What brought you to this work?
I came to this work through personal inquiry, initially driven by a curiosity about the nature of connection in my own life. I stayed, though, because of a deeper desire to understand its role in the human experience.
I’ve long had a practice of walking meditations. It was in one of these walks that I surfaced an inner knowing that connection is at the heart of the human experience but that we’ve designed societies in a way that moves us away from connection to what really matters. I’ve also long been concerned with social change.
And so, about 7 years ago now, I asked myself two mission shaping questions:
- What is the most urgent change needed in today’s society? (my answer: a return to connection to self, to other and to place)
- What’s the most effective way to drive that change? (my answer: infrastructure)
What was concept building like?
I then became curious about how different disciplines might inform a thoughtful solution to an epoch defining social problem. This led me to explore connection through a number of angles such as Social Behavioral Psychology, Neuroscience, Sociology, Change Management, Art and Urban Design. The interdisciplinary blend became a pathway to imagine solutions that address the urgent shifts needed in how we connect to ourselves, to each other, and to place. In the later stages of solution building I turned to Technology and Design to create not just an app, but an infrastructure that bridges third spaces, digital structure, and people who facilitate connection—artists, venue operators, social visionaries, community builders—all to bring us closer together. Ultimately designing a personal and collective guide to new ways of being.
What kind of culture shift are you looking to drive?
I find we’re living through times in which we’ve forgotten what it’s like to journey together—and the beauty of what it means to share a lifetime. NEO-SOCIAL is designed to pave the way for that practice of remembrance. Designed to bring us back to ourselves. Our humanness. Back to each other and the spaces that offer us an opportunity to bring life to time.
The shift is about helping us rebuild the kind of social structure that actually sustains us.
How do you see NEO-SOCIAL changing the state of human connection?
In an era of scrolling, ghosting and curated digital facades, NEO-SOCIAL responds to the rising demand for something real. People are craving depth, belonging and purpose — and NEO-SOCIAL is here to deliver just that. Designed for change on both the individual and collective level. NEO-SOCIAL helps people come to know themselves more deeply in relation to the world, and in doing so, I believe it will reshape how we relate to each other, and how we build and nurture the lives we share.
About Sol Inoa
Sol Inoa is a multidisciplinary being—brought to life in Santiago, Dominican Republic, raised in New York City, and shaped by the rhythms and complexities of both places.
Sol graduated from Trinity College in 2016, where she completed a degree in Public Policy & Law, concentrating in Human Rights and International Law, with a second major in Language and Culture Studies. She later began a Change Management Masters program at the New School of Public Engagement, before leaving the program to pursue development of NEO-SOCIAL.
She is notably a Posse Scholar. Winners of the prestigious award are selected for their exceptional leadership capacity. The Posse Foundation trains young leaders to become agents of social change, helping them strengthen the skills to develop consensus solutions to complex social problems.