Jeremiah Brown didn’t leave Love Island USA with a master plan to become a full-time creator. In fact, before entering the villa, his social media presence was relatively sparse: a few book reviews, some funny videos, and an Instagram account that functioned mostly as a modeling portfolio.
But when Brown returned to the real world, he quickly realized just how many people were paying attention. Rather than simply ride the post-reality-TV wave, he and his older sister sat down and created a seven-page strategy for what came next. The pillars were simple — books and mental health, fitness and travel, and the lifestyle content that already reflected his interests.
That strategy has since turned Brown into something of an unexpected BookTok favorite. He runs a book club, hosts IRL reading meetups, streams on Twitch, and recently attended Kai Cenat’s Streamer University, where he spent five days broadcasting what he calls the “unfiltered, unedited version of Jeremiah Brown.”
Mashable spoke with Brown about turning reality-TV attention into a sustainable creator career, why comments matter more to him than views, embracing his reputation as a “performative male” who drinks matcha and reads, and the advice he’d give anyone trying to build an audience online.
Jeremiah Brown is beating the performative male allegations one book at a time.
Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Getty Images/Entangled Publishing/HarperCollins/Twitch//Streamer University
Mashable: You recently attended Kai Cenat’s Streamer University. What was that experience like?
Jeremiah Brown: One of one. I’m not gonna lie, it’s probably a top-five experience I’ve ever had in my life. It’s just so unique in the way that, one, it’s a thing to get a bunch of content creators and streamers together because the energy is just palpable in every room you’re in. And two, everyone was so nice and welcoming.
Usually, I feel like, especially in LA, it can be very — not cliquey, but, you know, very transactional. But at Streamer University, everyone was in everyone’s TikToks, everyone’s livestreams, nothing but love. And the thing that really caught me off guard was the welcoming and acceptance of everyone’s communities. Every TikTok I was in, every livestream I popped up in, and vice versa, it was like, “My two worlds are colliding. I have no one to tell about this.” It was just such positive feedback from every community, which was really refreshing.
Because I’m not gonna lie, with Love Island, when you cross over, it can get very territorial, like, “Why is he there? He’s clout chasing.” But this was content creators coming together to make amazing content, and it was one of the best experiences of my life.
What was the biggest lesson you took away from it?
Don’t be scared to ask people. Because I had the benefit and the blessing of coming in with a little bit of a platform, so it was kind of easier for me to walk up to people and be like, “Let’s do this, let’s do that.”
But it was a blessing just to learn from the smaller and the bigger content creators. If somebody had 100 viewers, I was popping in like, “Let’s go get food.” And then learning from Agent and Ludwig’s classes, because I actually went to class most of the time. They had amazing classes. I learned a lot about actually creating content, whether it’s hooks or longevity.
When I was tuning into some of the streams, it felt very much like a reality show. And you obviously have a reality show background. So was the transition from reality TV to streaming that big of a jump for you?
No, honestly, that’s a beautiful question. Because I was on stream the other day, telling my chat the difference between reality TV and livestreaming. How do I say this in the nicest way possible? When you do a reality television show, you kind of give them your life. In the sense that, obviously, I’m very blessed to do it and all the nice things, but at the end of the day, whatever they want the world to see, they choose.
And so why I feel like Streamer University was so important for me is, you know, on reality shows, I haven’t always gotten the best edit. So being live for five days straight, it’s really the unfiltered, unedited version of Jeremiah Brown that you get to learn and see, love or hate.
So it’s kind of like, this is who I actually am, not the edit I got however long ago. This is who I actually am as a person. Take it or leave it. This is me tired, angry, happy, joyous, exhausted, full of energy — every single emotion. We streamed like 120 hours in five days. So it was beautiful to just show the world, like, “This is who I am.” This is not whatever narrative they want to say. This is who I am. This is my personality.
Walk with me, or you don’t. Honestly, that was the biggest blessing because I got to show people who I am without any editors or storylines or narratives.
You mentioned spending time with a bunch of creators from different spectrums of the internet, which I think is the really cool part about Streamer University. Did it change the way that you thought about your own content at all?
