“He looked at me and was like, it’s ‘PBSkids.org,’ how can you not know that?” Jennifer says. “He understood from my comment what it meant to ‘Google Dragontales,’ where to go on the computer, and the URL, at 3 years old—it was unbelievable.”

A short while earlier, her husband Matt was getting migraines and had been diagnosed with computer vision syndrome; she realized that her kids were going to be exposed to digital screens more than the previous generation, and their vision would suffer more.

“I realized they’re going to be on the computer a lot,” she says. “All their information, education, entertainment will be on some form of digital screen. Even if you’re at an NFL game, you’re watching parts of the game on the big screen.”

Her husband was prescribed reading glasses for his vision affliction—“They were basically spectacles for somebody much older,” Jennifer says. “He got them and I said, I don’t know if that’s the look for you.” She wanted to make eyewear that would alleviate eye strain but that would also be more fashionable, more hip, and fit for a younger crowd.

She and Matt had a friend who had recently left Oakley named Joe Croft, and they asked him to help with some prototypes. Around 2005, they set up their garage for business; they launched nationally in January 2009. They named the company Gunnar because he was the reason she started the company—though in hindsight, she says, she wouldn’t have named it after her child. “It gets a little difficult for him when his name is on everything,” she says. “We have this big Gunnar bus and he sees his name and he’s embarrassed.”

Now, Gunnar Optiks is in 26 countries, has sold hundreds of thousands of units, and will be stocked by Best Buy in a few weeks. Jenny has had two more sons, so juggles running the company as well as raising three boys aged 10, 7, and 5.

It’s an unexpected path for Jennifer, who, when she was younger, wanted to go to college, work for a bit, but ultimately become a stay-at-home mom with her kids. “In a million years, I never thought that I would be as passionate about what I’m doing as I am now,” she says.

She went to the University of Rhode Island, which is where she met and married Matt, and studied International Marketing. After working a few months at an advertising agency she decided that the cutthroat atmosphere wasn’t for her, so she went to work for Matt’s company. Then she had Gunnar, and stopped working for a few years until the idea for the eyewear came about. “I decided with Joe that we’ve got to start this company, it’s important enough,” she says.

So now, her days are packed, but she says that at the end of the day she feels a sense of accomplishment. “It’s nonstop, but I love every minute of both sides of it,” she says. “It’s a good exhaustion.” She gets up at 5 a.m. to work out and read emails and the news, makes breakfast, lunches and snacks for her kids, takes them to school, and heads into the office where in addition to working she’s also the office prankster (which takes time!) Then she picks the kids up from school, takes them to various activities, has dinner, and gets back to work after they go to bed. In what free minutes she has, she’s on Twitter or playing Words With Friends.

Her three sons all wear Gunnars when they play video games, and have caused the trend to spread among their friends. “They are all way beyond me already with computers and iPads and iPhones and Xbox and even the TV sets,” she says. “I grew up in Cupertino and I feel like I’m pretty on top of it, and they’re way beyond me. They were born into it.”

She cites numbers that indicate over 125 million Americans have symptoms of computer vision syndrome and myopia is on the rise from straining to look at screens, staring at artificial light, and not blinking. Gunnar eyewear creates a warmer light, more on the spectrum of sunlight than a harsh fluorescent screen, the glasses wrap close to the face to keep in moisture, and the curved lenses prefocus light and increase contrast and detail to put the eyes in a more rested state.

She’s so driven because she believes in the company’s mission, which hits home particularly when she sees her sons staring at screens all day. “It’s a big problem out there and it’s going to become a much bigger problem, so if I can educate people and offer them a solution, then I’ve achieved what I want to achieve,” she says.

Her advice for other moms trying to do it all: “Try not to be Supermom and do everything perfectly, give yourself the freedom to do the best you can and be happy. At the end of the day, nobody died wishing they worked more. Slow down and enjoy your family and your work; don’t try to conquer the world, just little bits at a time.”