KATE SULLIVAN: Today, we're in the heart of L.A.

to hear the amazing success story of an actress and entrepreneur whose life has taken a series of twists and turns.

Today, Tabitha Brown is taking me to her favorite restaurant to eat what she loves and find out why she loves it.

KATE: It's delicious!

TABITHA BROWN: It's so good.

KATE: You would have no idea that it's vegan.

KATE: Tabitha Brown has an incredible tale to tell.

TABITHA BROWN: Told my husband, I said, "I think I'm going viral."

KATE: Devastating health issues had put her acting career on hold.

She tried different diets to heal her issues and then her journey with vegan food began.

TABITHA: This is my prayer.

If you heal me, you can have me.

KATE: She started sharing her vegan journey online.

TABITHA: In the first 30 days, I had a million followers.

The next week, another million.

KATE: Tabitha's darkest day sparked a journey with food and nutrition that even she couldn't have predicted, and sent her down the most remarkable path.

KATE: You've become one of the most successful brands... TABITHA: Mm-hmm.

KATE: ...to be in Target.

KATE: Tabitha is sharing the full story, the difficult days and the soaring success.

She explains how she defines the American dream and what was the one thing that made all the difference.

TABITHA: Girl, the day I just said, "Take these layers off.

Im'ma be who God created me to be," whole life started changing.

♪♪ KATE: What's better in life than a bottle of wine, great food, and an amazing conversation?

My name is Kate Sullivan, and I am the host of To Dine For .

I'm a journalist, a foodie, a traveler with an appetite for the stories of people who are hungry for more: dreamers, visionaries, artists: those who hustle hard in the direction they love.

I travel with them to their favorite restaurant to hear how they did it.

This show is a toast to them and their American Dream.

To Dine For with Kate Sullivan is made possible by... ♪♪ FEMALE ANNOUNCER: We support the doers and dreamers.

Those working today toward a more secure tomorrow.

At American National, we're proud to help you make that future possible.

[Wine dribbling into glass] KATE: Hello everyone!

Today, I'm in West Hollywood, California, on my way into a restaurant called Pura Vita, known for vegan Italian food.

I am meeting an actress and entrepreneur with a tremendous story to share.

I can't wait for you to meet Tabitha Brown.

It is so wonderful to meet you.

I'm so excited about this conversation.

TABITHA: Thank you for having me.

I'm so excited.

KATE: Thank you for being here.

TABITHA: Absolutely.

KATE: At your favorite spot too!

TABITHA: It is!

KATE: Pura Vita is located on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, known for its inclusivity and refusal to conform.

So it makes perfect sense that the first 100 percent plant-based Italian restaurant in the country would plant its flag right here.

So you could have chosen anywhere in L.A., why did you choose this restaurant?

TABITHA: From the very first time that I met Chef Tara, it was an instant, like love fest.

And I came in, I was instantly hooked.

I was hooked on her energy and her love for, like, animals and people.

And we became, you know, like instant friends and family.

And I brought everybody I could.

I was like, y'all like Italian food?

I got a cute little place.

It's giving very New York vibes.

You know?

KATE: This is the first vegan Italian restaurant in the country.

TABITHA: Yeah.

KATE: So like, this is a rarity.

TABITHA: It is, but it's so good.

We should have them everywhere.

[Both laugh] KATE: Tabitha Brown and Brooklyn-based Chef Tara Punzone bonded over their love for animals and vegan food.

Chef Tara, author of Vegana Italiana , has been vegan for more than 35 years, and she spent every one of them proving that Italian food doesn't need meat or dairy to be delicious.

She grew up idolizing her grandfather, Charlie, whose Brooklyn sandwich shop Punzone's Heroes made people happy through food.

And that's exactly what Chef Tara tries to do.

At Pura Vita, Chef Tara has created a dining experience that feels like a New York wine bar, serving the very best of southern Italy.

TARA PUNZONE: Well I'm a New Yorker, grew up in a traditional New York-Italian family, but I've been vegan since 12 years old.

And, I basically spent my whole adolescence trying to figure this out.

And then once I figured it out, I just felt like it was my duty to share it with everybody.

KATE: Tara has poured herself into every corner of Pura Vita, from the organic Italian wine list to the unique lighting fixtures.

At Pura Vita, love is in the details.

TARA: Although it is 100 percent vegan restaurant, it doesn't feel that it's a vegan restaurant.

It feels like it's an old school Italian restaurant from New York.

And that was very intentional, because as a New Yorker when I moved to L.A., that energy was missing from the city.

KATE: The food at Pura Vita is southern Italian at its most indulgent, like potatoes and Caesar salad.

