Jay Graber
Jay Graber | |
|---|---|
Graber in February 2025 | |
| Born | Lantian Graber 1991 (age 34–35) Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania (BA) |
| Occupation | Software engineer |
| Years active | 2014–present |
Lantian "Jay" Graber (born 1991) is an American software engineer who served as the first CEO of Bluesky, a microblogging social platform. In March 2026, she stepped down as CEO to become Bluesky's Chief Innovation Officer.
Early life
Lantian Graber was born in 1991 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to a mother of Chinese descent, an acupuncturist by trade, and a mathematics teacher father of Swiss descent.[1][2] Her mother, who grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution and emigrated in the 1980s, named her daughter Lantian (蓝天), meaning "blue sky" in Chinese, as a wish for her to have "boundless freedom".[1] The similarity between Graber's given name and Bluesky is purely coincidental; Jack Dorsey had chosen the name "Bluesky" for the research initiative before Graber became involved with the project.[3]
Graber enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania in 2009 and later graduated in 2013 with a BA in Science, Technology, and Society.[1][4] During her senior year she won a grant to co-found a student time bank program.[1]
Career
In 2015, Graber began working as a software engineer for SkuChain in Mountain View, California.[1] She then worked in a factory in Moses Lake, Washington, where she soldered bitcoin mining equipment.[1] In 2016, she began working as a junior developer for the Zcash cryptocurrency.[1][5][6] In 2019, she founded the event planning website Happening, Inc.[1][5][6]
In August 2021, Graber became the first CEO of Bluesky, a microblogging social platform and public benefit company.[7][8][9] Bluesky had been conceived as a new initiative by Twitter's original owners in 2019 that Twitter would work with, but evolved to become a competitor to Twitter following the 2022 acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk and the subsequent severing of ties between Bluesky and Twitter.[5][6][10][11]. During her tenure as CEO of Bluesky, Graber facilitated the launch and rise of their Bluesky social app and its rise to over 40 million users.[12]
Notably, in a 2025 interview at South By Southwest, Graber made headlines for her shirt with the Latin words "mundus sine caesaribus," translating in English to "a world without caesars," which resembled a shirt Mark Zuckerberg had worn months earlier with the Latin "aut Zuck aut nihil," translating to "a Zuck or nothing", a play on the phrase “either Caesar or nothing.”[13] The move by Graber was received as a jab at Zuckerberg and tech billionaires, and a nod to Bluesky's promise of being "billionaire-proof."[14]
In March 2026, Graber stepped down as CEO of Bluesky and became the Chief Innovation Officer. Venture Capitalist Toni Schneider is the interim CEO and Jay's permanent replacement is still being looked for.[15][12]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h del Castillo, Michael (April 25, 2023). "Jack Dorsey-Backed Decentralized Twitter Rival Prepares to Launch with One Million Users". Forbes. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
- ^ Robison, Kylie (July 31, 2023). "Inside Twitter rival Bluesky's first major crisis, as investors pressured CEO Jay Graber to speak out about racist incident". Fortune. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
- ^ "The CEO of Bluesky's Actual Name Means "Blue Sky" in Chinese". Futurism. November 18, 2024. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
- ^ "Commencement Program, 2013". archives.upenn.edu. University of Pennsylvania. May 13, 2013. p. 24. Retrieved July 21, 2025.
- ^ a b c Campbell, Ian Carlos (August 16, 2021). "Twitter's decentralized social network project finally has a leader". The Verge. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
- ^ a b c Matney, Lucas (August 16, 2021). "Twitter taps crypto developer to lead 'bluesky' decentralized social network effort". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
- ^ del Castillo, Michael (September 11, 2022). "Jack Dorsey's Former Boss Is Building A Decentralized Twitter". Forbes. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
- ^ Heath, Alex (April 17, 2023). "Bluesky's CEO wants to build a Musk-proof, decentralized version of Twitter". The Verge. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
- ^ Dang, Sheila (August 16, 2021). "A Twitter-funded company trying to build a new kind of social media taps its first leader". CNBC. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
- ^ Belanger, Ashley (April 28, 2023). "Top Twitter influencers flee to Bluesky amid Musk's continued debasing". Ars Technica. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
- ^ Klee, Miles (April 27, 2023). "Bluesky Becomes the Hottest Club Online as Twitter Users Fight for Invites". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
- ^ a b Lawler, Richard (March 9, 2026). "Bluesky CEO Jay Graber will step aside". The Verge. Retrieved March 15, 2026.
- ^ Notopoulos, Katie. "Mark Zuckerberg's shirt says 'All Zuck or All Nothing' in Latin". Business Insider. Retrieved March 15, 2026.
- ^ Tremayne-Pengelly, Alexandra (March 10, 2025). "Bluesky CEO Jay Graber Is Building a Billionaire-Proof Social Media Site". Observer. Retrieved March 15, 2026.
- ^ Knibbs, Kate (March 9, 2026). "Bluesky CEO Jay Graber Is Stepping Down". Wired. Retrieved March 9, 2026.