Yes and no, because I’m always gonna go back to things I love, like books, sports, fitness, mental health, things like that. But at the same time, it let me just enjoy whatever. Because I can’t dance, for example. I can’t dance, and this is very silly, but I was doing dancing TikToks with everyone just because if they’re posting it, it’s OK, you know? And then I’ll just repost it.
So it was fun to get out of my comfort zone and be the goofier version of myself because I feel like it’s not that I can’t always show that in my content, but it was awesome to just pull up and livestream and be like, this is me when I don’t make sense, this is me when I do make sense, you know?
Did you get much reading done while you were there?
Yeah. I brought Binding 13 and Fourth Wing. For Fourth Wing, I ran a challenge where I had content creators read a paragraph, and if they didn’t stutter or mess up, I’d gift them subs on Twitch.
And then, Binding 13 was a book I was doing for my book club. I just finished it, actually, like, a week ago. I read that on the plane and on the bus, but not when I was streaming. It was wake up, stream, sleep. Wake up, stream. We never turned off.
Did you meet anyone there who surprised you or inspired you?
Honestly, low-key almost everyone. Because I was like, damn, there’s this whole world. The world I’m in with content is usually fellow Islanders, like 80 percent of them. It’s just my fellow Islanders because they’re my friends. They’re my friends now.
And this, I got to meet the world of Benji, Crystal, Davis, Alyssa, Agent, and all the AMP guys again. So yeah, honestly, it was just crazy. I was like, everyone’s so funny and so cool. And there was very, very little ego or, “I’m not gonna do this because you’re a brand-new streamer.” I didn’t get a sense of that, at least. Even when they were around a small streamer and a bigger streamer, they would do segments together. So yeah, it was really just beautiful, honestly.
What about from your roommate Davis? Did you learn anything from him?
I met Davis randomly in San Antonio last year. He reached out, and I was in town for an appearance a year ago. And I got to meet Kai because of him, and Duke, and got back involved in streaming because of him.
And then a year later, I’m now his roommate. We got super close. That’s my bro now. We FaceTime, we play Black Ops together. Him, Alyssa, and I just did a 24-hour handcuff stream a couple of days ago. And so yeah, now we have a trio, and it’s a thing on the internet. It’s been a blessing.
It seems like a lot of what you’ve done actually fits really well with what you’re doing now as a content creator. Obviously, you started as a model, and I feel like modeling is all about getting comfortable in front of a camera, having people looking at you, and personal branding is really important as a model. You were on Love Island USA, and that, too, is about getting comfortable with people’s perceptions of you and with being watched by cameras. Do you feel like the things that you’ve done have better prepared you for this career?
A thousand percent. Because, funny enough, I never wanted to be a content creator. I had like 10 videos up, I think, before I went on Love Island. Like five book reviews and three funny ones. And yeah, I posted on Instagram once a month to show people I was working as a model, more like a portfolio, because they’d always want to see your Instagram.
I’ve been a model since 2018. So that was seven years before Love Island. Always being in front of the camera prepared me for photo shoots and interviews.
And then just reading books too, like How to Win Friends and Influence People, books like that on how to just talk to people and genuinely form connections, so things are just easier to do. I think a thousand percent.
Because if you’ve never been in front of a camera and then all of a sudden you’re in front of 55, doing interviews every single day or appearances, obviously, there was still a lot I had to adapt to in terms of the face-to-face, taking pictures and stuff like that. But long story short, being a model for so long definitely helped.
It’s always interesting to watch the careers of the Islanders when they leave the villa, or really any major reality show, right? Because you get all of this attention, you get a huge boost across your socials, and your numbers are way up. Can you tell me what the first few weeks out of the villa were like when you had all of this attention on you? What was your thought process? Were you immediately like, “How do I turn this into something bigger?” Or were you just trying to get your bearings?
A mix of both. Because there’s one side of it, like, I need to get grounded, I need to see my family, I need to talk to my therapist, I need to get back to my books.
And then the other side is like, OK, now that I do have this, because I didn’t expect it. One, I didn’t know the power of the show because I wasn’t too familiar with the world, and I wasn’t on TikTok. And then two, I was only there for half the time. No final four, no couple. So I’m like, OK, I was there for a little bit, had my thing, and then I was like, people really resonate with me and my content or my previous content, my book reviews.