It's the kind of salad that makes you wonder why you ever needed anchovies in the first place.

TARA: My God, the Caesar salad is one of my favorite things on the menu.

It's certainly not traditional in any way, I do use seaweed in the dressing.

We have roasted garbanzos and macadamia parmesan.

And in your case, the yam croutons to replace the gluten croutons, [chuckles] the traditional croutons.

KATE: The garlic Parmigiano potato wedges are simple, indulgent, and completely plant-based.

And then there's the Black Magic pizza: layers of cashew ricotta and mozzarella, cremini mushrooms in a black truffle cream sauce.

The kind of dish that makes you believe in a little magic.

The carbonara at Pura Vita is the dish that makes people stop mid-bite and reconsider everything they thought they knew about vegan food.

Spaghetti tossed in a silky avocado egg and macadamia cashew Romano cream topped with crispy shiitake bacon and available with gluten-free penne.

TARA: The carbonara was something that I literally dreamt because I did not grow up eating carbonara.

And it's been the best healthy dish ever since and I just can't believe that I get to do what I love to do every single day.

KATE: This is comfort food with conviction.

Like Tara, Tabitha has built a movement around food, healing, and living authentically.

KATE: Take me back to North Carolina, right.

That's where you're from.

TABITHA: Born and raised.

Yeah.

KATE: What were some of the unwritten rules of growing up in your household in North Carolina?

TABITHA: Unwritten rules?

And I feel like they were all written.

[Both laugh] KATE: Or the written ones.

TABITHA: You know?

Unwritten rules.

I mean, respect and manners are, like, high high up on the- on the list.

We ate together as a family.

We sat at the table every night and, you know.

When my mama cooked, we all sat together and we ate and we talked about, you know, life and whatever happened that week.

KATE: I just read an article that said it's one of the number one indicators of success for a child is if their family eats together.

TABITHA: Oh, wow.

But yeah.

And on Sundays- ooh that looks so good.

KATE: That looks amazing.

TABITHA: On Sundays, we always went to my granny's house for uh breakfast before church and then dinner after church.

KATE: Sunday dinner.

TABITHA: My granny would always say, "You can go and dance for the devil on Saturday night.

You gonna be in church for the Lord on Sunday."

It was like, you got to go to church.

KATE: Yes.

Well, let's try this.

Let's dive in.

TABITHA: I love a potato, hon.

Very good.

KATE: Oh my gosh.

And that must be some of that cashew cream on top of it.

TABITHA: Yes it is.

And she makes it all in house.

KATE: For more than two decades, Tabitha Brown chased her dream of becoming an actress.

She moved to L.A., booking small roles and performing stand up while also juggling jobs to support her family.

Months after moving west, her mother's ALS diagnosis began pulling her back home to North Carolina.

Then in 2016, a mysterious illness left her unable to work, living on disability and searching for answers.

KATE: Talk to me about your journey with veganism.

It started with some health issues.

What happened?

TABITHA: In January 2016, things were going really, really great.

And I just woke up uh, one morning.

I had this headache in the back of my head, but the headache rested for a year and seven months in the back of my head.

That also started with chronic pain throughout my body.

I started to fall when I would walk.

My body started to attack itself and the doctors couldn't figure out what it was.

They would give me all kind of medication, everything to try to like, see if I would get relief.

And nothing was helping.

Like, I literally thought I was going to die.

And so my daughter came home from school one day and she was like, "Mommy, we just watched this uh, documentary at school.

I think you should watch it."

And it was "What the Health" on Netflix.

And we watched it as a family and when they started talking about not all diseases being hereditary, that sometimes we can eat the same thing in our family and it causes the same reaction to our bloodline.

Right?

And for me, that was kind of like a lightbulb moment.

My mother died at 51 of a rare disease.

There's no cause or cure: ALS.

At the time my daddy was 65.

The oldest man to ever live in our family.

And people in my family, they get sick at young ages and they die at young ages.

And the only thing that we had in common was how we ate.

TABITHA: I told my husband I was like, "Let's try a 30-day vegan challenge and see what happens."

Like, at this point, I don't have anything to lose.

I've taken all the drugs they've offered me.

I've done all the things with no results.

And so we did a 30-day challenge, and on day 10 my headache went away.

And so when I got to day 30 I was like, this is going to be my life.

I'm not going back.

And I've been on the journey ever since.

KATE: Veganism became more than a diet.

It became Tabitha's hope.

As her health improved, she began looking for a way to earn a living while keeping her acting dream alive, so she signed up to drive for Uber.

She had no idea that a simple lunch break would change the course of her life.

