Actually Happy Birthday Cards

About a week ago, while performing my normal lunchtime perusal of CNN.com (a generally bad habit), I came across a photo that looked very much like someone I know: Jan Golden, the artist and entrepreneur behind Age Friendly Vibes.

And just as my brain was saying damn if that woman doesn’t look exactly like Jan, I saw the accompanying headline: "She was fed up with 'damn, you're old' birthday cards. So she started designing her own."

To my happy surprise Jan was being featured—along with other artists—in an article about the age-positive birthday card campaign from Changing the Narrative.

Now, if you’ve seen me speak, you’ve probably been introduced to Jan’s work. Her cards are upbeat, beautifully designed, and a welcome voice in the wilderness of anti-birthday crap. And now thousands more people—maybe millions—have been introduced, too.

The CNN article is called Many birthday cards mock getting older. These artists are painting a different picture, and it’s an 8-minute read on this positive movement and the people behind it.

Congratulations to Jan and the other artists, and to Changing the Narrative co-directors Sara Breindel (quoted heavily in the article) and Kris Geerken—along with founder Janine Vanderburg—for this fantastic exposure to this wonderful work.

As a side note, Jan, Kris and I are all members of the Advisory Council on Ageism with the American Society on Aging. It’s damned exciting to see these hard-working women and their organizations get the exposure they—and this movement—deserve.

P.S.: Jan says the publicity gave her a nice bump in sales—hooray! Sometimes the universe works right.

Once again, here's the article: 

Many birthday cards mock getting older. These artists are painting a different picture | CNN