Branden Harvey
Founder / CEO of
Good Good Good
Portland, OR
www.goodgoodgood.co
instagram @goodgoodgoodco
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youtube
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Q What do you do?
“I’m a storyteller focused on the good in the world.”
For years that meant traveling the world with nonprofits — helping them tell their stories. For a while it was sharing stories on social media. Today, it’s running Good Good Good as its founder and CEO. Good Good Good is an independent media company with the mission to help people feel more hopeful and do more good. This means we share a lot of good news stories of people making a difference in the world — and always include action steps on how readers can get involved and make a difference themselves. We also make the Goodnewspaper, which was featured by Miley Cyrus last year.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
I was privileged to attend a high school with a fully decked-out photography class. I took the photography class three years in a row so I could have access to a DSLR. From there, I quickly became passionate about the craft of photography. I sought outside inspiration from other teen photographers around the country (and world) via Flickr and MySpace. And eventually connected with a mentor who taught me everything about running a photography business. I became a professional photographer at 16 because of her. She taught me the technical side of photography, how to manage clients, how to market myself — and most importantly, she taught me how to make a difference through photography. She had this philosophy — that I’ve since adopted with everything I do — that if you have a unique skill or talent, you have an obligation to use that for good. She modeled what it looks like to use photography to give back. Shooting photos for nonprofits, for moms who might not have the funds to prioritize family photos, for causes that need visual storytelling to drive attention. Becoming a photographer was a game-changer for me. It taught me how to run a business and the importance of doing good. And it set me up early on to be willing to think a bit outside the box about what my career could look like. From here, I slowly worked my way into working as a photographer and content creator for nonprofits all over the world. I went from volunteering with organizations on the side to working full-time with nonprofits. I think there was a year when I worked on five continents with clients. And some of these clients were the inspiring organizations that I’d admired since I was in high school. So it all felt like a thrill. And it set me up for the big next step in my career.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
I joined Instagram pretty early on. Back then, the culture (among the photography community) was to shrug off Instagram because “it wasn’t real photography.” A lot of photographers hated the way the app was filled with overly filtered low-quality iPhone photos. This was before people were shooting professional campaigns and feature films on iPhones. But I completely ignored that anti-Instagram sentiment in those early days. And I started going pretty hard on it. I saw it as a creative challenge — and an opportunity to extend my storytelling to a new public platform. Somehow, early on, I started gaining a lot of traction on the platform. Instagram featured me on their account and blog like three times. Articles started listing me as one of the top people to follow on Instagram. And I was one of the earliest Instagrammers to work with brands on sponsored content (before it was really called sponsored content). And this whole time, I’m traveling to different countries helping nonprofits tell stories. And I’m bringing my new Instagram audience along and helping them see the problems these communities were facing — but also the hope of the amazing solutions being created by these same communities in partnership with these nonprofits. And quickly, I started growing not just an audience — but an audience filled with people who cared about these kinds of stories. Who cares about celebrating the good in the world — and making a difference. So, I stood out by being early to a platform — and then continuing to do something different. And I think that's been true for the rest of my career.
Q What are you working on right now?
Somewhere around this time, I started wondering how I could double down on this kind of storytelling. I loved my work with nonprofits — and I really believed in the work that I was doing. But I couldn’t help but think that most of the photos I was shooting and stories I was telling were just reaching people who already knew about the good being done by this organization. They’d get shared at fundraising events, on the blog, and on their social media. Maybe a magazine or something. But for the most part, 90% of those eyeballs already knew about the work this nonprofit was doing. And I wondered if I could find a different way to help more people find out about all of the good happenings in the world. Taking these same stories (and more) and helping them reach a broader audience. That’s the year that I founded Good Good Good. We were so scrappy back then. I launched with a free good news email newsletter and eventually worked up to creating a podcast out of my coworking space. Just like with Instagram, people started following along. And not just any group of people — but again, the best kind of people. People who care about making a difference in the world. By this time, I’d put together a small team of creative friends to help me with Good Good Good — and we decided to get really wild and create a tool to help people feel more hopeful and do more good. So we launched a Kickstarter campaign for the Goodnewspaper — a print newspaper filled with good news. I truly had no clue if it was going to work. I poured a lot of my own money into it. And I nearly threw up when I hit the Publish button on Kickstarter. But within 72 hours we were fully funded — and by the end of our 30-day campaign, we had more than doubled our initial goal. And so I wasn’t just a photographer anymore. I was a newspaper creator. And, also, for the first time, I felt like a founder. I was running a startup — and I had a team and community depending on that startup’s mission to succeed. This is what I’m still doing, more than 6 years later. Every day I spend my time running Good Good Good. We just published our 32nd Goodnewspaper, we’ve extended our work to a beautiful website filled with good news, and our Instagram account has grown to a point where it got featured by Miley Cyrus and the New York Times.
Q What’s your style?
One thing I love about Good Good Good is that we share what we call ‘real good news’ — not ‘feel good news’. So we’re not covering simply the absence of bad news — but rather, the hope within the heartbreak. When we see bad news in the world — we don’t bury our heads in the sand and pretend it doesn’t exist. We head straight for it and start looking for the helpers. Mister Rogers once said: When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” And he was right. We’ve always found people who are helping. No matter what the bad news is. So I’m most proud of our work that very honestly talks about the heartbreak, pain, and injustice of the world — while also finding the most inspiring helpers, elevating them, and celebrating them. Launching our new good news website this year changed the game for us — because it represents all of these ideas, and gives us a whole new place to share these stories. I’m also especially proud of a few specific Goodnewspapers: The Refugees Edition, The Pride Edition, and The Mental Health Edition.