KATE: I know that you moved to L.A.

to be an actress and you have been an actress for years, right?

Roles here, roles there.

But in 2017, you were driving an Uber and it was a really powerful time in your life.

Can you talk about that and what happened?

TABITHA: Yeah so, I'd been on disability for over a year, and when I started to feel better after going vegan, I was like, I'm feeling good again.

KATE: I can work!

TABITHA: I was like, I need to do something where I can, like maybe get back into my acting.

I need something I can keep my schedule open.

And then I just had this idea to go drive Uber, and I told my husband I was like, "Im'ma get discovered in my car.

[Kate laughs] We we in L.A., honey, I'm gonna probably pick up a director or a producer.

They going to love me."

[Kate laughs] So I started driving Uber in that October.

And by December, December 30th and I was also just started doing content sharing.

"You know when I- I'm new to being vegan.

When I find a vegan option, I'm gonna just share it with you," you know?

So I turn my camera on.

I do this video.

KATE: On December 30th, 2017, Tabitha pulled into a Whole Foods parking lot and ordered a TTLA vegan-bacon sandwich.

Sitting in her car between rides, she recorded a quick review for social media.

It took less than two minutes, but it would introduce her to the world.

TABITHA: Go to their deli, ask for this TTLA, add a pickle and watch your life change.

And when I got home, and turned the notifications on, I was like, my phone was like, an Amber alert.

Like it was just buzzing.

I was like, what is happening?

And the video had like over 50,000 views and they were just still going up.

The next morning it had like a hundred-fifty some thousand.

So I told my husband, I said, "I think I'm going viral."

[Kate laughs] And he was like, "what does that mean?"

I said, "I don't know."

[Laughs] He was like, "Oh, you gonna make some money?"

I said, "I don't know."

KATE: And what was it about that video that you think was- made it go viral?

TABITHA: Girl, the sandwich was good.

I mean, I think it's because I was completely just being myself.

A lot of us don't live free.

A lot of us, when the camera is on, we think we got to be perfect.

We got to like, you know, talk a certain way.

And that used to be me many years ago.

So I know what that looks like.

When you see somebody who just in their car because they drive an Uber and they stopped and they ate a sandwich and they're telling you about it.

KATE: That's real.

TABITHA: You know?

Yeah.

And it just connected with people.

I think real recognized real.

KATE: The video exploded online.

Within days, Whole Foods reached out to her.

More brands followed.

What started as a sandwich review became something much bigger.

Tabitha had found her audience, but the story of how she got there began during the darkest season of her life, with prayer, a promise, and a leap of faith.

KATE: The amount of people who watched that very first video was really the beginning of your base audience.

When you start getting, I know at one point 2 million, let's say when you get up into that level, does your mind start shifting?

And are you thinking to yourself, I got to create more content around veganism or what...what was your mentality then?

TABITHA: I had had a dream while I was sick.

I heard a voice that said, start doing videos and I was like, oh, and like a couple of weeks before this dream, I had had what I call my coming to Jesus moment in the bathroom where I had been sick for so long.

I was really like, had almost given up on my faith.

And I got in the mirror and I was like, "Okay, Lord, this is my last, like, cry out to you.

This is my prayer.

If you heal me, you can have me.

And I'm not going to try to live my life my way no more.

I'm going to simply live it the way you have created me to live it."

And a couple of weeks later I have this dream.

TABITHA: So when I hear this voice that says start doing videos, I was like, I can't do videos.

Like I'm an actress.

Like, what would I even do videos about?

And in that moment it's like I heard God say, remember a couple weeks ago in the bathroom, you said, "if I heal you, I can have you?"

And I was like, caught me on a bad day.

[Kate laughs] But I go vegan during this time for the 30-day challenge, the day that I decided on that 30th day of the vegan challenge, when I heard- when I felt my body feeling better, I was like, "This is going to be my life.

I'm going to go vegan."

That same voice that I heard that said, start doing videos.

It's just like whispered in my ear, said, "Now tell people what you're eating in your videos."

I was discovering food really in a new way.

Your mind just starts to like, explore new options.

KATE: Yes.

TABITHA: So I was trying new recipes all the time.

I was cooking from the spirit, making it up as I went.

KATE: As her audience grew, Tabitha shared more than recipes.

Through Monday motivation videos and daily words of encouragement, she built a community rooted in kindness, faith, and authenticity.

It resonated with millions and earned her the title she once wrote on a vision board: "America's mom."

TABITHA: I didn't know what was coming.

I didn't ever have a desire to do anything about food, nothing about wellness.

