For five years, Bert and John Jacobs drove up and down the East Coast, selling their t-shirt designs on the streets and in college dorms. They slept in their van, lived on PB&J, and showered when they could. The adventure was great, but sales were, uh, lacking.

In 1994, with just $78 to their names, Bert and John designed their first “Life is Good” t-shirt to counter the negative news, and discovered how those three simple words could inspire people to focus on the good.

It should have come as no surprise that the power of that one idea was just too strong to get wrong. After all, Bert and John’s mom, Joan Jacobs, had raised them to believe in the power of positivity.

As a parent of six kids, raising the family on their dad’s slim salary, Joan still managed to make little moments magical. She didn't just tell bedtime stories. She unlocked her kids’ imaginations. In her tales, she became a wolf on a bicycle, or a princess in a flying submarine, or a dragon who breathes love instead of fire. In fact, our logo was inspired by Joan’s creative bedtime stories. It’s a symbol of her fierce love and a tribute to her playful imagination.

We like to think of Joan Jacobs as the original “Playmaker,” a term we coined that describes those who help kids heal and thrive through the power of play. In Joan’s honor, more than 10% of Life is Good’s annual net profits are donated to the Life is Good Playmaker Project to help raise the next generation of optimists.