Spring is a season for growth, and if personal growth is on your agenda, Tabitha Brown has a guide to get you there. In January, the actress, entrepreneur and internet favorite published her fourth book, “I Did a New Thing: 30 Days to Living Free” (HarperCollins), a step-by-step guide to stepping out of our comfort zones. As Brown recently told theGrio’s “Writing Black” podcast, her latest effort was the ideal sequel to her 2022 bestselling memoir, “Feeding the Soul.”
“ ‘Feeding the Soul’ was more about how I found my way to like [Tabitha], right? You know, finding my freedom again,” she shared. “‘I Did a New Thing’ is about how you can find it; like me showing you some of the things that I do to open up even more of my freedom; open up more about myself; find out new discoveries about myself — because we all are forever changing, right?”
Brown knows a thing or two about change; in less than a decade and in the midst of a global pandemic, her effervescent, down-home personality, coupled with her commitment to vegan living, catapulted her from struggling actress to Emmy-winning household name — with a line of household goods at Target, among other ventures. Even through her acceptance amongst Hollywood elites, her warmth and authenticity has continued to charm and inspire her devoted fanbase and newcomers alike, she’s the first to admit she’s still evolving; largely by leaning into the unfamiliar.
“Sometimes we don’t know what we like. We get in a stage where we’ve done it all, and we are in routine, and we don’t know what we like right now, and the only way to figure out a new thing that you like is trying something new — or when you figure out, ‘You know what, I actually don’t like doing this anymore, or I don’t like this thing,” she explained. “So it was all about that for me. I wanted to kind of share my experience of doing a new thing, which I’ve been doing for years. But now I get to do it in a free space, right? I’m a whole free woman, and so I get to do it and share that with others, with the hope of pushing other people to do the same — you know, discovering something new about themselves.”
Honoring the base that continues to bolster Brown’s thriving career, “I Did a New Thing” features several of those voices and experiences alongside her own, an affirming element Brown credits to her longtime co-writer, NAACP Award-winner Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts. How did they do it? Hear all that and more as Tabitha Brown joins this week’s episode of “Writing Black,” available on theGrio Black Podcast Network or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Maiysha Kai is theGrio’s lifestyle editor, covering all things Black and beautiful. Her work is informed by two decades of experience in fashion and entertainment, great books, and the brilliance of Black culture. She is also the editor-author of Body: Words of Change series and the host of ‘Writing Black‘ on theGrio Black Podcast Network.
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