You might not be familiar with Brad Montague and Robby Novak but chances are you’re one of the tens of millions of people who have seen their wildly popular YouTube videos. The two are the creators of the character Kid President – the self-appointed voice of a generation.
Novak — the 11-year-old kid who dons a suit and sunny personality to embody the feel-good character – and Montague, the adult who’s usually behind the camera during production, teamed up three years ago with a single idea: to inspire people with positivity and encouragement by looking at real issues through a kid filter.
From pep talks to teachers, open letters to moms and their latest on summer vacations, the topics for the videos have a wide range but an all-encompassing theme: how great would it be if we could approach life with an open mind and an optimistic attitude like children do?
For Montague, the idea sprang after he and his wife started Go! Camp, a place for kids who want to change the world. He recruited his then ten-year-old brother-in-law (Novak) to be the face of Kid President. Novak was only too happy to help. His own story of battling Osteogenesis Imperfecta – a brittle bone disease that’s caused him to suffer 70 fractures and undergo multiple surgeries in his own life – is so inspiring, and ultimately, the two have been able to reach millions of people with their message.
“I’ve always had an interest in seeing how kids react to grown up issues,” Montague told Guideposts.org. “Kid President grew out of our desire to put something online that would make grown-ups pause and take a moment to see through the eyes of a kid. We started in 2012, it was the midst of the presidential race, you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing aggressive political statements. So we put Robby in a cheap suit and just had fun in front of the camera. We wondered if people would listen to a small voice over the older, loud ones, and as it turned out…they did, and still do.”
The videos, the most popular of which has been viewed over 36 million times, have allowed the pair to meet with some pretty important people –President Obama and Beyoncé make the top of their list – and have given them a platform to spread their message of positivity and encouragement while talking about things that matter to the both of them – be it silly or serious.
“The videos are inspired by what we’re doing every day! Sometimes we get more topical and other times we just feel like we want to tell people they’re awesome,” Montague said.
Though the idea of Kid President may have began as just a fun side project meant to encourage and inspire others, it’s morphed into a bit of a movement. Book deals, giving talks to schools across the country and a partnership with SoulPancake – the media company founded by actor Rainn Wilson and dedicated to making people laugh, cry and really think about those big life issues – are just a few things to sprout from Montague’s and Novak’s inital seed of positivity.
Even so, they’re both remaining grounded in why they started making the videos to begin with.
“We want people to choose to be happy about how amazing life could be if they worked to make the world better – instead of getting angry about how the world just isn’t good enough already,” Montague said. “We hope people take action with a joyful rebellion.”
Check out Kid President’s latest video on what kids really want out of a vacation.
Want to know who inspires Kid President? His mom, of course! Don’t miss our interview with her in the December issue of Guideposts magazine—subscribe today!
