Plant-based Vegan Diet, Positive Mindset, and Serving Others with Tabitha Brown and Koya Webb

even during that time I didn't realize that I was not all the way free until I got to a place unfortunately a really dark place of being sick hmm and really thinking I was gonna die and I mean those days one day I lost my sight and I couldn't see well is the most bizarre thing ever and but I think that you know of course guy had to take me through that mm-hmm and I lost my sight because I won't see it anyway mmm you know I wouldn't even see myself [Music] hello I'm for your web and here I have with me Tabitha Brown who is an actress fellow southern girl and a vegan foodie influencer and as you can see she is fabulous but if you're looking you can't see you got to check out the YouTube because this lady it's just glowing as soon as she walked into the door you can just feel her energy her spirit her light and I'm so excited to have you on the show today I just want to dive right in and just kind of just tell everybody where you come from cuz you're from the south I am I'm originally from Eden North Carolina it's a little small town if you knew where it was I know you already Wow yeah that's one from the small town in North Carolina and how did you get so being an actress it's not easy so how did you go from southern girl to we just wanted to do it as a kid I used to always it before I knew what acting was no I remember I used to we as a family we watched The Cosby Show every Thursday and in person we would go eat Mayflower or Libby here that's like the fish place back before my beatin days right that was a routine in our house every Thursday would go eat fish and then we would come home and we watch The Cosby Show and I remember when I was little I told my mom one day I was like I wanna be Rudy's friend the next president knock on the door and I want to be able to walk in I want to be Rudy's friend but I didn't know that was me singing I want to be an actor I just knew how I wanted to be on the TV Ryan I wanted to do that but I wanted to play Rudy's friend and so as I got older I discovered like plays at school and in church and I would say this is what I want to do I want to perform I love making people laugh hmm I always told jokes at the cookout mmm like it's just always my thing like I love imitating old ladies at church like it's just always that's always been what I wanted to do and so I was like this is what I'm gonna do now I'm gonna perform when I get older Wow and I can't help I can't even look at you without smiling oh so in even when I watch our content online like I'm like less smiling and laughing the entire time so you are definitely you know in your vibration of like what you were meant to do and I'm sorry you're free so how long will have you been free since you're a little girl or was there a transition I feel like I've been for most of my life and then especially as a little girl I was definitely free hmm but then I got older and life started to affect me mm-hm and when I say life started to affect me I started to believe in the hype of life I started believing what other people were saying instead of just trusting and believing me so and what did that look like for you um you know as far as like with when it comes to something as simple as like working in corporate America right being an actor I've started covering my accent mm-hmm I started wearing my hair a certain way so then you know everybody feels comfortable no let me sound a certain way cuz this is what society has told me it looks like oh let me start myself so I can be a little bit thinner cuz this is the society and the TV and the magazines have told me right so those were the years that I was not free I thought I was graham always been like a hippie and you know I just love everybody nice make clothes and I still love to do that but yeah even during that time I didn't realize that I was not all the way free until I got to a place unfortunately a really dark place of being sick hmm and really thinking I was gonna die and at that point is when I said no more I it's it's exhausting writing on a mask every day ran covering who you really are to make the world feel comfortable hmm and I just got to a place where I was like no more I can't do it Wow and how did you get sick what was that what did that I don't know I don't know I got sick I literally started having headaches I wasn't having like chronic neck pain and then that turned into headaches it turned into chronic fatigue I had all the like women issues going on doctors did not know what was wrong with me I would have days where I would fall when I would walk and my mom died of ALS so of course they started testing me for that thinking that this may be a reddit area and they just could never find anything you never find anything and I mean those days one day I lost my sight and I couldn't see well it was just the most bizarre thing ever and but I think that you know of course guy had to take me through that mm-hmm and I lost my sight because I won't see it anyway mmm you know I wouldn't even see myself hmm and so in that dark time in my life is when I you know finally woke up and I had to tell myself girl you've been taking the phone Wow you better like I had to really get in the mirror and see myself Wow and like for the first time I really saw myself it had been a long time I always tell people when you want to figure out like why you stuck or what you really passionate about what is your purpose go back to your childlike mentality think about what you love to do as a child mmm