You Don't Need Permission to Be Yourself: Tabitha Brown on Faith, Fame, and Natural Beauty

Naked Beauty

In this inspiring episode of Naked Beauty, actress and wellness advocate Tabitha Brown shares her journey from North Carolina to global fame, discussing her roots in simplicity,

Key takeaways

• Beauty is rooted in simplicity and self-acceptance, not external perfection.
• Natural hair should be celebrated as a personal choice, not a trend for children.

Main topics

• Natural hair and cultural identity
• The evolution of personal beauty standards

Notable quotes

"We were programmed to think that our natural hair wasn't enough."

"Now is a choice. Before, it used to be kind of like, we need to do this also to be safe so we don't look like a threat."

Conclusion

Tabitha Brown's story reminds listeners that true beauty comes from within—thr

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) Hello, hello, this is Brooke DeVard and you're listening to the Naked Beauty Podcast. If you're joining us on YouTube, you're watching the Naked Beauty Podcast and I am so excited to introduce you all to my guest today, Tabitha Brown. Tabitha Brown is someone I've admired for years and years and years, but once you guys hear her story, how she built this empire she has today, you are going to leave. So incredibly inspired. I got some great natural hair and skincare tips too, but let me get into her background. Tabitha Brown is a two-time Emmy award-winning host, actress, and vegan food star who is affectionately known as America's mom. She's provided millions with food for the body and soul with her everyday wisdom rooted in love, kindness, and compassion. She's a four-time New York Times bestselling author of Feeding the Soul, Cooking from the Spirit. I Did a New Thing, 30 Days to Living Free, and Hello There, Sunshine, her first children's picture book. Tabitha is the co-creator and host of her own children's show, Tab Time, as well as the recipient of several NAACP image awards. She is also the co-founder and CEO of her own healthy vegan hair care line, Donna's Recipe, and fragrance company, Tab and Chance. She has launched multi-category products with major retailers like Target and McCoy. and never fails to bring sunshine to everyone's home. Her proudest accomplishment, which she holds close to her heart, is spreading love and joy all over the world. I am so excited to introduce you all to today's guest, Tabitha Brown. Speaker 3 (1:40) Tabitha, so happy to have you here on Naked Beauty. For all of my guests, I'd like to go to the beginning. You're Speaker 2 (1:45) from North Carolina. I am. What did you learn about beauty growing up? What Speaker 3 (1:50) did the women in your family teach you about beauty? What were your early feelings about beauty? Speaker 2 (1:55) So my early feeling about beauty was simplicity. Because, you know, growing up where I'm from in the South, like in the era of the time that I grew up and growing up in the church, makeup was not a thing. Was it discouraged? I think it was. It probably was for my granny. She was holding this, honey. So, you know, granny was like, ain't nobody, you can't even wear no lip gloss, really, you know. But my mama loved, like, red lipstick. That was her thing, you know. Back in the day, it was red raisin, I think was the color by, was it Fashion Fair? Fashion Fair, yes. Yes, back in the day. And she would love to use the same lipstick for her blush. So she would just put a little bit on her cheeks. A pioneer. Speaker 3 (2:35) Because now the girls are doing that. They're saying, okay, multi-stick. That's how she did it. Lips, cheeks, she put this on it. Speaker 2 (2:40) Yep, that was what she did. But never foundation, never powder, any of that stuff. Like, I had to learn all those things, like, on my own. But it was more about simplicity and nails. My mom always had her nails, like, her nails were red. Her lipstick was red. A little bit of blush. And that was like what I learned. And then always have your hair looking very good. Okay. Now, did Speaker 3 (3:01) you grow up always wearing your natural hair? Speaker 2 (3:03) Oh, yeah. Growing up? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Speaker 3 (3:05) Okay. Because, you know, the girls say like, oh, this would be my hair if my mom didn't permit when I was four. Oh, when you Speaker 2 (3:10) say natural, I mean like no extensions. But no, I got a jerry curl on the back of the neck. Well, actually, I got a Hawaiian silky. Okay. It's a difference. I didn't get a jerry curl because that was a brand. Hawaiian silky when I was in fifth grade. I begged her for it. She didn't want me to get it. Right. But she had one. My daddy had one. Like, it was a whole thing. You know, the 80s, that's what it was. So I got that fifth grade. I wore a curl in fifth and sixth grade. And then seventh grade was my first perm, my first relaxer. Okay. And my sister did it. And I just, you know, then I learned how to do them. And I did relaxers until... Like, high school, until I graduated. I can remember begging my mom to get a relaxer, too. Yeah, yeah. Why did we want them so badly? Girl, because we were programmed. We Speaker 3 (3:55) were programmed. We were Speaker 2 (3:55) programmed to think that our natural hair wasn't enough. Right. And we bought into it. But also, like, we're coming from... the generations before us