Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 127, February 2020 | Page 12

LEAD FEATURE
being approached by a media company that owns ad
screens all over SA, in incredibly huge public places
like food court in malls, studios, pubs, even hospitals
and mines, so our news is now being shown to an
even wider audience.”
Brent is also continuing with the radio work, after
taking a break from it at the end of 2018 to participate
in the My Kitchen Rules TV cooking show with his
fiancé. “We made it to the semi-final round, and the
filming around the country meant four months of not
being on radio, because I simply didn’t have time
to do the radio show. I also needed time to take a
break from radio and concentrate on the website, so
I resigned from Cliff Central and was off air for six
months. Then I was approached by Jacaranda and
got back into it around June last year, with a long-
form interview podcast every Tuesday to dig deeper
into proudly South African good news stories, and
also appearing on the Monday night show with Danny
Painter, trying to kick the week off with good news
and positive vibes.”
Of course, Brent acknowledges that that there are
is still plenty of bad news out there, and he is quick
to point out that he does not simply ignore that. “I
wake up every morning and read what is going on in
the country, and I don’t shy away from the hard news
and stories. Good Things Guy offers good news, but
many of our stories stem from the bad stories, and try
to find good in that, to inspire other South Africans. I
believe that that knowledge is important, and to know
what is going on in the country.”
One of the interviews Brent did was with radio DJ
Gareth Cliff on 5FM, who subsequently left the SABC
to start Cliff Central, an online radio portal, and he
offered Brent an opportunity to do his own weekly
show called The Good Stuff, to share more good
news stories. “I had no experience in radio, so I cringe
now when I listen to those first shows. I was on every
Tuesday at 10am, and I was producer and presenter.
I was with Gareth for three years, but I eventually
wanted to take it even wider to share all these good
stories.”
“In the meantime I had created a Facebook page,
South Afri-CAN, and saw how quickly it picked up,
sharing good news that was scarce, and I developed
a website, www.goodthingsguy.com, which went live
in August 2015, and it has just grown in leaps and
bounds since then. It started with just me, and now
I have a team that write for me, and it has become
a fully-fledged business, with over a million readers
each month. We only share good news, and our aim
is to change the narrative in this country. I think we’ve
changed the landscape in this country, because even
the mainstream media has changed its focus, with big
news sites adding good news sections.”
Brent also started a blog, which received over
100,000 views in the first month as people shared the
content, and it has just continued to grow from there.
The blog won the SA Blog of the Year Award three
years running from 2017 to 2019, as well as making
the Top 25 African Blogs list in 2018 and 2019. His
website has also made the top 100 global list. In
the meantime, Brent himself has won a whole list of
awards, including being nominated a LeadSA Hero in
2014, selected as one of the Most Influential Young
South Africans in 2018 and 2019, and one of 100
Young Mandelas of the future in 2019.
Typically humble, Brent says that the awards are
amazing, but he thinks it is more important that his
one small act of kindness spawned literally thousands
of similar videos, reaching and physically improving
millions of lives, which has also led to the creation of
three dedicated feeding schemes in Canada, the USA
and Ireland, which are still running to this day. “I’ve
also been privileged to take my concept overseas,
and very soon there will be more good news websites
in other countries, inspired by my site, with my
permission to copy the same model.”
The Next Step
While the good news concept is taking off around
the world, Brent is looking to develop the initiative
still further here in South Africa. Towards the end
of 2019 his team launched an app, which he says
allows readers to download good news and read
it easily offline. “Another exciting development is
“There’s huge power in sharing positive ideas and
creating awareness through social media, and I
wanted to do that instead, with a random act of
kindness.”
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On a personal level, he says the last few years have
been an incredible experience, and he takes great
pride in the positive work he and his team have done,
but insists the success, fame and awards have not
changed his outlook or goals. “The only real difference
between today and a few years ago is that I’ve now
given my positive attitude a brand. The Facebook
timehop app is often showing me old posts, and I’m
the same guy, sharing the same content. I haven’t
changed; I’ve just got a bigger platform to make a
difference. There’s so much you can do and achieve
with the right attitude. I believe in being thankful for
everything you have and paying it forward.”
ISSUE 127 FEBRUARY 2020 / www.modernathlete.co.za
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