because that was before you let the world interfere with this cuz it when you a child you don't care about what nobody saying you just free and right in your purity honey that's every stir everything you do is is pure mm-hmm and then we get older and people so I tell you you can't do that oh you do that this to happen oh wait a minute wait you want to do what and you start believing it ran you started thinking it's true and then the next thing you know you live in for somebody else you living for you no more oh my goodness that is just nail in the head I know I've experienced so if someone is there can you share kind of like how you woke up and what that looks like because a lot of us can find ourselves like in like you said you don't even realize it you're just caught up and you're like Who am I you wake up you don't recognize a person in the mirror yeah so can you sure kind of like your wake-up call and like what that looked like well like I said I had been sick for maybe like a year at this point and and I was exhausted I was tired hmm and I had got to the point where I was tired of waking up mmm I was like I why did you keep waking me up for what like for what what you can take me you know the only thing that was keeping me was my family the only thing that was fighting for was like I got you know I'm gonna leave my kids here I'm gonna leave my husband and that how many kids you have I have two yes and so I was like they need me right but in the other side of my head where the enemy was like girl they don't need you you'll be all right you can you know stay sleep you know but I I literally remember I was in the bathroom hey I've been in the shower and that's where I always have my time where I talk to God and um try to hear from him and I literally got out and I looked at myself in the mirror and I was like you say you believe because I had started convincing myself after having like several MRIs but this one doctor telling me that it looked like I had something that was hereditary in my nervous system which points to ALS when you start talking to me because my mom had that's the only thing that could be hereditary right and so within three days I had convinced myself I'm gonna die mmm I have sit burped myself scheduled a funeral like in my head I'm like this is it and I thought my mom was a pastor and I grew up in the church and I've always had a you know a relationship and know like who God is how powerful he is but somewhere I had convinced myself that he was not that powerful mm-hmm and I started to believe the enemy that girl this is it like he brought you this far just to bring you this far honey ain't that nice after this and but I was still posting everyday inspirational messages mm-hmm you know every now and then take a cute picture cuz I was living a lie right so I remember looking at myself in the mirror and I saw myself for the first time looking back at me saying girl you play in mmm you saying that you believe you even you even I wasn't even still praying God healed me but I won't believe in it so I I literally had a conversation with myself in the mirror it's almost like my soul coming out and saying what what's going on where did you get lost where did you stop really believe in mm-hmm and in that moment I said no uh-uh I Know Who I am I Know Who I am go wake up hmm and in that moment I literally I just fell to my knees I just start balling crimes like God right now I ask you just to take me take me in happier wheel with like dude do what you want right and I submit to you and I'll do it your way cuz I tried it and my way was wrong mm-hmm you know I did it wrong for a long time I always tell people I thought I was doing good I mean I've always tried to be good to people and be you know intentional by being good right but I wasn't doing it his way mmm you know I I did it because it was routine to be good right but then there's a difference when you're free and you're saying you got me and I'll do it your way mm and then people actually start I mean it was like this Wow I went from people oh you look nice no I walk in the room and people say the exact same thing oh my god you are so bright mm-hmm vibrant oh my god something about you and I know that that's the change that's the freedom that's that's them seeing God me because that's always my prayer God when I walk in the room I don't want them to see me I want them to see something they can't resist ain't nobody resist him hmm and so in that moment that was my wake-up mm-hmm that is when I became free in that bathroom plan from that day on things just started to change in my life so it was almost like a mental spiritual shift in that moment oh yeah Wow that is best powerful because a lot of people are looking for that and you don't feel it or find it so have you had that shift what did your life look like after that so within maybe I don't remember the exact time but like my daughter came home well that's why I how many years ago from now was this was 2017 2017 2017 years yes so I started being sick like 2016 uh-huh and then or late 2015 rather no yeah so like because like the end of 2015 I think that's when things kind of started but in 2016 is like really hit 2016 2017 Wow and I used to started doing stand-up you know years ago and because you know as actors in Hollywood you want a TV show they'd be giving comics shows I was like let me come up with this plan I'm sorry to stand up new TV show right so once I got sick I wasn't able to go out and do stand-up anymore so I fell into depression during the time that I'm not feeling well