And so it was a mix. Like, OK, I’m gonna go get grounded. And then luckily, I have the best big sister in the world. I went to her crib and just made a brand pillar and really did all the steps, like a seven-page document on how to maximize and capitalize on this opportunity I’ve been given.
Wow, shout-out to your big sister. What were some of the things that were in this document, if you don’t mind sharing?
Basically, it was like, what am I? What do the next steps look like? What are my pillars? So books slash mental health, fitness slash travel, and then just overall lifestyle, family content, and mukbangs.
And it’s kind of like, OK, these are things that are not easy for me to do, but it’s what I genuinely love. So I won’t — obviously, you can get burnout — but if I’m doing something, if I talk about books, I’ll never shut up, you know? So it’s always something I can go back to that I’m passionate about. Or anime, for example.
It’s basically just the best way for me to produce content that doesn’t end in burnout, and it’s most genuine because I’ve read, you know, hundreds of books. So it’s just stuff like that.
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It sounds like books have really inspired you over the years. Obviously, they’re a huge foundation of your content. Do you remember the book that got you into reading?
The Invention of Hugo Cabret is one of my favorites from, I think, middle school or high school. But honestly, it was my uncle’s comic book shop when I was a kid, in elementary school. We’d drive down to Portland, Oregon. I think it’s still there, but he doesn’t own it anymore. I read all the time from that.
And then, in middle or high school, there was AR reading. So you’d read and take quizzes to get pizza and candy. So that’s why I started it. And then I stopped because of college. Like, I’m not gonna read for school and for fun.
But then COVID hit, and the first book that really got me on my mental health journey was Mindset by Carol Dweck. And then I went to Ryan Holiday and Stoicism. I think Ryan Holiday and his Stoicism books, like Ego Is the Enemy, The Obstacle Is the Way, and Stillness Is the Key, really made that shift where I just dove into all things self-mastery. And I was like, how do I become the best version of myself?
Backing up a little bit, when you would read comic books in your uncle’s store, were you a DC guy or a Marvel guy? I just need to know.
Punisher was my favorite, so Marvel. But I loved them all. Punisher was my favorite graphic for sure.
Got it. OK. I’m a DC girl, so it’s OK.
DC’s fire. And like Ponyo, Totoro — he put me onto all that. Yeah, he’s the best.
I love that for you. Love the Ghibli journey. So you established reading and mental health as pillars. Where did you go from there? How did you go from making this document to actually executing on it?
It was really just what works and the feedback. People would come up to me at the airport, anywhere I’d go, and say, “I love your book reviews.” And I’m like, that has to mean something. So then I started a book club, and that’s been doing really well. People are part of that.
So it’s really a mix of what’s working and a mix of what I love to do. Because at the end of the day, I have to post it for myself. Because if I only post for other people, that’s how you get burnout and start chasing trends. Although I do the trends. I can’t say I’m not a trend guy. I do all the trends too.
So it’s really just branching out to whatever is popular at the time — the Finals, the World Cup — and then always coming back to what people know me as and what I love to produce. So I’ll do a bunch of sports videos, a mukbang, and then boom, here’s a book review. Just things like that.
Really, the execution was just making sure I’m staying true to my values and who I am, and then trying to show that through my content.
As we said, when you leave a reality show, you get a lot of eyes on you, a lot of attention. But for some Islanders, some reality TV stars, it fades pretty fast, right? They have a finite window to capitalize on. But with you, it has seemed to really stick. Do you feel like that intentionality is what separates you from some of the others?
Yes and no. I remember the first six months out of the villa, every day I thought, “When is this gonna stop? When is this gonna stop?” I was scared all the time. But then Jalen Brown from the show just said, “One day at a time.” So I just try to live by that.
In the sense where it’s like, I’m just gonna keep doing — obviously I’m gonna evolve and do better content. I’m doing a produced book series now, a book review series, things like that. So I’m gonna keep evolving my content.
But yeah, at the end of the day, you kind of just find ways to keep going because short-form is amazing, but you have to build a brand in the sense of, why would people still watch, whether it’s streaming or long-form or hosting or a TV show again?