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
For the longest time, I felt like my identity was wrapped up in being a photographer. It’s who I was, who I thought I’d be forever, and all I spent my time doing. Then social media came along and I had to write a caption with my photos. And after a bit of practice, I wondered if I might be a writer too. I became really passionate about that side of the process. Then for a while, some of the nonprofits I worked with needed videos, and as I began shooting short films I wondered if I might be a filmmaker too. Then I started a business, a newspaper, and led a team. And my identity grew to include business owner, weirdo who makes a newspaper, and leader. I’m no longer comfortable with labels that are too strict. I’ve shrugged them off. I sometimes shoot photos, but I’m not just a photographer. I run a startup full-time, but I’m not just an entrepreneur. I find it much more creatively freeing to instead focus on my mission: which is to help point people to the good in the world and help people get involved and make a difference. And I can do that through photography, or a business, or writing, or maybe something new. The medium doesn’t define me anymore.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
I’m really proud of the work I’ve done the last few years getting to know myself, understanding what drives me, what works for me, and what doesn’t work for me. (Thank you, therapy!) I’m learning that my brain doesn’t thrive on repetitive tasks. My head gets bored. But repetitive tasks are what make anything happen. You can’t stop reaching out to clients to get new work just because you’re tired of sending the same emails. You can’t stop editing your photos in your style because you’re bored with the software you use. And I can’t stop putting out a weekly newsletter and podcast and a monthly newspaper just because I’ve done it dozens (or hundreds?) of times. It’s frustrating to love doing this work, but not find your brain fully capable of doing what you need it to do to get the job done. I feel very privileged to be in a place where, when I recognized this struggle, I was able to hire someone to help manage some of these things that I find challenging. There are other people who love systems and processes and optimize them to be better. And that allows me to focus on my strengths and the things that come more naturally to me. I still have to push through to do things that are challenging, of course. But being able to focus on my strengths, and bring someone else onto the team to focus on their strengths, is incredible.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
I’m a verbal processor. Some of my best ideas get unlocked mid-conversation. (Which, if you’ve heard my podcast, is a bit hilarious to hear in real-time.) So it would be amazing to have someone I could call to talk about random ideas anytime. They’d ask questions, make fun of the dumb ideas that don’t work, and essentially help me process the world. hahaha Is that a thing?
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
Be present in the phase of life you’re in today. For years, because I was really young to be doing the kinds of professional stuff I was doing, I acted like I was older than I was. I wish I’d just owned it. Because I’ll never be that age again. Even a decade later, I still feel like I’m “not old enough”, “not experienced enough”, or “not professional enough.” So, at least in this instance, “fake it til you make it” is a lie. Because I faked it for years, and I’ve never felt like I made it. Looking back, I should have just started being real about where I was at the time.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
I want to talk to creative business owners who have spent a whole career doing meaningful work they can feel proud of. I feel very grateful to have spent my entire 20’s doing this work — and I’d love to learn from someone who has gotten to create good through their entire career.
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
I’m looking to partner with brands and organizations that are genuinely working to make the world a better place. A lot of brands suck and cover it up with greenwashing. But there are still countless brands that are sacrificially choosing to prioritize people and the planet over profits. Running Good Good Good costs money — so when we have the opportunity to partner with like-minded brands making a positive difference in the world, it allows us to continue our work AND helps introduce our community to brands that will align with their values.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
We love when we can partner across everything we do. Last year we made a custom Goodnewspaper exclusively for a brand that helps make a difference for animals, earth, and people. They made the custom newspapers available for free in all of their stores (in multiple languages, on multiple continents) and with all of their online orders. They helped us reach hundreds of thousands of people with good news. We then helped tell some of these same stories across social media and the web — further elevating good news and inspiring people to make a difference in their communities. It was a great partnership because it was a perfect fit on all sides: for Good Good Good, for the client, and for all of the people who experienced what we built together
Q: What is your rate?
First of all, if you’re not a brand, you should check out our Goodnewspaper. It’s $8 per month, shows up via snail mail, it’s filled with good news, gorgeous illustrations, and every issue has a custom centerfold poster illustrated by a guest artist. We’d love to have you join our community. For brands, we want to keep our branded content really minimal. So we only partner with a limited number of brands per year. We have a campaign minimum of $7500 to work with us, with discounts available for nonprofits.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
Reach out here
Q Who is a creative you admire?
This is so hard because I’ve had the privilege of working with so many talented creatives. Here are a few friends and collaborators I’m always recommending:
I love the way that Danielle Coke uses her art to communicate complex ideas and motivate people to take action.
Morgan Harper Nichols is one of the most generous artists in the world. She puts her full heart into her work and is changing so many lives through her words.
One of my earliest influences was Jeremy Cowart, a celebrity photographer who continually finds new ways to use his platform and talents to make a difference.
And lastly, my long-time creative collaborators: Megan Burns, Carra Sykes, and Judson Collier
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
See a problem in the world? Create a solution.
This member profile was originally published in January 2022.