It all began as a fan project.

Lightcert was created in 2020 by co-founders Machiko Hirota and Sarah Najib, who wanted to create a project for a Harry Styles concert they were going to. Inspired by fan projects of the past, the app was created out of convenience, and designed to be an easier to access, eco-friendly and technologically complex version of past sticky-note driven efforts. While COVID-19 put a brief halt to those plans, the two worked on the project all throughout the following year and debuted Lightcert in the winter of 2021, in Los Angeles, California.

As of 2024, Lightcert has partnered with arts and entertainment company ‘AtEM’ to bring Lightcert to the Metaverse, a project that is currently in development. Lightcert is currently supported by Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, Smith College, Drexel University and The University of Pennsylvania and their business school, Wharton.

Since its founding, Lightcert has always been about the innate human need for connection and community.

We bring fans together, and we strengthen the relationship between the community and the artist that holds it together. We build Directioners and ARMYs, and mobilize them to bring people closer together.