But yeah, to answer your question, I have no idea. TikTok can get banned. You really just don’t know. So I kind of just enjoy it every day and make content I love to make.
Your new series, Matcha to Read…I love the title. But I do have to say, men who drink matcha and read in public are often called performative males. So how do you feel about that?
It’s hilarious because I filmed my first Matcha to Read before Streamer University, and I posted it after because they were editing it. And all my new supporters — or some of them are trolling, of course — were like, “Performative king,” blah, blah, blah.
And it’s like, OK, I get it. I feel like, as a male, especially a young Black man, people aren’t known for going on reality TV and then popping out with, “By the way, guys, I love books, anime, mental health.” They’re kind of like, well, most people do fitness, which there’s nothing wrong with. I’m saying usually it’s like Love Island and fitness, which is awesome. I work out, of course, it’s just not my main type of content.
And so I say that to say I get the comments, but it’s like, if you look at my history, I’ve had matcha videos. I have three sisters, so I’ve been put onto matcha my whole life. I’ve tried all the Frappuccinos. I remember there’s a video where my sister made me say “pinkity drinkity” as a prank on her phone when we went to get coffee.
So I’ve tried all the matchas for years and years and have read all the books since I was a kid. And so I can only laugh. But the reason why I can laugh is that I have a digital footprint where there’s proof. If I didn’t have proof, I’d be like, “Oh my God, no guys, I promise.” But it’s like, I’ve been doing it, so it’s OK.
You’re like, “I’m about that life.”
Yeah. People have even seen my crib and are like, “You actually read?” I’m like, “Yeah.” People ask in chat all the time, “You actually read?” Like, yes, bro. Yeah. People don’t get the power of books. People don’t get it.
They really don’t. There’s an entire subreddit dedicated to women, or people, who will take photos of the person they’re dating’s bookshelves and post them on the subreddit and be like, “OK, should I be concerned?” Or, “What are your thoughts about my date’s bookshelf?” So if people saw your bookshelf, what do you think they would think?
Honestly, they’d love it because I have ACOTAR, Fourth Wing, The Housemaid, I have all the popular books, and then I have all the self-mastery books. So I have every single category. I have Circe, The Song of Achilles. I have all the classics. The Great Gatsby. Like, yeah, everything.
I’m really happy that you read The Song of Achilles for your book club.
Yeah, that was the first one. It was the first one. It was beautiful.
How do you decide what you’re gonna read for content versus what you’re gonna read just for yourself?
Great question. I used to be able to do two books at once, but sometimes the schedule can get tough. At the beginning of the book club, it was a bit themed. So we did fantasy first, then a horror one for October, and then POC for February. And the last few months, like, I read Fourth Wing, and I just had them vote. So now I just — and then for classics we did a list of classics, and in my reading room they’d vote. So, the last six months, it’s really just been a voting system.
Once I read Fourth Wing, I was like, OK, you guys aren’t steering me wrong. And then I read Binding 13, and I was like, OK, I’m gonna trust you guys because there’s literally like a one-percent chance I would have ever read any of these books without my book club. It would have been straight self-mastery.
People have even seen my crib and are like, ‘You actually read?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ People ask in chat all the time, ‘You actually read?’ Like, yes, bro. Yeah. People don’t get the power of books. People don’t get it.
So even though it’s for content, I fall in love with the books. Binding 13, bro, it made me cry probably like six times. It’s such a powerful book. And then now we’re reading Keeping 13. And then I have a book called A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle.
I’ll read that when I can, but I’m gonna focus on Keeping 13 because, one, I need to finish it for my book club, and two, it’s like a 600-page book. So yeah, I try to balance reading the main one first and, if I have extra time, going to the personal book.
Got it. That makes sense. Because how do you read Fourth Wing and then not immediately go to the next book?
I started Iron Flame. I forgot, yeah, I went from Fourth Wing to ACOTAR, which is kind of — actually, I should’ve done it the other way because Fourth Wing was popping off immediately. People are getting thrown off the parapet immediately.
And then ACOTAR was so slow. It was a good book, but the first one is so slow because it’s a buildup for the second one. I get that. People were telling me, “Yo, give it time.” But then I’m like 150 pages into Iron Flame, or 200, but I just kept having to stop to read ACOTAR. So it’s a balance to be had.
