Good Things with Brent Lindeque 📺

Leadership can look polished from the outside, but behind the meetings, deadlines, family responsibilities and endless expectations, many people are running on empty. The pressure to keep showing up, keep performing and keep holding everything together has become so normalised that burnout often arrives long before anyone realises they need help.

This week, on "Good Things with Brent Lindeque", I sat down with Anja van Beek for a deeply honest and incredibly insightful chat about stress, burnout, leadership and learning how to refill your own cup before there is nothing left to give. And while Anja has spent more than three decades working with executives, organisations and leaders around the world, this conversation is not only for people in boardrooms. It is for parents, partners, caregivers, entrepreneurs and anyone trying to navigate the weight of modern life.

Anja is a Talent and Culture Strategist, Executive Coach and founder of the WholeLeader Collective, known for helping shape human-centred leadership and high-performance cultures in complex environments. Her work focuses on integrating "Head, Heart and Hands", helping leaders think strategically, lead with emotional intelligence and act with clarity and consistency. She has advised leaders across industries and continents, contributed to award-winning workplace cultures, appeared on eNCA and 702’s World of Work segment, and serves on both the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council and the HR.com Advisory Board.

We unpack the reality of trying to “hold it all together”, how stress manifests physically and emotionally, why burnout is becoming more common, and what practical steps people can take to better cope with the pressure. Anja shares thoughtful insights on what sustainable leadership actually looks like and why showing up for yourself matters just as much as showing up for everyone else.

By the end of the conversation, you will walk away lighter... I certainly did. And a little more aware that it is possible to lead with humanity, to care for yourself without guilt and to build a life that feels fuller instead of constantly depleted.

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📆 New episodes drop weekly.

🏡 Powered by BetterBond. Filmed at Primedia Studios.

❤️ Stories that matter. Conversations that count. All about South Africa's Good News Podcast! ❤️🇿🇦

On this week’s "Good Things with Brent Lindeque", I sit down with the radio presenter, storyteller and food adventurer to chat about his journey through broadcasting, creativity, purpose and how following his passion ultimately led him to create one of South Africa’s favourite foodie platforms, "Hammy Eats".

From winning awards at campus radio to becoming one of the youngest presenters to host a national daytime show on 5FM, Nick has spent more than a decade building a career rooted in curiosity, connection and entertaining South Africans. But what makes this conversation so special is hearing how all of those years behind the mic helped shape what came next.

As Nick says in the poddie, success often comes from "kicking the ball in the right direction". That focus, combined with hard work and a willingness to evolve, eventually turned into "Hammy Eats"... his wildly popular video series uncovering hidden gems, untold stories and unforgettable flavours from across South Africa and beyond.

And South Africans cannot get enough of it.

Nick’s videos are averaging around 30 million views a month as audiences fall in love with the people, places and meals he showcases. From tiny local eateries to off-the-beaten-path spots you would probably drive past without noticing, "Hammy Eats" has become a celebration of culture, community and incredible food.

But Nick didn’t stop there.

Alongside the videos, he launched a website and app that he proudly calls "Mzansi’s most delicious food map", a trusted collection of restaurants carrying the "Hammy Eats Stamp of Approval". If Hammy says it’s good, South Africans are showing up hungry and ready to eat. And now, because his love for sharing food stories is not slowing down anytime soon, he’s adding author to his growing list of titles too, with a brand-new book officially on the way.

I loved this conversation. Nick’s story is inspiring, relatable and packed with a story about how powerful passion can be when paired with consistency and purpose. What he’s building is so "rad", proudly South African and genuinely changing lives for small businesses around the country.

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📆 New episodes drop weekly.

🏡 Powered by BetterBond. Filmed at Primedia Studios.

❤️ Stories that matter. Conversations that count. All about South Africa's Good News Podcast! ❤️🇿🇦

On this week’s "Good Things with Brent Lindeque", we sit down with Dr Adriana Marais… and it’s a conversation that stretches far beyond borders, beyond limits and even beyond Earth itself.

Adriana is one of the most fascinating humans I have ever met. We first crossed paths years ago when we shared a stage together, chatting backstage before our keynotes. I went on first and then watched as she took to the stage… she left me completely in awe.

A woman. A South African. A human… who was willing (and selected) to leave Earth for Mars. Forever.

So much has changed since that moment. The Mars One Project may have come to an end but Adriana's plans didn’t. If anything, she expanded her vision, taking everything she had learned and building something even bigger, something deeply rooted in African innovation and possibility.

