meet others and learn about their different jobs and the ways they impact water district operations and the overall community.

Christal says she’s normally an introvert, or shy, unless she knows you well, but the team members she’s encountered at TRWD have made it easy to feel at ease and open up.

“The water district is a great organization. People of all management levels come into your office to sit and talk from time to time, creating a friendly, relaxed atmosphere,” she says.

Christal enjoys exercise and has taken walk breaks around the TRWD parking lots and surrounding Trinity River trails with her work friends. She’s created trivia quizzes for fun during their team lunches. Her department and others have engaged in holiday door decorating contests, basketball’s March Madness events and other group activities bringing them closer together.

Christal and her husband spend time with their friends and family, and her church family is also important. She has attended the same Fort Worth church all her life. The church, 156-year-old Morning Chapel CME, is as rich in history as the teachings that members share with each other and through the children’s Sunday school classes each week. Through church, family and her strong connections on the job, Christal feels grounded and supported by a large network of people who care.

“It’s rare to find companies like TRWD that invest in and treat their employees like family. Everyone gets along so well. We are a strong team,” she says.

Friendships like the ones Christal has built at work – based on understanding, thinking bigger and digging deeper to get to know others more personally – stand as a reminder that the bonds we all share go beyond one single month of recognition to our actions and interactions every day, year after year.