I'm also depressed I was having what they call manic panic attacks where I was having sometimes 50 a day what masa panic attack 50 50 50 like costly trying to catch my breath what hands are shaking just a nonsense right just nonsense I can't even imagine that Minnie is crazy why I couldn't either Wow and so um and of course every drug prescribed they were that I felt like a zombie I mean I I remember I remember calling my my sister one day and I was like listen I just saw myself hmm at the stop sign running and I was in my car I looked up in for my proof I was like who is this jogging beside me mm-hmm and when I turned it was me and I was like these drugs about to drive me cry literally they had me on so many different types of medication I was like I can't do it no more like I gotta stop this cuz if I ain't crazy they gonna take me right right so when did you transfer transition to those vegan lifestyle in 2017 okay so so I wasn't able to stand up I end up having a dream in 2017 I had this dream saw myself on TV with like a loon natural hair and I was like okay I woke up and I was like not even auditioning I'm not even doing stand-up any more Lord how did I end up on a show of some sort like what is this so I start praying and I heard a voice that said it started with videos and I was offended and I was like president I'm an actress I'm not doing videos videos about what hmm and so I'm having this conversation with God he was I listen when you were to understand uh he was reaching 15 maybe 30 people a night you started doing videos you're reached thousands and minutes and I was like well Lord if this is you talking to me I don't know if you checked my social media but I don't have thousands to reach a minute so I don't know what you're talking about right but I was reminding though I'm now living a life of obedience cuz Isis after I've had the experience in the bathroom and all I wanna do is be obedient right and so I was like alright I'm gonna do these videos and so I started doing videos based on what I whatever I use to tell onstage it's like mom jokes you know why you know whatever and I was like gonna be a sit-down comedian at home cuz I'm still at this point I'm still sick right and so um about a maybe a week or so later I decide I'm gonna shave off my hair cuz I used to am hair really long and straight Hollywood told me they want him right and I stopped covering max I was like I'm not I'm gonna be Who I am I'm gonna be completely free so saved up all my hair hmm and then my daughter came home from school and they said mom you've got to see this documentary watch this school today and it was what the hell mmm so me and my husband we sat down we watched it I was like oh my god okay I was like mmm so it's interesting to me but the thing that got me is something said diseases are not hereditary is that we eat the same things in the same disease that's so important it's so bad again so we pray diseases are not heredity not hereditary that we eat the same thing causing the same disease exactly and so for me my mom died at 51 of a disease that is so rare there's still no cause or cure mm-hmm my dad is 67 he's the oldest male living in our family when everyone died of strokes heart attacks or had them before the age of 50 on my dad's side of the fence hmm you know my mom's not like David is 51 that's all young so young and meat was the common denominator hmm in my mind I was like this might be the thing that can break the curse on my family Wow and so I told my husband I was like let's do a 30-day challenge mm-hmm and so I was like you know we've been saw this document he down is it there wow that's beautiful by our support though we just take a moment for that support of a partner let's just take a big inhale okay Wow yes yeah we did the 30 day challenge I hung on day 29 my husband's like this has been great but tomorrow my need a piece of chicken oh and I was like you know what after dating him I realized I didn't have headaches anymore mm-hmm and my energy hit came back and I would say I feel good I haven't done this way in over a year right I was like I think this is my path mm-hmm and uh I said I think I'm gonna go be yeah I think this is gonna be my life right and literally it's like soon as I got that out my mouth I heard the same voice that told me start doing videos just whisper to me and say now tell people what you're eating and I was like absolutely not no I got to online somewhere now you know I'm from North Carolina I've been a state off all my hair mm-hmm now I'm not going I'm gonna everybody need meat no more they can be like seen and finally lost on mine I thought and I was like oh Lord but I gotta be obedient right and so I started telling people you know what I'm going vegan y'all or plant-based whatever you want to call it and when I find options let me just tell y'all about the food I find right and so I started doing live videos on Facebook cooking in my kitchen now mind you I've been on disability for a year my disability ran out I was on unemployment that ran out I'm broke but I'm like Lord you got me doing these videos when I'm feeling better oh honey so I told my husband I was like I gotta do something to make some money because you're my partner not my provider so I gotta do something you know I'm doing these I'm still everyday I'm cooking in my kitchen and every day I'm you know doing a review about some vegan food and and then I told myself like I'm gonna go drive uber I'm glad you gonna do what it's nah i'ma go job because I had also in prayer God said humble yourself before