Michelle Figueroa, A GOOD THING HAPPENED TODAY
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[0:58]Michelle Figueroa is the author of a good thing happened today.
[1:02]Michelle has 15 plus years of experience as a bilingual journalist, producer, and filmmaker,
[1:06]mostly for CNN on Español. Now Michelle runs the good news movement social media platform,
[1:13]where she curates good news only because you are the good news. A good thing happened today
[1:18]is her first book published by HarperCollins. Welcome Michelle. Thank you so much for coming on
[1:23]mom's don't have time to read books to discuss a good thing happened.
[1:27]Thank you so much for having me on. It's a total pleasure and I hope to keep spreading my message
[1:32]that good things are happening anywhere and everywhere in the world. I love this mission of yours.
[1:39]Can you talk a little bit about that and the good news movement and your whole Instagram community
[1:44]and how you pick user-generated stories and tell me, let me hear the whole thing, I just love it.
[1:50]Thank you. So I'll start with the fact that as a reporter, I have been a freelance, they kind of
[1:55]of call it a permalancer, per minute freelancer for different networks and I had always been drawn
[2:01]to positive stories but unfortunately I was finding that those weren't making the cut. So I had a
[2:08]treasure trove of good stories and I thought it was a shame that people weren't hearing them
[2:13]because my idea is that yes we have to hear the bad news, we have to be informed of what's
[2:18]happening but there should also be equal value to good news. So I had an ear infection in bed
[2:23]the summer of 2018 and I decided to take a leap of faith and create my own media platform. I didn't
[2:30]really have lofty expectations at the time but I just said let me just share good news and little
[2:35]by little, it began to grow and then it started to go really quickly and then even more quickly
[2:41]and then even more quickly and so it's been amazing and it's really been a collective effort
[2:46]because I tell people when they ask me how many people are on my staff, I tell them 4.3 million
[2:52]because people are essentially producers you know they're filming things with their video as
[2:56]they're sending me their good news so it's really been a collective effort from all corners of the
[3:02]world and it's been such a joy being part of that and filling people's news feeds with positivity
[3:09]because I haven't heard of one person who says they don't like seeing good news.
[3:14]So how like how many submissions do you get a day of stories that are good, good news stories?
[3:20]Let me see if I can do the backwards math. I know per minute it's about one every three minutes.
[3:26]So yeah it's a ton so that's part of the job is you know looking through all the submissions
[3:34]and trying not to miss any I mean inevitably we'll miss some but it's great I mean there's never
[3:41]shortage of good news so I think that's what people are really curious about because even reporters
[3:45]tell me how do you find it and as I said oh it's it's there it's there and there just never
[3:52]had been like a centralized method for or people to send it in. So you're getting good news every
[3:59]one every three minutes. How do you then pick which goes up on Instagram or which goes up where
[4:05]how do you like work your way through it? Yeah it's interesting because there isn't really
[4:10]people ask me what subjects do you prefer and honestly I think it's kind of the same reporter
[4:14]instinct. I think both what I feel as a human I think that's a big part of it but it's also
[4:21]from my experience from reporting and kind of the stories that that were compelling to me
[4:27]and the ones that I thought had more of a story to them. So I think it's a combination
[4:31]but a lot of it has just got you know your feeling and sometimes people tell me I don't know
[4:37]this qualifies as good news and I'm like well if it made you smile that made you feel good
[4:41]then I'm sure it'll make you know other people feel the same way if it moved you if it made you cry
[4:47]and so yeah so it's not a very kind of technical process it's more of like how it makes me feel
[4:54]and I think kind of judging by my reaction that's that's when I say okay this is if I feel this way
[5:01]maybe other people too wow. So what made you then write the children's book? So funny enough my
[5:08]first job out of college was at Houghton Mifflin which some people might recognize with curious
[5:13]George actually there was a curious George conference room I'll remember for my time there and I
[5:18]never thought I'd be on the other end of it but I thought it was a perfect idea for kids that aren't
[5:23]online which is you know the book is intended for children from four to seven but anyone can read it
[5:29]but for children that aren't online to get the message that they can be the good news and really
[5:35]my hope with the book is that they feel inspired that they can make the change you know all these
[5:40]stories that are in the book are stories that are real that happens that were on my page
