Tabitha Brown sparked social media debate when she urged Black entrepreneurs to give up their dreams and get a job.
The popular social media influencer and entrepreneur made the comments in a social media video while addressing aspiring business owners who face economic hardship.
She captioned her post: “Baby ain’t a thang wrong with getting a job for a lil while. You can have a job while you work on your [business] baby.”
In the video, Tabitha said: “This is not to discourage you – I want to be clear about that first… Now listen, you got good ideas. You got good ideas. Your execution is not as good… Entrepreneurship… it’s not for everybody. That doesn’t mean it’s not for you, but right now these last few months… few years… baby, it ain’t been working for you and you’re doing a lot of robbing Peter to pay Paul. It’s time for you to get a job.”
Tabitha’s advice was not well-received, particularly after the recent job report showed the U.S. added only 22,000 jobs and the Black unemployment rate skyrocketed in the first half of 2025.
Thousands of Black women within the federal government were laid off and can’t find work in the private sector.
The slow job growth reflects President Trump’s tariffs and economic policies that have negatively impacted the economy overall.
Social media users say Tabitha is out of touch with the times.
One person wrote on Threads: “‘Tab wasn’t talking to people currently looking for work’ … no. She was telling ppl to BECOME the mf looking for work. She said, ‘you not doing well at digital entrepreneurship, so go compete [with] the people who been job searching for two years in a s–y market. Join all the federal employees who just lost their jobs, dust off your resume with the four-year gap on it, and spend two years looking for a 9-5.’ That’s insensitive at best. Stupid at worst.”
Content creator Talia Cadet wrote on Threads: “[Black women] are looking for work. [Black women] turn to entrepreneurship in response to a forever racist and sexist job market. A struggling actor turned entrepreneur, fixing their mouth to imply otherwise is disappointing.”
But Tabitha also had defenders.
Another user on Threads wrote: “Guys, this message is NOT for the entrepreneurs who are ACTIVELY TRYING to get a job and can’t. It’s for the entrepreneurs who are sinking their time and money into a failing business and refusing to acknowledge that it’s failing. I hope this helps!”
Baby ain’t a thang wrong with getting a job for a lil while. You can have a job while you work on your thing baby?? pic.twitter.com/hIHijbTxML
— Tabitha Brown (@IamTabithaBrown) September 3, 2025
