Donny Harper has made keeping good company his business. Literally. It’s what his brand, GO(O)D Company Apparel, stands for.
“I’m pushing a message of positivity through fashion,” Harper tells Oprah Daily. The brand’s logo, he says, “reminds you to be good company to others and also to be mindful of the company you keep.” Hence, the company’s slogan: Keep GO(O)D Company. Wear who you are. Live what you believe.
One of the entrepreneurs selected as a 2022 recipient of Spectrum Reach’s Pay It Forward (PIF) program, which is committed to fostering diverse-owned business that give back to their communities, Harper’s journey toward spreading a message of goodness began early. He was 16 years old and living what he called “a regular teenager life” when his mother was diagnosed with cancer. From age 10, his life had been about hip-hop, and his focus was on becoming a successful rap artist. But at 17, as his mother grew increasingly ill, Harper dropped out of high school and spent his time “rapping about things that I probably shouldn’t have been rapping about.”
Loss and Clarity
At 19, his world went dark when his mother died three years after her diagnosis. “My mom was my best friend, my everything,” he says. Seeking solace, “I started going to church and growing in my faith,” recalls Harper. Soon, the music he made turned to Christian hip-hop. He performed at local churches and started to record and publish his songs on music-sharing platforms, where they got picked up by local Christian music stations. “I was still rapping,” Harper says, “but it was all about God’s grace, love, and peace.”
In 2004, at the age of 26—nearly a decade after dropping out of school—Harper earned his GED, making good on a promise he’d made to his mom. Building on his academic success, he got a job teaching math. That same year, he married his wife, Ciara.
A Brand on a Mission
Seeking even more ways to spread positivity, he decided to put his music career on the back burner and create clothing with a message, one that people could wear and live by every day.
“I wanted a brand that everybody could relate to and connect to. In our world, there are so many things that divide us as people,” he explains. “I wanted a message that connected to all backgrounds, all different walks of life, rich and poor.” And the message on all products is the same—the company logo and brand name: GO(O)D.
One day, when Harper wore his clothing to teach his math class, “The principal said, ‘You’re pushing this message of positivity through your fashion. You’re a role model. A young Black man who has got his own business talking about love, patience, joy.” And that’s when it all came together. “It seemed like the name, GO(O)D Company, just dropped on me,” Harper recalls. Eventually, he left teaching to spread his message in new ways, as a pastor and as a business owner.
Paying It Forward
After two years of selling his line at pop-up shops, Harper set his sights on establishing his brick-and-mortar. But a mere two weeks after opening the doors of his Vine St. shop in downtown Cincinnati his business encountered an unforeseeable challenge. “We moved into our store at the beginning of March 2020 and immediately had to shut down because of the pandemic,” recounts Harper.
The high-traffic area he hoped would lead to retail success became another empty street. To counteract the challenges his business faced and ensure his brand would survive, Harper pivoted his focus to online sales. The biggest challenge became how to reach people. “I know that this is a message-driven brand and people need to hear the story behind the product,” he says.
He had been advertising digitally when he got a call from his account executive at Spectrum Reach, the advertising sales business of Charter Communications, encouraging him to apply to their Pay It Forward (PIF) program, which launched in 2021. Harper applied and was selected as one of several hundred businesses to participate in the “Pay It Forward” program, which provides complimentary advertising resources and guidance to help small businesses achieve a new level of success by empowering them to extend their reach. It was a chance to find new ways to get his message out there; recipients are awarded a free, three-month television advertising schedule; a free, 30-second commercial; exclusive access to on-demand educational content, including insights and resources from industry experts; and invitations to exclusive speakers’ series and events. At the end of the program, they receive a 50 percent value match offer with a paid schedule of advertising.
The strategy, and the television spots, helped Harper’s positive message come through loud and clear. “The biggest change I noticed with the Pay It Forward program is that our brand has grown in recognition,” he says. “As the ads are running, more and more people are coming up to me and saying, ‘Hey, I’ve seen your ad on TV.”
Harper estimates that creating a holistic marketing strategy as part of Spectrum Reach’s Pay It Forward program increased his sales by 5 to 7 percent. “For a small business like mine, that’s big, really big,” he points out.
From there, it’s been a blur of hard work and growth—and a family effort, with the help of Ciara and their four kids, Jasmin, Caelyn, Devin, and Micah. “It’s a family business, for sure,” Harper says.
Now, eight years after Harper sold his first shirt, GO(O)D Company’s collection ships worldwide and offers upwards of 200 items for men, women, and children that go beyond T-shirts to sweats, jackets, joggers, and accessories.
Building Accountability
Harper’s message of reminding people to keep good company is spreading—and working. He regularly hears from customers who tell him that wearing the brand has helped them move through the world with more personal accountability. One person shared he had been cut off in traffic and had the impulse to unleash his anger on the offending driver when he realized he was wearing GO(O)D Company. “He told me, ‘Your brand actually just held me accountable from doing something that I probably shouldn’t have, just because I was wearing and representing GO(O)D Company,’” Harper recounts. “And that literally brought me to tears.”
What’s next for GO(O)D Company? This November, the brand will drop a new clothing line encouraging female empowerment called Pretty. And beyond that, Harper’s sights will be fixed, as they have from the beginning, on spreading his message and building a community of good company.
“If somebody’s out wearing GO(O)D Company apparel and somebody else sees them, it says, ‘Hey, I see you keep in good company. You know, I keep good company, too.’” he says. “When I encounter somebody in GO(O)D Company, it’s like we’re family.”
There is, of course, another thing keeping Harper going. “I truly feel that my mom would have been really, really proud of what we’re doing,” he says. “I’m reminded of her every day.”
This article was originally published in The Oprah Magazine.
