Brandon Johnson
Founder and President
Before there was a platform, there was a route with three kids on it.
I was driving for Total Transit, and that year I had Mona, who was nonverbal and autistic, Noah, who had behavioral challenges that made most transitions hard, and McKenzie, who quietly appointed herself the person who made sure everybody else was okay.
We built our own system. I kept a taco counter, a small running tally that turned every completed trip into something worth showing up for. It worked because it was ours, and because the three of them knew me and I knew them.
I have thought about that moment more than almost anything else in my professional life. Those students did not need a bigger bus or a better route. They needed someone who already knew them to show up consistently.
Trust-ed is the attempt to make that repeatable for every student in the country who is currently getting neither.