who straightened their hair to be accepted, who straightened their hair to get jobs, who also had to change how they spoke in order to make other people's, our oppressors, feel comfortable. And so, you know, I understand why we did it, but we don't have to do it now unless we want to do it, right? Now is a choice. Before, it used to be kind of like, we need to do this also to be safe so we don't look like a threat. Like, my hair right now, It's considered a threat back in the day. Yes. Ain't Speaker 3 (4:36) that Speaker 2 (4:36) crazy? And to some people, it still is. That ain't my business. Speaker 3 (4:40) This is like the perfect dream halo afro. Very Angela Davis, Black Panthers. Black is beautiful. Now, when I asked you about your natural hair, you said, oh, in terms of adding hair. I've been seeing, I don't know if it's my algorithm. I've been seeing these young girls. I saw a video recently that was like, come with me to get a sew-in for my 10-year-old. Crazy. I feel like I'm used to seeing little girls add hair for braids. For braids? I get it. I'm used to seeing that. But lace fronts? Lace fronts. Girl, Speaker 2 (5:07) I've been seeing lace fronts. On kids? On kids. And full, like, sew-ins, wigs, on kids. Now, I can understand if a child has an issue, you know, with their hair, you know, a condition of some sort. But on children, I'm just like, come on. Braids is one thing. It's one thing. But a full-on lace front wig. But Speaker 3 (5:25) I've also been trying to interrogate why, for me, it's an issue. Because if I'm okay with adding hair for braids, that is adding length. That's hair that's not yours. Why? Because people on the comments were like, well, this is just a different protective style. Why is this so in any different than braids? So I was like, it just is. But why is it? I Speaker 2 (5:40) don't know. It just feel a little too grown. You Speaker 3 (5:41) know, it's Speaker 2 (5:42) probably the old school inside of me. It just feel a little too grown. Speaker 3 (5:45) Yeah. I Speaker 2 (5:46) guess maybe depending on how it looks. Yes. Right. But what I'm talking about is like full on lace front, wavy baby hairs, like the stuff that, you know, the grown women are wearing. I just, it just be looking a little too grown up. And you know what I think Speaker 3 (6:00) it also is for us as adults. I get beauty dysmorphia in when I don't have my lashes on. I'm like, oh, I don't look as good, but I don't have my clip-ins. I'm like, oh, it's not as full. Yeah, Speaker 2 (6:09) you don't want that to start early. Starting at 10 years old, you don't want Speaker 3 (6:11) to start Speaker 2 (6:12) feeling like, oh, I need to have my tracks in to look beautiful. Speaker 3 (6:14) Girl, Speaker 2 (6:15) I mean, at 10, I mean, I did have a curl in my hair, but I still wore it in a ponytail. And, you know, my mama styled it in all the ways and things. But, yeah, I don't know. Like, it wasn't a—I still wasn't thinking about trying to be perfect. Speaker 3 (6:30) Right. Beauty was not, it wasn't. It wasn't a thing then. We Speaker 2 (6:33) were Speaker 3 (6:33) running around. Yeah, Speaker 2 (6:35) yeah. Getting Speaker 3 (6:35) our Speaker 2 (6:35) knees dirty, climbing Speaker 3 (6:36) up in the playground. Speaker 2 (6:37) I don't think I even started wearing lipstick until maybe 10th or 11th grade. Right. I feel like I have my little black opal powder pack. And right. I had wet and wild black orchid lipstick, like all the things back in the day. But I was still like it was in the 90s. It was. you know, black liner around the lips with a little, you know, it was that. But I was well into Speaker 3 (7:02) high school. Yes. You know. Now you have been so successful in New York Times Best Selling Author. You've won Emmys, NAACP Image Awards, all the things. But you spent like two decades really hustling. Speaker 2 (7:15) Yeah. Speaker 3 (7:15) Trying to get roles. Like, talk to me about that time period in your life when you knew what you wanted, but you had to really just like continue doing the work. I Speaker 2 (7:25) mean, you know, I was doing a lot of living, right? Like I was pursuing the passion and I knew I wanted to perform. I moved to L.A. to be an actress. And when did you move to L.A.? I moved to L.A. in 2004, actually. Okay. Yes. I've heard L.A. was very different. It was. Oh, this is not the same L.A. we moved to. How is it different? It used to be very much alive. There was so much work. There was so much industry things happening. Speaker 1 (7:51) And Speaker 2 (7:51) events all the time were different. Like, I don't know, it just felt like more opportunity was here. It doesn't feel like that anymore. Right. So but also I don't be outside. OK, so if it is, but the people that I do know that be outside, they say the same thing. They're like, girl, it's not the same no more. You know, I feel like it was easier to network back in the day. Like you would meet so many people. You all at the same events or in acting class or workshops. You know, they're like, oh, I'm shooting this. Oh, come and be in my project. Like, it was like, I don't know, it was a time, right? And you used to be able to walk down, like, Sunset, and it would be packed with just people walking. all at the restaurants and everybody outside. Like, the pandemic really changed that. Speaker 3 (8:33) Yes. Speaker 2 (8:34) And it just