[5:46]most of them revolve around kids doing good so for me it was kind of a reference book almost for
[5:52]kids to get ideas to how they can make the world a kinder place and be the good news and also
[5:57]reminder to adults to open your eyes to get news sometimes we kind of walk down the street and
[6:01]we're focused on maybe our issues or our phone or what we have to do and just taking a moment
[6:07]to observe your surroundings and the kind things that are happening like someone helping an elderly
[6:12]lady cross the street all the like beauty that's in the world to not miss out on it so
[6:18]so I hope this book kind of inspires people to to tap into that. So I have four kids in my little
[6:23]my little guys are seven and eight and I just read the book before this to my daughter
[6:27]and we were looking at the pictures of the elephants and she wanted to know what their
[6:32]picture of two elephants and a man kind of wrapped in the trunk and she wanted to know what the
[6:36]sacrifice was that was the good news. Oh that's a great question so that is a pea farmer in Kenya
[6:44]who on his free time during drought season he brings water to the animals so they can survive
[6:50]and so now he actually there's an organization that pays for him to do this but otherwise a lot
[6:57]of the animals would die because no one was bringing water providing water so so that was very
[7:02]sweet he'd drive hours on his own dime and that was actually from a real picture of him
[7:07]of the elephant and the trunk wrapped around him so that was that was a really sweet and it was
[7:13]really hard to pick which of the stories to showcase because obviously a book has a finite amount
[7:19]of pages so that was really tough actually but I hope that the ones I picked resonate with kids
[7:26]and they enjoy them. Amazing. Do you find yourself in your own sort of person life having lots of
[7:32]good news like do you feel like you're do you feel like you celebrate the little moments or that
[7:36]somehow like you've been blessed by so much good news you want to share it or have you overcome
[7:42]the things that make you want to see the beauty and things like where is this coming from for you?
[7:46]Well it's funny even yesterday I the boat house where I'm at right now it's on a street which
[7:52]name is it's Dutch very long and I didn't remember it my phone was dead and two complete strangers
[7:58]invited me into their home to charge to charge my phone and I just became friends with them and
[8:04]actually my best friend arrived today but yesterday I was on my own and I said hey I wonder if I
[8:09]can make friends today well it was kind of a fun journey I made 10 friends and I kind of went
[8:15]outside my comfort zone and just asked people hey do you want to be my friend? So sometimes it
[8:21]takes us just having a little ask and I notice on my page that's one takeaway I think maybe the
[8:27]most meaningful one from my page is that whenever anybody asks for help there's never a shortage of
[8:34]people who want to help who want to be kind and help someone in whichever way so I see that here
[8:40]right now when I'm traveling and I'm on my own but I think I've been blessed in so many ways
[8:45]in general even as a journalist you know journalism can be tough but I've had guardian angels always
[8:51]giving me advice and feedback and I feel like everyone all these people I've met have made me
[8:57]who I am you know including my own family my friends and community I mean at the end of the day I
[9:02]think their communities strengthen us and and make us who we are you know professionally and as
[9:08]people so I feel like I'm a collection of all those experiences that I've got good and bad because
[9:13]I'll tell people kids I go to schools lately I've been going elementary schools to read the book
[9:18]and I've been telling them I was rejected plenty of times from the news you know plenty of times
[9:24]what when you are I was rejected from doing local news and the following year I was given an
[9:29]opportunity to work for national network news so I tell them don't let any other you don't let
[9:35]anyone define you it can be easy to get discouraged if someone else is defining you and you think
[9:40]maybe I'll I need to throw on the towel but I think that's part of the process and sometimes we see
[9:44]success stories of people whether it's celebrities or acclaimed authors or in any profession
[9:51]we don't see their flaws you know that doesn't come on on screen or you know or in a basket ball
[9:58]gamer what have you
[10:00]that you don't know all the all the failures that they've gone through. So I think, you know,
[10:04]all of us have seen a little bit of adversity some more than others. And I think that's also
[10:09]why the stories resonate because a lot of the people that have showcased are people that have
[10:13]overcome obstacles that many people can identify with. So there's always that no matter where
[10:19]you're from in the world, there's always that the common threat, you know, that everyone's
[10:23]just trying to do the best they can in life and and everyone has their own adversity.
