Tabitha Brown is opening up about the power of pivoting and the marketing strategy changes she made while launching her fragrance line.
The actress, entrepreneur, and best-selling author took center stage at the inaugural Clover x Shark Tank Summit in Las Vegas, where her role as Clover’s Chief Empowerment Officer was on full display. Small business owners flocked to the conference to gain insights, connections, and resources to scale their companies.
With these founders in mind, Brown, a small business owner herself, emphasized the importance of knowing when to pivot, especially in today’s economic climate.
”We’ve got to learn how to pivot. I mean, everybody’s pivoting,” Brown told BLACK ENTERPRISE.
“If it’s not working right now, we have to figure out, ‘OK, what else can I do either to support the business or to bring in more income or to help with marketing?’ Whatever it is, we’ve got to figure out the pivot and not be afraid of it.”
It’s a harsh reality of entrepreneurship that Brown knows firsthand, having pivoted after her Donna’s Hair Care line was impacted by boycotts against Target. The mega-retailer has seen its stock drop 33% and lost over $20 billion in shareholder value following backlash over its rollback of DEI efforts.
Brown had enjoyed a successful partnership with Target since 2022, initially launching an apparel, swimwear, and accessories collection that expanded within a year to include food and kitchenware. By July 2024, the Emmy-winning Tab Time star debuted her Donna’s Recipe haircare line at Target with a limited-time launch.
The vegan, plant-based line performed so well that it expanded to nationwide distribution by February 2024. However, Target lost $12.4 billion in market value that month due to ongoing boycotts, affecting brands like Donna’s Recipe. In response, Brown pivoted with the April launch of her Tab & Chance fragrance with her husband, taking a direct-to-consumer approach through HSN—a first for the entrepreneur.
“You know, the whole thing that happened with Target this year, January, like, I had launched my fragrance company, we launched in February, but did a big launch in April, and my first thought was like, ‘OK, my Donna’s Recipe haircare line has taken a major hit because of, you know, Target,” Brown explained.
“So I have to pivot here. So, in launching my fragrance line with my husband, I was like, ‘I don’t usually like to go into retail until after at least one year of doing business online direct to consumer because you want to get all your data.’ So I told him, I was like, ‘I think I’m OK with exploring HSN so I can just test it out to see.’”
“That’s a pivot,” Brown declared.
The pivot paid off for Brown. On Sept. 17, she announced on Instagram that Tab & Chance had generated $10,000 in sales, thanking Shopify for its support of small businesses.
Brown urged small business owners to stay persistent in pursuing their
dreams, emphasizing that with the right steps, those dreams can become a reality.”Don’t stop dreaming,” she said.
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