ain't been the same since. So you come to L.A., you've got this dream. Yes. Speaker 3 (8:39) Did you know Speaker 2 (8:39) anyone? Like, how did you even get an agent? Girl, I knew Speaker 3 (8:42) nobody. Speaker 2 (8:43) Honey, hustling and bustling, honey. I knew nobody. When I first moved, about a year or so after being here, my daddy, he's a barber back home, he cut this man's hair, and they were talking, and come to find out, This older man was related to my mom's dad, like the side of the family, like his wife. Like he was, they connected the dots. They're like, oh, I think we're related, right? So he was like, oh, my daughter is in Los Angeles and my son and, you know, were both of his daughters at the time and his son. And they're in the industry. And so my daddy was like, well, my daughter moved out there to be an actress. Maybe they can get together because technically they're cousins type of thing. And it ended up being Twinkie Bird, who's a casting director. And so they invited me over to dinner. They came to my house. Like, we all, like, got to know each other. And she was the first person that kind of told me about, like, Tasha Smith. Tasha Smith had just started. It wasn't even called T-Saw back then. But she had started her acting classes. And so she was like, you should go to this acting class so you can, you know, get the understanding of, like. how it works out here. So I started going to that acting class. She taught me about like Actors Access, LA Casting, all the things that a new actress needs to know. And I did all those things. So I started to submit myself for auditions. For the first few years, I was trying to, you know, get an agent. I would get like, every now and then, like a manager who might've been a scam. Like, you want a real thing, girl? And I had some agents, but they really weren't able to, you know, help me do anything. And then over time, I did enough projects of like short films or, you know, just indie projects that I remember I was with 90210 Talent and I was with NTA Talent. Like they saw some things that I did and I ended up getting signed. But it took years. Speaker 3 (10:30) And you kept your hope alive throughout that entire period. What did it mean for you to just stay persistent and stay on the path? Because I'm sure at some points you were like, let me just give up and move back home. Speaker 2 (10:40) You know, that was never an option for me. Really? Okay. You took Speaker 3 (10:43) it Speaker 2 (10:43) off the table. Yeah. It was my second time coming to, well, to L.A., but to California in pursuit of my dreams because I came the first time in 98. And I was not in L.A. I was down in Orange County, had no idea what I was doing. And, you know, me and my husband was like, OK, this is crazy. We need to move back to North Carolina, save up for a year and then come back. But that one year turned into five years, had a baby, got married, all the things, but eventually came back. And only really because, you know, God woke me up one day and said, this is not the life I planned for you. Wow. And in that, I was like, OK, it's time for me to start back pursuing my dreams and my passion. And that's how I ended up back in L.A. So I feel like when you've heard like that voice of God speak to you. How did it come to you? It came to me. I was literally asleep in Greensboro. Right. Woke up and it felt like my bed shook and I heard a voice that sounded like thunder. And it literally said, this is not the life I planned for you. It scared me. I got on my knees. I started praying. I said, Lord, if this is you speaking to me, I need you to show me a sign today because I thought I was losing my mind. Speaker 3 (11:46) And literally, so that day. I just got chills hearing this. This is a true story. And at this point, you have young kids. Speaker 2 (11:52) Yeah, yeah. I have my daughter. A baby. Yeah. Which is, it's a scary message to get when you are just building your family to then go and take a risk. Yes, absolutely. But that day, when I prayed for a sign and we were on our way to the mall. And on the radio, Busta Brown, who was like the big DJ at the time in Greensboro, he came on. He was like, hey, I have a new TV show and I'm holding auditions looking for a female co-host. And I was like, oh, my Lord, that's my sign. Because there ain't never no auditions in Greensboro. I was like. This is it. I got to go to this audition. I went and I ended up booking that job. And that's what made me start back dreaming. So I started back doing community theater. I started doing extra work, driving to Wilmington like two and a half hours to go do extra work on like One Tree Hill and commercials. And after doing that for months, I told my husband, now it's time to move back to L.A. So having that experience, there was something in me that just always said, I know it's coming. I would always have dreams and see myself in like. different, like, you know, I don't know whether it be like movies or TV shows, but like flashes of my life. And I just knew one day I was going to be famous. I knew one day something big was going to happen. I would wake up and tell my husband, oh my God, I had this dream. Like I was famous and I was doing this and that. And now I'm living in those dreams. So quitting was never an option for me. The Speaker 3 (13:09) life you live now, you visualize before you even have