Zack and Kim Hix: Zack Really is a Good Boy.

 

It’s not easy growing up…for anyone, but imagine how tough an already difficult time would be if you had to go through it while also overcoming OCD, depression, ADHD, and anxiety. Then, add a strep infection that causes Tourette’s and tics (called Pediatric Autoimmune Disorder Associated with Strep or PANDAS). Top it off with 3 head traumas which only aggravate these difficulties.

What do you do?

Well, if you’re 17 year old Zack and his mom Kim, in the Hix house, you start your own business.

Good Boy Roy sells and markets t-shirts featuring Zack’s original illustrations and messages.

While GBR sometimes tackles serious subjects to increase awareness, Zack wants to do it in a non-threatening, entertaining, and even inspirational way. As the company’s ambassador, there’s no one more inspirational than Zack.

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How did Good Boy Roy get started?

ZACK: I gave my mom a stack of drawings one day and she took them to friend to put them on the t-shirt and it was a surprise for me.  So I came home one day from school and she had Roy on a t-shirt to surprise me.  I wore it for days and everybody just kept on commenting on it.

Where did your characters come from?  Are they inspired by people that you know or just what you’ve got rolling around in your head?

ZACK: Like “Handsome Hen.” He’s named after my mom’s brother, my uncle.  His name is Henry, but he doesn’t actually look like the character but I thought Handsome then Hen, his nickname is Hen, so I just thought those two words go together.  Hippie Heather.  One of my cousins is named Heather, but I just kind of named them.  Some of them I named after my family members, and then I just give them their own personalities.

So, none of the personalities are based on real people, at least not that you want anybody to know about.

ZACK: Uh-uh.

What is it about the subjects that you touch on, that you illustrate, that makes you want to illustrate them? What makes you want to talk about bullying?  What makes you want to talk about the things that you talk about?

ZACK:  Because I was bullied all through middle school and it was just a really tough time for me so I just wanted to try to stop it by getting the word out. Or this “God Rocks” one.  I’m really into my church and I love going.

Zack, you’ve struggled with a lot of challenges over seventeen years. What has made you the person that you are in having the drive to overcome the challenges that you’ve had to face?

ZACK:  Just…as I get older, they seem to decrease in how they affect me.  So like, over the years, as I get older, I’ve had less rages and stuff like that.  We’ve found new medicine that’s been helping me.  And my mom and my family have been my main supporters.

What has made you want to become the person that you have become? Is there a certain way that you think that makes you say, “I want to be a successful businessman?”  Because that’s exactly what you’ve created — a successful business.

ZACK:  When I go to college, I want to major in cartooning or something and then, if the business takes off, the cartooning can help me with the business but, if not, I want to try to become a cartoonist, no matter what.

As a result of Good Boy Roy, you’ve gotten to do some pretty cool things. Hanging out with “Phineas and Ferb” creator Jeff “Swampy” Marsh at the Kids’ Choice Awards is certainly one of those.  How have your friends reacted to the success that you’ve had?

ZACK:  They’ve been supportive.  They say, “Dude, that’s cool,” and stuff like that.  I’m known pretty well around school especially to the teachers with my designs.  I’ve done “Artist for Hire” for the library.  The librarians had designed a comic and they had it posted in the library where all the graphic novels are.  So it’s going to stay up there until I graduate.

I know that some of the other kids, they’ve heard of my stuff.  Like, in the mornings in classes, they’ll say, “I saw your mom’s car with Good Boy Roy on the back.”

We talked about bullying and that you’ve had some personal experience being on the receiving end of that.  What kinds of advice do you have for kids that face similar situations?

ZACK: No matter what they say or do, just don’t let them get to you and let it ruin your life because your day will come for you to shine.  They’ll be the ones with the last laugh.

What message do you have for the bullies?

ZACK: Look at me now.  Basically, just look at me now.

KIM: A little with or karma involved, maybe.  What goes around, comes around.

Where do you want Good Boy Roy to go from here?  You’ve got everything set up at this point, how big do you want it to get?  What all do you want to do?

ZACK: My plan is for it to be worldwide, known all around.  And we want to get in as many stores as possible and for me to create my own cartoon series with me the voice of Roy and stuff like that.

Stay tuned for Part 2. Zack’s mom and the CEO of Good Boy Roy talks about how their company is so much more than a business. It’s a creative outlet that has opened up a new world of possibilities to her son.