Tru Social was originally built by JLINC Labs. Twenty years before, the founder of JLINC, Jim Fournier, had convened the Planetwork conference, which had in turn inspired a group of 50 IT and media professionals who met for two years to create a roadmap of social possibility on the Internet. That culminated in the Augmented Social Network (ASN) whitepaper written before Linkedin and published before Facebook. Tru’s roots comes from this deep conversation about how to utilize internet technology for society.
JLINC Labs spent two years building Tru Social as a totally new kind of publishing platform for intentional networks. In early 2023, Jim recognized Surya Kramer as the one to take Tru forward. Surya’s perspective is based in her own organization, Culture for Care which was there from beginning shaping Tru.
Surya and Jim had originally re-founded Tru as a Delaware public benefit corporation, Tru Internet Inc in 2022. Over the past six months Surya has rebuilt it as a woman-led tech company working with What’s Cook’n to supply an international dev team. Tru remains part of a larger ecosystem built on JLINC technology which continues to provide server admin.
Tru Federated Engagement is our tag line. We are here to build a new kind of town square. Our mission is to build hubs and networks that work for different kinds of organizations; from non-profit to for profit, supporting activist and educational platforms. Each hub/network has the capacity to be interoperable and decide what kind of culture they want to promote. Tru will support a healthy well-fed collective collaborative ecosystem for society to get sh*t done. We are here to offer a better social engagement platform than the world has ever seen. Our aim is to play well with others as we scale, while supporting a value system of collaboration through hub networks curating there own environment, with a filtering system that is designed to give creators the ability to set the tone for their network.
Please join us for this new and exciting journey towards a world we are aligned with – both on and off the net. Tru Federated Engagement aims to support healthy cohesion for relational exchange that supports the good in people in functioning at the speed of action, across all areas of relational exchange.
Surya is a visionary leader dedicated to transforming digital trust and social infrastructure. With a background in social architecture, somatic education, and community building, she has pioneered systems that integrate emotional intelligence and relational design into technology. Previously, she founded Flagship Care, fostering ethical and regenerative organizational structures. At Tru, Surya is shaping a platform that empowers users with data sovereignty, privacy, and transparency, ensuring that technology aligns with human values and collective well-being.
Ahmed is a senior software engineer at Tru with over six years of experience specializing in front-end development with React. Proficient in multiple programming languages, including Python, C, C++, C#, and JavaScript, he excels in designing scalable, efficient applications. With expertise in data structures, algorithms, and database management, Ahmed plays a key role in optimizing Tru’s platform. A collaborative leader, he integrates Agile methodologies to drive innovation, ensuring seamless user experiences in the evolving digital landscape.
Muhammed Abdelnaser is a versatile software engineer with over two years of experience in building web applications. He is passionate about creating scalable and user-friendly solutions. Proficient in front-end (React, Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS) and back-end (Node.js, PostgreSQL). His experience includes contributing to real-time systems and educational platforms, always focused on delivering quality and performance.
Anosha bridges AI, machine learning, and human-centered design to build ethical and impactful technology. With a CS degree from Minerva University, she has led community-driven platforms and worked with multiple startups, including one acquired by Zoom. Passionate about responsible AI, Anosha integrates innovation with mindfulness, ensuring technology supports human connection and trust in digital spaces.
Romeo is helping to drive revenue and finance strategy, organizational growth, and marketing initiatives at Tru. With extensive experience across tech and financial services industries, he has worked with Fortune 50-5000 companies to scale businesses effectively. His expertise spans demand generation, financial analysis, and integrated marketing. Passionate about social impact, he has been actively involved in the Surfrider Foundation, Net Impact, Save the Waves Coalition, Kiva, and leading CSR initiatives that foster sustainability and community development. At Tru, he is committed to leveraging innovative business strategies to drive meaningful change.
Alex is a seasoned product leader with nearly a decade of experience in UX design, product strategy, and team alignment. At Tru, she drives the development of intuitive, user-centered digital experiences that merge technology and design. With a background spanning startups to Fortune 500 companies, Alex specializes in bridging gaps between design, engineering, and strategy to deliver impactful, scalable products. She is passionate about creating technology that fosters trust, transparency, and meaningful engagement.
has 30 years of software engineering experience, with recent work on decentralized protocols. Currently an infrastructure and observability engineer on the Ceramic protocol, she was also involved in the original formation of the Bluesky project and contributes to open source projects in decentralized trust and reputation, informed by previous work at Uber/Postmates combatting organized fraud rings through AI models. She is also deeply involved in human rights advocacy through direct relationships with affected individuals, as well as creating opportunities for remote work for those impacted by world events.
Tru Social Inc. has both data integrity and environmental convants written into its founding articles, as follows:
II. PURPOSE
A. The purpose of this Corporation is to engage in any lawful act or activity for which a corporation may be organized under the General Corporation Law of California other than the banking business, the trust company business, or the practice of a profession permitted to be incorporated by the California Corporations Code.
B. This Corporation is a benefit corporation.
C. This Corporation shall have the following specific benefit purposes pursuant to Section 14610 of the California Corporations Code:
1. Many businesses cause environmental degradation in pursuit of short-term profits. Such behavior has been proven to undermine both long-term profits and society. This Corporation shall avoid such short-sighted errors by considering the impact of any company action on the earth’s climate, biodiversity, and the well-being of future generations. This Corporation shall prioritize these considerations above short-term profits of the company and its shareholders.
2. This Corporation shall collect, collate and analyze stakeholder supply chain data based on the best available scientific methodology and report the aggregated results on a neutral and unbiased basis. The company shall neither solicit nor accept financial or other consideration in exchange for exceptional treatment.
3. This Corporation shall operate network infrastructure that allows all parties to exchange information under mutually binding terms and conditions in a manner that protects both entities and individual users, by preventing personal information from being exploited for financial gain without prior knowledge and consent.
4. This Corporation shall connect individual users with other entities according to user-defined preferences applied in combination with objective selection and consistent ranking criteria, without any manipulation based on compensation offered or paid by such connected entities.
