Morgan DeBaun, CEO of Blavity Inc. and AfroTech, is using her platform to deliver a timely reminder to entrepreneurs and working professionals navigating today’s tough economy: working multiple jobs is not a weakness—it’s a strategy.
In a post shared on Instagram on Sept. 6, 2025, DeBaun laid out three principles that have guided her journey:
- Multiple jobs doesn’t mean you’re unfocused.
- Frugality and sacrifice are the foundations of scale.
- The only person you’re truly accountable to is yourself.
She tied her message to the broader cultural conversation sparked by Tabitha Brown last week, noting that many are making difficult financial choices because of conditions shaped by “oligarchs and politicians.”
DeBaun spoke candidly in her accompanying video about her own entrepreneurial path. When she founded Blavity more than a decade ago at age 24, she kept her job for a year before fully committing.
Even after raising half a million dollars in funding and hiring her first employees, she continued a side hustle for three years, choosing to support herself with her own income rather than depending entirely on venture capital.
“I didn’t pay myself a salary in those first three years of business,” DeBaun said, adding that she once felt embarrassed about keeping her side work a secret from her team. “But that sacrifice helped us build a resilient business that was scalable.”
Her message now is clear: there is nothing shameful about working two or three jobs to finance a vision or stabilize a family. Instead, she argues, it demonstrates commitment and long-term thinking.
“You should write your own rules about what success looks like,” she said. “Do what’s best for you. Take care of your people. That’s the only thing that matters right now.”
DeBaun’s words resonate in a climate where many entrepreneurs, freelancers, and gig workers are grappling with instability, rising costs, and shrinking access to capital.
Her advice reframes resilience not as an endless pursuit of perfection, but as a willingness to sacrifice, adapt, and stay accountable to one’s own definition of success.