me and I'll show you something mm-hmm I'm sorry Laura how much more humble can I be like I feel like I'm probably one of the most humble people and he was like humble yourself before me and I'll show you something I was like well that means for me that means to serve mm-hmm and I was okay what what else can I do because all my videos even to this day when I post you know go live on Facebook that's free I don't get paid for that I just do that for the people right and so I was like serving is driving people so I'm gonna drive over mmm so I went in drove uber mm-hmm and on December 30th of 2017 I was dropping somebody off that morning and they were by our Whole Foods and I was like Oh fools be having good old vegan options I'm going he'd give me a little breakfast right went in there and I was like whoa I ain't never seen this before tippy bacon teeth TTL tota or whatever I was like let me try that and can you add a pic on there honey Stan which was so good ate half of it before I even thought oh Lord I need to do a video and tell the people about the sandwich right so I'm sitting my car I turned my phone on do a video to tell people I found this great sandwich at Whole Foods I posted the video and I went on back to driving uber then later that night I get home in the video I started going viral we had like maybe 20 somewhere between 25 and 50 thousand views I was like wow who is watching this video because mind you I'm other videos we get like a hundred views views when I would go live to be like 30 people in the room oh my good family and friends oh my supportive right and it just by the next day was like 100 plus thousand and within four days Whole Foods reached out and said we'd love to work with you Wow and I became their plant-based ambassador that can been 2030 campaigns of other products later I do so many campaigns now and brand it reviews and honey ain't drove uber since mmm thing is wrong with this I say I go drive it again if I ever have to but God is blessing Wow yes fat what a beautiful story what a beautiful story and one of the things that I love is that you know like you say you are so humble and that you really took it back to your roots and what you knew yeah in order to propel yourself forward and what do you feel like because I know you very spiritual and talk about being guided in that way what do you feel about how and it sounds like it helps you a lot in your path being an actress now because not only do you work with Whole Foods but you still go out for commercials and medicines and as you know it's hard is rejection every day so if someone is out there and they're in that same position what kind of advice would you have for them dealing with that constant rejection constant having to show up and be approved or pit yeah in order to make a living I say what's for you is for you mmm-hmm nothing can stop what it's supposed to be for you if it's for you it's gonna happen no matter what right so you go in and show up move forward every day but once you audition leave it there I don't listen I audition for something I can't even remember what I what it was more like I would literally go into an audition and this is so important is very important if it don't feel right it ain't right mm if it don't feel right it ain't right right and there's a million more jobs to come mm-hmm and it's okay right we're not gonna win every one we're not gonna get every one right and that is okay mm but if you have a passion if it lives inside of you it'll come out right and and and everything will happen I always tell people if you think about it more than twice in the day you're supposed to do something with it mm-hmm that means it's your gift it means God gave it to us so stand with that like hold on to that no they like you ain't crazy because you pursuing this dream right it's meant to be hmm it's just maybe not right now hmm but in the in the midst of pursuing live because living builds character mmm so we as actors we got to know how to play characters different ones if you out here just sitting at home waiting and waiting but you ain't out in the world living right you're not building your character mmm like for me I remember when I decided to take a break from acting to have another child I was like listen if the in strain go nowhere okay it's gonna be there right I wanna I want to build my foundation cuz my my home and my children my husband that's my foundation so I took that time and then after my son was one I uh I even taught my husband when I was pregnant I was like listen if it's meant for me to continue acting right when my son turns one I won't have to do never answer the phone and say yes like everything will be laying for me that's power and literally when he turned 1 March 18th he turn 1 right 2013 Oh March 19th I was on set shooting a movie that I never had audition for my phone rang and I said yes Wow listen how so that is the power of the time uh-huh believing having faith and just knowing if it's meant to be it's gonna be right and don't stress about it and that's beautiful and then and yoga like I talk to people about non-attachment and it's like that's the kind of lifestyle you have just living your life and you're not attached to whether you get the job or not no it's just like what drive you crazy for you as for you yeah that is a beautiful way and I think that you know being in that industry for a while myself like having that mindset that's the only way you can say saying yes because otherwise it's a lot of lie you know it can build a lot of insecurities on people yeah and