Tabitha Brown Amazes Audience in Kean President’s Distinguished Lecture Series

By Tyra Watts | Published on April 30, 2024

Emmy-award-winning actress, content creator, and author Tabitha Brown graced the stage at Kean University’s North Avenue Academic Building as a part of Kean President Lamont O. Repollet, Ed.D Distinguished Lecture Series.

Before the lecture series, The Tower had an opportunity to interview Brown. She described her illustrious career as a fun rollercoaster.

“That’s what it feels like, but in the best way,” Brown said. “I’m so grateful. I love every minute of it, and I love what I do. I feel blessed.”

When it comes to what advice Brown would give to those interested in content creation and influencing, Brown said to do it your way and not imitate.

“Just know that you’re enough,” Brown said. “Be consistent every day and have a goal in mind of what you do, like what your content is going to be about.”

As a part of her career and brand, Brown loves being labeled “America’s Mom” and “America’s Auntie” by her 13 million followers and fans. She says she loves it when people say “Auntie Tab” or “Mama Tab.”

“I feel like it’s the best compliment I can get in the world,” Brown said. “It means that I’m doing something right.”

As for what’s next for Brown, she says she wants to start acting again and is trying to do more films this year, which she is excited about.

At the sold-out event with an audience of Kean students, faculty, alums, and community members, the lecturer’s moderator, Darlene Repollet, spoke to the audience before Brown came on the stage.

Repollet mentioned in the introduction how she and her family own some of Brown’s products, such as her “Like So Like That” tote bag from Target, her hair care line Donna’s Recipe, her seasoning “Sunshine Seasoning” and her first book, “Feeding the Soul (Because It’s My Business): Finding Our Way to Joy, Love, andFreedom.”

Although Repollet could not pinpoint when she started following Brown, she remembered seeing one of her posts for the first time shown by her youngest daughter, Taylor.

“I was immediately reeled in by Tabitha’s spirit, her words of wisdom, her infectious smile, and the love that was coming through my phone screen,” Repollet said. “I honestly felt that she was talking directly to me.”

After Repollet introduced Brown, she came on stage, greeted by numerous applause and cheers from the audience. 

During the lecture series, Brown discussed how she always wanted to perform and be an actress and had a small vision for herself.

“And it was, “Oh, I want to be an actress, I want to do some movies,” but my big goal was “I want to be a series regular”” Brown said.

 When Repollet asked Brown how she managed her career as a best-selling author, influencer, motivational speaker, actress, Emmy-Award-winning actress, and serial entrepreneur, Brown started by saying that she has a great team, and that she is grateful for them, as well as a great schedule. 

She also mentions how it comes easy because she doesn’t do anything that doesn’t align with her. 

“The things that align with me are easy to do. I mean, it’s a lot of work, but it feels natural,” Brown said. “Yeah, I cook and do videos using seasoning, so it makes sense for me to do seasoning. I named my hair Donna and used to do natural hair myself…so it made sense that, you know, when I started to call my hair Donna, also to have a hair care line. All those things are in alignment.”

Later in the lecture, audience members had the opportunity to ask Brown questions about being authentic and achieving your goals, her latest book, “I Did a New Thing: 30 Days to Living Free,” her veganism, and much more.

One audience member asked Brown when she says, “I did a new thing” (about Brown’s latest book “I Did a New Thing: 30 Days to Living Free”), is that about a bucket list or something she randomly saw and said “Let me write this down” because it was something new, she just did.

Brown replied by saying that it is whatever you feel and that it is about some things she has never done before. She cites an example of when she had her first mammogram while writing the book.

“I talk about that in the book,” Brown said. “Then I also wore a different type of dress that I normally don’t wear. I also did a hike with Blackie (Brown’s dog)…I never did that before.”

Another audience member asked Brown how she transitioned from eating in her home state of North Carolina to being a vegan. Brown stated that she had lived in Los Angeles for a while and that this had always been her destiny. She also mentioned that at a young age, she became a vegetarian for five years.

Not only that, but there was a time when she was eating to look well because of her acting profession. 

“When I got sick, I did not care about what I grew up eating, I wanted to live,” Brown said. “It was easy for me to transition becauseI was choosing life. I was like, “Well, I know all of my favorite non-vegan foods,” let me figure out a way to make them vegan.”

Meanwhile, a Kean freshman psychology major by the name of Adore Mitchell-Williams asked Brown how she was able to love her hair.

Brown said that she always loved her hair, but she went through the phase of straightening her hair because she thought she had to. However, Brown told Mitchell-Williams that when you look in the mirror, you must love what you see. 

“I can’t tell you how to do that, but I can tell you deserve to do that,” Brown said.

 Another Kean student asked Brown how she deals with being in rooms that you may not be confident in, and Brown noted that confidence takes time and that you need to use your power words (e.g., “I am”), and that if you feel nervous about any room you’re in if you walk into it, you’re supposed to be in it.

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