[10:29]Well, so if people listening have good news or want to read or watch or whatever,
[10:35]how can they find you? How can what should they do? What are the next steps? Yes, definitely. If they
[10:41]have Instagram, that is where I hang out the most. Good news underscore movement. But if they're
[10:47]on Facebook, we're also on Facebook, there's no underscore, it's just good news movement altogether.
[10:52]And then it's funny, we couldn't find a good my husband helps me as well. And he manages the Twitter,
[10:57]but we couldn't find a really good handle. So right now, we're good news chorus. And I think it's
[11:01]three. So we're on Twitter. We're there too. My son, who's 11, he does in last summer, he did some
[11:07]updates, good news reporting. That was really fun to to work together as a family and and bring
[11:13]this good news. I mean, the pandemic, I lost my one of my jobs. So I was a reporter and also
[11:17]a salesperson for a local TV station. I lost that job at the beginning of the pandemic,
[11:22]but it was a blessing and disguise because I could focus really on good news movement. And my
[11:26]husband was an opera singer and he lost a lot of his work during the pandemic. So so that's a
[11:32]good news for us is that we've been able to create the movement. And it's really been our job. I mean,
[11:37]it's a job, you know, looking for news, finding, sharing the news, you know, we take I take it
[11:43]as seriously as I do any news report that I've ever done because it's a huge platform. And I always
[11:50]try to make sure my information's correct. That's one thing that drives me nuts. Sometimes online
[11:54]when I see misinformation, it goes viral. I'm like, no, people I got to check make sure what you're
[11:59]reading, you know, it is correct and double check the different sources. And so that's very important
[12:06]to me too as a journalist to not only bring good news, but also, you know, if I'm not sure about
[12:11]something, I don't post it. And I always try to just verify directly from the source.
[12:16]It's amazing. How, yeah, on Instagram, though, like when people are, I'm sorry, when people are
[12:24]submitting their news, do they DM you with it? Like, yeah, like I want to start submitting good news
[12:30]basically. What is my, I want all your good news. Send me, I tell people because someone's like,
[12:35]I'm sorry, I'm sending you to. And I'm like, no, that's the little point at the more I get the better.
[12:40]And yeah, that people want to direct message me or there's an email button on Instagram,
[12:45]there's an email button you click it. And then I'll get the, I'll get the email. So that's a
[12:51]way to also submit. In terms of your, in terms of your platform in general and having this like
[12:56]offset your job, how do you like, was monetization ever a goal for you of the good news movement?
[13:03]Or was it, is it now or like how does business interplay with this philanthropic and never
[13:09]doing? Yeah, so I mean, it's like a new service, right? So when the TV, you know, does the news,
[13:17]they do commercial breaks to pay for all that goes into it. It's the same thing with us. We find
[13:22]partners that really make sense with our brand that that otherwise we might be sharing in our
[13:28]regular content. It's funny because people say they don't see the sponsor content, but we're
[13:33]strategic with who we work for companies doing good in the world in some way. So yeah, we do that.
[13:40]So we can, we can pay, you know, for ourselves. And hopefully it's not in a way that's too
[13:46]overbearing because of course our objective is to share good news. I mean, it's a, it's a new service.