that's what's something we want to talk about because you also talk about changing your hair and for those of you who can't see she has a big beautiful afro was my biggest challenge was falling in love with my hair so how when you had the big chop how tell me the difference between having your hair straighten and going through life with that straight hair and now having this big beautiful afro tell me the difference in how you feel because you're the same beautiful woman so tell me the difference that how it makes you so the crazy thing is when I first graduated high school went to college for a little while in Miami right and I had permed hair back then because you know in the South people was getting perms every day every day the creamy crack and I was met for the first time in my life Jamaicans and Haitians and Africans and I was like blown away with like all the natural beauty of them and I did my first big chop in college mmm shaved off my hair in in the dorm room one of the Jamaican girls was like I do for you come on yeah and she was the whole time like you're crazy like she had like a handful of like extensions like long hair but she was like I would you know kill but they say I'm like girl she was there on the stairs permed I don't care I want to be free magnin I was thinking like oh I I want to embrace me right so I wore my hair natural since 98 but then after I think after I had my daughter so we say five six years I'm wearing it curly and natural that's when I started you know pressing it and wearing it straight cuz I even had locks for a while mmm so in North Carolina head locks right when I got married I had locks mm-hmm and I had an agent in Greensboro who told me nobody wants to book first of all a black woman hmm but with lots you're making it harder for yourself so you should reconsider so I had been locking for a year mm-hmm and so I stripped my locks had cut half of them and then stripped the rest of them out of my hair Wow and then I wore my hair curly and that wasn't really working that was back when people weren't really booking us would be curly natural right right and you name things right now that's all you see now's the thing now and how was it in that moment where that person told you like how did that make you feel we're just like okay fine or did you feel something in I make a decision I feel like I was affected by it right I was kind of like dang really but I wasn't affected enough to live my truth right I wasn't affected enough to say Oh careful what they want this is what I'm what is it gonna be right I did exactly what she said to do and so I did and that actually created a path that I began on not just taking my locks out and wearing it curly then maybe your so after I moved to Los Angeles and that's when the pressing began wearing it straight wearing it straight because my very first head shot my hair is curly got like this look curly afro hmm and then after that all of them are straight hair straight hair until last year right all straight hair and I just remember thinking like no this is you know this is what they want but like I told you when I came out of the you know stood up and looked at myself in the mirror in my bathroom from being sick for all that time I was like I need to be free right and part of healing in my opinion is start is renewing and hair holds energy right I don't like to believe that but I truly believe that mm-hmm and so I was like I need to start over this hair went through death what my mom went through sickness what my mom went through sickness with myself it's just been through a whole life I need to let it go so I shaved it off I was like i'ma start over and girl honey it was like freedom I felt so free I was so happy I was like oh I can feel my scalp again you know the hair was heavy my head I got a bad neck I was like I feel so good and I just embraced it and I loved it and people loved my hair right is one of my number one questions today on my social media what are you use on your hair and how do you get your hair to look like that like I'm like if y'all only knew is so my new right how me use the hardly nothing I just be living my best life like girl I talked to her I always tell people don't give her a name right and what's your hairs name is Donna Donna Donna Donna good fly today hey Donna and you got named Donna Donna because in the top she grows straight a little bit uh-huh and she do what you want to do so I feel like she probably related to Don King that is Oh beautiful and you just I mean definitely have it all together and your work your business your family everything I know a lot of people are gonna answer like she just got the lifelike but is there anything that you still maybe struggle with that you can share that you know maybe people don't see because I feel like some people think that you never have a bad day or things doesn't have swimming can you just share like maybe something that you struggling with now that I mean I tell people every day like I'm human uh-huh we are human like right now I'm in physical therapy for this knee like there's some days like I'm barely making it on this knee job but I try to push myself right and you know it's every day is a different day we are human every day ain't gonna be good right you know I struggle with the thought of like business like you know especially coming from you're an actor and then you come into the social media world you never want someone to say well now she's not actor she's only doing social media so I'm like no I'm still pursuing a dream right so the conflict that