With a background in theoretical physics and research that explores quantum effects in biology and the origins of life in space, Adriana has spent her career asking the questions most of us don’t even know how to begin to think about. Today, she is a researcher at Stellenbosch University and the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences, an expert at Singularity University and the founder of Proudly Human… a venture focused on preparing humanity for life beyond our planet.

She is also helping lead something extraordinary. As Director at the Foundation for Space Development Africa and Head of Science for the Africa2Moon project, Adriana is part of the team driving Africa’s first mission to the Moon, set to land on the lunar surface in 2029. Read that again… Africa, on the Moon.

And as if that wasn’t enough, 2025 saw her book Out of this World and into the Next published globally, alongside major recognition including the Forbes Woman Africa Award for Academic Excellence and the Women in Tech Award for Most Disruptive Woman in Tech in Paris.

Our conversation is about her belief in possibility. Not just for herself but for all of us. For Africa. For the next generation of thinkers, dreamers and explorers who will take what feels impossible today and turn it into tomorrow’s reality.

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📆 New episodes drop weekly.

🏡 Powered by BetterBond. Filmed at Primedia Studios.

❤️ Stories that matter. Conversations that count. All about South Africa's Good News Podcast! ❤️🇿🇦

On this week’s "Good Things with Brent Lindeque", I sit down with Huntley Smith. A man with a plan, to help us succeed at life.

Huntley brings a completely fresh perspective to the idea of balance and what it really means to “win” at life, unpacking a concept he calls a roadmap... and yes, I got the full scoop.

Huntley is not speaking from theory alone. As a seasoned management consultant, high-performance coach and personal development expert, he has spent over 15 years working with leaders, founders and teams across more than 50 companies. He is also a sought-after keynote speaker and someone who regularly leads conversations at the intersection of business, technology and human behaviour.

Drawing from two decades in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, where he holds a second-degree black belt and is a former national champion, Huntley has developed his Self-Mastery Quotient (SMQ)… a full life architecture system designed to bring clarity, discipline and direction across every area of your life.

And I know that sounds complicated. It's not.

Huntley goes into great detail about how his roadmap can improve everything around you. It is about building a life that works as a whole, across the mental, physical, relational, professional and spiritual spaces, rather than trying to fix one piece at a time.

"If you’ve been looking for some inspiration, some direction or just a different perspective, you’ve come to the right place," is exactly how this episode feels. 

This will leave you feeling clearer, stronger and ready to take on whatever comes next… and that’s what good conversations should do.

🎧 Watch and listen to the episode on all our social platforms (like all of them).

📆 New episodes drop weekly.

🏡 Powered by BetterBond. Filmed at Primedia Studios.

❤️ Stories that matter. Conversations that count. All about South Africa's Good News Podcast! ❤️🇿🇦

Hope, new life and growth... can owning a plant change the lives of children, their families and their communities? Ultimately shaping societies? Zonja Penzhorn thinks so, and she has proof too, and this week we have her on the poddie! 

On this week’s episode of “Good Things with Brent Lindeque”, we sit down with Zonja, the founder and CEO of Human Nature Africa, whose work focuses on prevention at the intersection of human behaviour, addressing gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV and mental health. It’s a conversation that digs into what many children are carrying long before they have the tools to process it, and how that shapes not just individual lives, but entire communities.

"What’s often mistaken for coping is simply survival," Zonja explains, unpacking how fear, anger and sadness are often suppressed rather than understood, and how those early experiences can later show up in the way people engage with the world around them.

Through Human Nature Africa’s Plant Play programme, children are given the opportunity to grow a hyacinth, a flower chosen with intention. It carries no pressure to provide, no expectation beyond care and curiosity and yet it opens something up that many of these children have not experienced in a long time.

"If the bulb is cut open, the flower is already inside," Zonja shares, a simple but powerful way of showing that the potential is already there.

And she says, there is proof that owning a plant, sometimes the only thing these kids have ever owned, changes everything.

"They became gentle. They became children again. They began to play."

What started as a small pilot in Diepsloot has already shown how something as simple as a plant can create space for expression, connection and healing. Children begin to open up, to support one another, to find their voices, and in doing so, start shaping a different kind of future for themselves and those around them.

The full conversation is below, and it’s one that leaves you thinking a little differently about change… how it starts, where it grows, and how something small, when done right, can ripple far beyond what we expect.

🎧 Watch and listen to the episode on all our social platforms (like all of them).

📆 New episodes drop weekly.

🏡 Powered by BetterBond. Filmed at Primedia Studios.

❤️ Stories that matter. Conversations that count. All about South Africa's Good News Podcast! ❤️🇿🇦