[13:53]And so yeah, at the beginning, I didn't, I didn't really think it would turn into into a business.
[13:59]I didn't really know how big it was going to get at all. So, so now that it has, yeah, we definitely
[14:03]have to support ourselves somehow. And we do, but always trying to do it with good judgment.
[14:09]I never straying away from our, from our values and our, in our morals. I mean, we've always said
[14:14]we're not political. And I even got a call on email from the White House. And I didn't, I didn't
[14:20]look at it because we're not changing who we are, our identity. And I think that's very important.
[14:25]It's a place, there are plenty of places for, for all kinds of politics and all different kinds
[14:29]of news, but we keep it pretty, pretty pure and make sure we're feeding people just the truth,
[14:36]the good news as it is. Wow. I'll bravo to you. It's really amazing. Thank you, Sydney.
[14:42]Now that you've written this children's book, is there any advice you would give? I was actually
[14:46]at the dentist the other day and the hygienist for the kids or whatever the assistant was like,
[14:51]I've written three children's books. Now what? So what would you say to her? Because I was
[14:56]struggling for an answer myself. Yeah, I guess it's different for each person. It's what fills them.
[15:02]I actually met an author at this book talking New York books of wonder. And he wrote a really
[15:08]creative book about bathtubs instead of kids being afraid of the bathtub. It was a bathtub being
[15:14]afraid of the kid. And I just love that book by Simon Rich. Yeah, it was so inventive and creative
[15:21]and fun. And so I'd like to do something more creative. But I guess I would tell the person who's
[15:25]written three books and then they don't know what is kind of think about kind of what brings them
[15:30]joy in their life. And if it maybe that could lead to ideas for what they could do next.
[15:35]For example, I was thinking of doing like a garden, like a good news movement garden to kind
[15:41]of beautify some spaces and, you know, have maybe followers we could fundraise or something.
[15:47]But I like kind of making things tangible because online it's nice. But when I'm like 90 years old,
[15:52]I could say here's my book or here's the garden it's growing. So I guess that's a very personal
[15:58]quest for each person. But maybe just to listen to what makes them happy and what's made them
[16:03]happy in the past, you know, what made you happy as a kid, what made you happy during college,
[16:08]what brings you joy now. For me, I love listening to positive stories. I always have. And so it
[16:14]was really, you know, even though it's a business now, it really has been an extension of myself.
[16:18]It was never like, I'm going to do stories on this so I can sell. No, it's always been
[16:23]this is who I am. So I think it's like really my who I am kind of stretched out into a media platform.
[16:30]And I think being authentic is really important. And people hopefully they see that and what I do.
[16:35]So I think those two things kind of searching for your joy and also staying authentic to yourself,
[16:41]not trying. I feel like in the reporting world, there was a lot of that try to be like this or like
[16:45]this. And I think it's just nice. People want to just meet a real person. And so just staying true to
[16:50]yourself is the best thing you can do. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Thank you for bringing good
[16:55]news and joy and all this positivity. And I keep, you know, in a dark time, in a lot of ways,
[17:01]although it feels like one way or another, it's always dark time somewhere in the world. So
[17:06]having this as a resource is really wonderful. So congratulations. Thanks. Thank you.
[17:11]Thank you. So me. Thanks for having me on. Love your podcast and happy to to think of any good
[17:16]news we can share together or send me yours whenever whenever you'd like. Okay, look out for it.
[17:22]All right. Sounds good. Take care. All right. Bye-bye.
[17:27]Thanks for listening to this episode of moms. Don't have time to read books.
[17:30]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at zebi Owens and at moms don't have time to read books.
[17:35]Also sign up for my newsletter at zebiowens.com and sign up for my virtual book club and meet lots
[17:40]of authors on Zoom every other week. Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Texture Sound for the
[17:45]sound editing. And thank you to Morning Moon Productions for providing this fantastic intro and