I wanted to be America's Mom and when I used to say that, I meant that because I wanted to be like Claire Huxtable on The Cosby Show.

KATE: I was just gonna say Cosby Show.

Yes.

TABITHA: Yeah.

Like, that's what I grew up on, like, you know.

And so, when people started calling me that, not knowing that that was on my vision board.

KATE: Wow, America's Mom.

TABITHA: America's... I was like, this is crazy.

You know, I never could of imagine just being myself would give me that title.

KATE: You said at the beginning you didn't know why, God was telling you to do these videos about food.

Do you know now why?

TABITHA: I think it was always part of the plan for me, right?

But it was so much bigger than me.

I have never told a single soul they should go vegan.

Never.

I don't believe in that.

I simply just share my story and I share, like I was sick, I thought I was going to die, I changed what I was eating and I saved my life.

Like it just changed me.

It brought my health back.

It took away anxiety for me.

It took away like all of the things that was happening.

And people hear that and they're inspired by it and they try it for themselves.

KATE: What were you thinking when your, audience just kept going up and up into the millions?

TABITHA: I'm so grateful.

But I also felt and I still do, responsible.

Like if God has favored me enough to bless me with millions of people to watch... KATE: Right.

TABITHA: And I have to also be responsible with what I'm putting out.

KATE: It has sent you in a different direction from a career perspective.

TABITHA: I wasn't making no money as an actress, I always had to have a job.

This opportunity came, you know, when I did the sandwich, Whole Foods reached out to me in four days on Facebook.

They DM'd on Facebook and said, "Hey, we saw your video.

We'd love to work with you."

And I'm thinking, what?

KATE: What began online quickly expanded into other opportunities.

During the pandemic, she published Feeding the Soul, a best-selling memoir inspired by the darkest season of her life.

She followed it with Cooking from the Spirit , sharing the recipes that helped build her community.

TABITHA: They gonna have to roll us out of here, ok?

[Kate laughs] [Tabitha claps] This finna be a good day, alright.

KATE: This is, this is a feast.

And when did you decide to write a cookbook?

Or did they come to you for the cookbook too?

TABITHA: While I was uh, cooking live every day as things you know, as my audience grew people would say, "Tab, can you make a cookbook?

Like, we would love these recipes in a cookbook" because, you know, I was making them up as I'm going, I'm cooking from the spirit.

And so I started writing out my recipes and I was like, okay, I'm gonna try to make a little cookbook.

And the pandemic hit.

I heard God say, "A cookbook is great, but people's souls need to be fed, not their stomach."

And so, then I started writing Feeding the Soul , and I would put a couple of little recipes throughout, but it was really a book to let people know, I went through the darkest season of my life and I came out of it.

We're going to and I went through it alone.

We are now in a pandemic all together, same time, and we're going to come out of it at the same time.

And so that's why I changed and I wrote that first and then the next year I wrote Cooking from the Spirit , my cookbook.

KATE: What timing, right, for that to have happened to you right before the pandemic?

Here you have an audience, an audience that the country/world came to a halt.

They're looking for new ways to cook.

And here you are with a new way.

I mean the timing of that.

So, did your audience increase even more?

TABITHA: My daughter, yet again, she was like, "Mommy, you need to get on TikTok."

I said, "Girl, the dancing app?"

Because back then that's what all the people was just dancing.

KATE: All the young girls dancing.

Yes.

TABITHA: I was like, girl I'm not about to get on there... She's like, "No, you could be like the TikTok mom that everybody loves."

So, she bugged me for like three weeks until I finally was like, okay.

So, it's March, I'll go ahead and I said, okay Im'ma gonna get on there.

So, I get on there.

And she was right.

In the first week I went viral.

In the first 30 days, I had a million followers, the next week, another million.

It just kept growing, like back then it's like I broke all the records, like TikTok had never had that type of thing happen and it changed everything.

KATE: It changed everything, indeed.

Can we just take a moment for this pasta?

TABITHA: Girl ain't it good!

KATE: It's delicious.

TABITHA: My favorite.

So good.

KATE: It is creamy.

It is warm.

It is comforting.

You would have no idea that it's vegan.

And this is gluten-free as well.

TABITHA: These are gluten-free noodles, so that one is so good, I love it.

KATE: A vegan sandwich in a Whole Foods parking lot changed everything.

What began as a quick food review grew into a powerful personal brand.

Tab Time brought Tabitha's message of kindness, confidence and curiosity to children, later earning her two Daytime Emmys.

She also co-founded Donna's Recipe, a vegan haircare line named in honor of her mother and rooted in self-care.

