JustAir at Four: A Reflection on Progress, Purpose & People

Then I started listening and learning. I spoke with community leaders who had been fighting for clean air for decades. They knew what was happening in their neighborhoods but didn’t have data they could rely on. 

These experiences opened my eyes to how deeply our environment affects our health and the beginnings of JustAir started to take shape. At first we kept it simple: put a monitor on someone’s house and hack together a text alert system to send real-time updates to the homeowner and their neighbors. It wasn’t fancy, but it worked — and it was our start.

This month, June 2025, JustAir turns four. We’ve grown from a simple text alert into a nationwide movement as we strive to prove that cleaner air can happen one community, one breath, and one line of code at a time.

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Work from the Heart

The more I listened, the clearer the need became. All of the daytime community conversations and late-night coding sessions slowly turned into something bigger. There wasn’t a roadmap. I had to figure out how to secure funding, build a team, learn the science, and create something that could last — all while staying true to the mission of protecting the 20,000 breaths we all take every day.

There has been no shortage of setbacks and doubt in this journey. But every time I felt like giving up, I would call on what it feels like to have an asthma attack — how, in that traumatic moment, you don’t want anything more than just to breathe again. Then I’d imagine a child or an elder in my community going through the same thing. That reminder grounds me. It brings me back to why this work matters and why I have to keep going.

Being a founder, for me, is about building something that matters, piece by piece, and doing it alongside the very people we’re building for. 

Team is Everything

One of the most meaningful parts of this journey has been growing our team. Everyone at JustAir shows up with heart, purpose, and their whole, authentic self. We come from different walks of life, but we’re united by the simple fact that we care.

Early on, our Head of Engineering, Britney Epps, said something that stuck with all of us: “Every line of code can be a breath of fresh air.” That mindset has helped shape our culture. Whether we’re debugging a dashboard or setting up a sensor in the field, we know the impact is real. 

I’m proud that we’re building a team that lives by our values in every decision. We support each other, challenge each other, and stay grounded in the belief that this work is bigger than us.

The Next Four Years

Four years in, we’ve moved far beyond that first text message. We’re now supporting regions and communities across the country. We’re helping governments and grassroots leaders alike respond to air quality challenges with tools that reflect their needs and reality.

Right now we’re witnessing a fundamental shift: environmental action is becoming more local, more immediate, and more community-driven. While traditional institutions navigate complexity, mayors are deploying air monitors, public health departments are acting on real-time data, and residents are demanding transparency about the air they breathe. This decentralized movement isn’t just more resilient, it’s more effective. Technology is democratizing environmental data, equipping local leaders, parents, and agencies to take action that matters. 

This is what we’re building at JustAir.

Thank you to every community member, partner, team member, and believer who’s walked this road with us. Your hope is the reason we believe that clean air will, one day, be a universal standard.

– Darren Riley, Founder & CEO