Darren Riley: Hello. Thanks for inviting me.
Megan: Thank you very much for being with us. To start, let’s talk a little about fair. How did the idea of the company arise and what does your company also do?
DARREN: Yes, absolutely. Justair’s true thesis is really a combination of one, my personal experience but also my professional experience. On the professional side, a history of software engineering, graduated from the Carnegie Mellon University, but it always fascinated me how to use technology to really support and innovate and really push the border on issues that are close and loved for my heart. Coming from Houston, Texas, from communities that are often restricted with certain problems, systemic problems, is something I always carried in my heart.
And on the personal side, it was about seven years ago when I moved to Detroit, in southwest Detroit, where I developed asthma. Do not grow with asthma and develop any problem, having that lung disease really opened my eyes to how much our environment and our well -being impact.
The combination of them, that pain point and also of my technology experience, fascinated me why we do not have the data we need or why we do not have the infrastructure to solve these problems, to understand where they come from pollution, how it is affecting our communities, so that we can solve these problems and make an equitable breathing environment for all. That is what was born in a way.
And in reality, it was around Covid-19, where we really began to move forward, where we saw all this information and research on health disparities and many of the problems of mortality rates around COVID-19, which coincide with COPD, asthma and other diseases that are often overloaded in communities that resemble our black and brown communities. There is a bit of where we start.
And what is fair today? Justair is solving the problem of how to better manage local pollution so that we can ensure that our communities, our lifestyles, where we work, where we play and where we learn, are really protected. And, then, what makes fairir is to build air quality monitoring networks at the hyperlocal neighborhood level. The communities have access to the data, the political leaders and those responsible for decision -making can use that data to really influence and promote things to help protect the community, but also other interested parties can use the data to move the environment to a healthier state. So that’s where we are, and we are four strong years, and I am really excited to be part of this trip here in Michigan.
Megan: Then you launched about four years ago. Why did you choose to build and grow right there in Michigan?
DARREN: Yes, I believe that a combination of things, the reason I chose to start here and be intentional about the construction of our team here. I think it is really around the ecosystem support in Michigan. Therefore, the MEDC has a network of what we call smartzones that really offer funds, resources, tutoring, advice on the different challenges that can vary from capital, legal and other issues that prevent an entrepreneur from just leaving and putting its product in the market. First, I am very grateful and grateful for the state that really focuses and puts businessmen first in that regard.
I think it is secondly the community. I really felt a strong sense of community here in Detroit. One of the founding members of an organization called Black Tech Saturdays, which sees more than hundreds, 500-1,000 people almost every Saturday of the month, just sharing and really committed to curious technological people of all areas of life, but making an intentional space for people who are often out of those rooms and those conversations. And really seeing a network of entrepreneurs who come from a similar cultural fund or a similar situation, really chase him together and help each other to navigate some problems.
And then, finally, I talk a lot about this, but the problem solving fits. While here in Detroit, where I developed asthma, where we have many problems and many in the environment that have affected some more difficult communities, here in Detroit in my own backyard, I really want to be very concentrated and make sure that I am building something that really solves the problem that took me on this trip first. Not thinking of regional, different, international countries, etc., but how do we build something here in the backyard that solves the problem for my neighbors and ensures that we can make a real difference in the community? So, from the community to the problem that really matters to me and make sure to solve, and then also the support of the ecosystem is the reason we are here in Michigan and why we plan to really grow and really be part of this movement.
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