comes with that and want people to take you serious and you know want to make sure they like people know like oh no I'm a trained actors I'm talented I can do this - right and hoping that it doesn't go away like that's you know those are like natural things that we all think about a thing in money and finances because when you dove into the bottom you don't want to go back mmm I Lord keep me lower keep this big account right by the guy but uh but yeah I mean I have all those things and you know I'm a mother and a wife so I'm always concerned about my family and my children my husband is a police officer so I'm always concerned about him so but I have learned to give it to him right and truly give it to him right and I can't dwell on it like I choose happiness happiness is a choice that's beautiful it's so true happiness is definitely a choice so I asked this question in every podcast my companies get loved up love yourself love others and love the planets so how do you feel like you're getting loved up you know in your oh my god I mean I always say what you give out it's what you get back and I literally live my life by leading with love and everything I think that's what the world is missing his love I think if we love more we'd have less violence I honestly just every day I try my best to leave with love so that I get that back and I feel it that's so every day yeah and just being a mother and like he said a mother and a wife and so inspirational to others and even the plant-based diet I mean that's definitely impactful for the planet I think that's one thing people might not know they might do it for health reasons but what really made me sick is that it's so beneficial it is to the world and Mother Earth yeah as I started learning when like you know when you first when I first started I did it for health and then I didn't even think about we don't think about what we don't have to face right right so animals never even came into my mind in the beginning but the documentary opened me up to that too like I did that when I watched cowspiracy and there were luminizing and I started like seeing like oh wow like this is this is happening right right so you know the torture of the animals and then my mind honey this is a playground right here just Myra it will get you running mm-hmm and I started thinking of like I think we're I really forget the numbers but we're like an all-time high of depression for for a country right people are on more end of the presents than ever before right and I think that the animals that people are eating right they're so depressed mm-hmm you're eating their emotions right and then people don't they don't like to like look at it that way when like right when you start when you're suffering is because they were suffering and it's all tied in together and then you know we all become sick we're all one we're all one right and then the more that we wake up and pay attention and find out cuz knowledge is power mm-hmm we can make a difference that's true that's why I said my mission is the people because if I can get the people to listen right get them to listen right because food everybody loves so if I get this stomach right I can get the heart that's beautiful I love you and I do and I convinced people without convincing them right to try it and so many people have become plant-based or vegan just because of me gently showing them with love this is an option we can do this we can save lives period mmm leading with love and I like the documentary as you mentioned cowspiracy what the health and forks over knives so that's that's something everyone come watch you really get that information and where can people get some more of your glow and this love is you're bringing welcome is fine what Facebook is my main platform okay so actress Tabitha brown on Facebook and then I am Tabitha brown on all other social media on Instagram as I am tap at the brown Twitter I on tap at the brown and you sue this tap at the brown oh nice and you got a show you're working all right at one we are developing a show I'm developing two shows okay can you share anything or one script at one unscripted I say that okay I've always had a dream of being America's new mom come on so yeah so like remember in the eighties like the Roseanne show right right so I would always say before rosy and kind of lost them out a little bit oh okay but I always say I'm Claire Huxtable miss Roseanne and you do I would love to watch that like definitely just thank you so much for sharing so much knowledge and I know it's gonna be beneficial for so many people who are looking to are following their dream and get sidetracked but get back on and I think you definitely let your fears and you're trying to make you fierce and you're just out there doing it and living a true dream and doing it beautifully so thank you for coming on and what is there any one last quote tip antidote you want to leave Oh a community how I always close my show uh-huh have a good day and if you can't don't go messing up nobody else Oh [Laughter] and we do things and we make a little heart with our hand like this and until next time get loved up yes

Channel: Koya Webb

Views: 54,482

Rating: 4.9663863 out of 5

Keywords: koya webb, tabitha brown, plant-based, diet, vegan, get loved up podcast, positive mindset, service, black girl magic, yoga, Koya Webb, get loved up, health, wellness, interview, 2019, podcast, how to eat, self love, how to, mindset

Id: a3qJRF1CtKs

Length: 32min 56sec (1976 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 22 2019