Major partnerships followed, including a first-of-its kind collaboration spanning fashion, home, food, beauty, and more.

KATE: You've become one of the most successful brands to be in Target.

Think about this: 2017... TABITHA: Yes.

...you're driving an Uber.

TABITHA: Mm-hmm.

KATE: You stop for a sandwich, then fast forward to what year do you enter into Target?

TABITHA: 2020.

KATE: In three years.

Talk to me about that evolution and how did it happen?

TABITHA: So, I entered into a partnership with Target in 2020 because during the pandemic... KATE: Right.

TABITHA: ...they were looking for content creators who had like real families.

Started very organically.

They send me products and I just incorporated it in how I'm cooking, whether it's a pan or a plate.

And as my audience grew and every time I posted, people went crazy, like, "Oh, where's that plate from?

Where's that dress from?

Where's that shirt from?"

Like, "Oh, it's from Target."

They go to Target, go online, they buy all the things.

Target of course saw that and they were like, "We want to do something that has never been done before."

And to date, I'm the only person who has ever done, it's so good.

Girl, let me get a piece.

KATE: Please get a piece.

TABITHA: To date, I'm the only person who has ever done this.

I did a...uh...multi-collection with Target: LTO so limited time offer.

The entire store, I covered it in a year.

So, every quarter we dropped a new release and they all sold out.

It was a madhouse.

Even with all the things that have happened recently with Target, that was to date, still my most powerful and supportive uh, partnership that I ever had.

My whole team, with exception of maybe like two people were women, women of color, like it was, my lead designer was a Black woman.

It was just, it was so powerful, like just to walk in there and to feel supported.

And they never asked me to change.

KATE: What have you learned about success through the years and specifically through this journey?

TABITHA: It has shown me the power of being able to spread good in the world, to spread more love in the world.

Like, I get to do that by something as simple as turning my phone on and posting a video and telling people like, "I love you and things are going to be better."

And there's a reason that we all have a heart.

So that we all can be connected to each other.

KATE: Today, Tabitha's impact continues to expand far beyond social media.

Through Tabitha's vegan haircare line, new television projects, and entrepreneurial ventures, she continues to build on the same mission: community, kindness, and helping people show up as their authentic selves.

KATE: What is your definition of the modern American dream?

TABITHA: You know, it's freedom, right?

The freedom to be able to show up without harm.

The freedom to be able to show up without prejudice, the freedom to be able to show up in any room, in any space...um...and work and be able to pursue a dream.

This is what America should look like.

It should never be, to separate us.

It should be to bring us together and so that we are all free, and that we are all treated with love and respect.

That to me, is what the American dream should be.

And I hope and pray that, you know, because right now we're in some times that will blow your mind.

You know, I'm from the South and the things that they're doing in the South right now with voters' rights, it's it's mind blowing in 2026.

KATE: Right.

TABITHA: That's not what the American dream is about.

It's about us all being in community together and loving each other and supporting each other and making America like a better place.

KATE: When you think about your kids, what is the number one lesson you hope your life has taught them?

TABITHA: Oh.

The number one lesson that I pray every day is that you don't have to change to fit in, right?

You actually, you're never meant to fit in.

You're always meant to stand out and be uniquely who you are.

KATE: And your greatest success came when you were truly yourself.

TABITHA: The very thing I used to hide, you know, I used to hide my accent.

I used to cover it.

I used to code switch.

I used to wear my hair one way, dress one way thinking I had to, like, mold myself to fit into what I thought that the world and Hollywood wanted me to be and see.

And girl, the day I just said, "Take these layers off.

Im'ma be who God created me to be," whole life started changing.

All of us are light.

But we just have to choose to show up and show that light.

But all of us are light.

We all have that ability.

KATE: Thank you.

Thank you for bringing me here, for sharing your story so transparently and really for being a light in the world.

What a meal with Tabitha Brown!

She is as fun and delightful as she looks.

Her story is many stories in one.

The woman went from driving Uber to the number one brand in Target in less than three years.

This is a story of reinvention, of pivoting, of trusting your intuition and leaning hard on your faith.

This is a story of a different way to approach life, to act as if everything is a teacher, to listen for the lesson and the opportunity to serve the world.

KATE: If you would like to know more about the guests, the restaurants, and the inspiring stories of success, please visit ToDineForTV.com or follow us on Facebook and Instagram @ToDineForTV.

We also have a podcast.

To Dine For , The Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

To Dine For with Kate Sullivan is made possible by... FEMALE ANNOUNCER: We support the doers and dreamers.

Those working today toward a more secure tomorrow.

At American National, we're proud to help you make that future possible.

[Wine dribbling into glass]