Yeah, that first ACOTAR book, when you read the whole series, you’re like, OK, that’s actually maybe the slowest of the books. You’ve also hosted IRL book club meet-and-greets, which I love. What has it been like to see your fans or followers in person and interact with them?
It was crazy. We did a pop-up one in Seattle, maybe in May. It had to be in May, yeah. And I had less than 24 hours to promote it, and I think we had like 70 people there.
So it was really sick just to talk about books with people who support me. We just yapped and someone brought me a matcha, ironically enough. And yeah, it’s just beautiful to see the power of books.
Because I was not on TikTok, I had no idea about BookTok or anything. I had no idea people still read or loved books. And then all of a sudden, I’m posting about it, and there are 500 comments saying, “This is my Roman Empire series,” and I’m like, I didn’t even know what that meant. I had to Google what “Roman Empire series” meant.
So it’s honestly just been a beautiful thing that they welcomed me into the BookTok space.
We are in a bit of a reading crisis, so to have somebody like you really promote books and reading is wonderful. But at what point did you decide, OK, I like reading, or you built this deck with your sister, you’re kind of doing it day by day — at what point did you decide, “OK, this is a business now,” or, “This is how I’m gonna make my money”?
Honestly, immediately, because I was a full-time model before. So my brand, aka Instagram, social media, who I am as a person, my haircuts, my skin — it’s all my business. Because literally, if I didn’t show up as my best self to an audition, a self-tape, a casting, I was not gonna be able to pay rent at one point in my life, right?
So it was immediate, because I’ve always been, since 2023, well, 2018 technically, my brand. That’s why I read so many books: to get better at auditions and castings and to make sure I talk to every single person in the room, remember their names, et cetera. So yeah, honestly, immediately.
What metrics actually matter to you now? Because I’ve talked to a lot of creators where they’re like, you know, it’s not so much about the views anymore. It’s really about the comments, the engagement. So what are you looking at?
Yeah, that’s a great question because it’s easy to get caught up. Honestly, how my brain thinks, I’ll post one thing, and it doesn’t hit, and I’m like, “OK, it’s over. GGs. We fell off, it’s wrapping up.” And then I’ll post something the next day, and it’ll go crazy, and I’m like, “OK, I’m good.”
So I kind of took away from the likes and the views because I’m an overthinker sometimes. It’ll stop me in the way of, like, I want to post this, but it might not hit. And when I get in that mindset, I have to post it.
Because, for example, I had no idea the Spurs content would be among my best-performing content. I had no idea, because I’m like, my demographic really hasn’t shown any love for sports. And then the World Cup and Spurs content went insane. I was like, that’s so dope that I can share another part of my life with people.
But to answer your question, comments for sure. I love the comments because it shows that people care. I kind of care, and it’s cool just to talk to them and like the comment. Everything else comes and goes, so yeah, I kind of just focus on the feedback I get.
What is something that, if someone was gonna start creating content tomorrow, you would advise them to do?
Choose pieces to make content about that you can do a lot with, in the sense of…don’t do what’s popular right off the bat. Yeah, doing the trends is fun, and it’s awesome. People love seeing their favorite creators do trends. But you need to have specific things. Not even necessarily a niche, but just a few things that you can make content about where you don’t get tired.
If you don’t like something but you make content about it, you’re gonna get exhausted. If I hated books and I had to do a book review, I’d be sick to my core. So, as cliché as it sounds, I would genuinely make content about things that you love.
And finally, I know mental health and your journey have been a really big part of your content, like you said. That’s a level of vulnerability that some creators don’t cross. So why did you decide that you were going to be open about reading the self-improvement books, things like that, your mental health? You even mentioned going to therapy right after leaving the villa, which is so important, by the way, and not a lot of people talk about it. Why was that something that you wanted to share?
That’s a great question. I think at first it was because I got so many questions about, “How did you handle yourself in the villa so well?” Or, “How did you not crash out?” And it was really because I’ve been in therapy for three years in October, and then reading self-mastery books since 2020.
So I just shared because people expect you to be the nonchalant, good-looking guy. It’s just like, bro, I am who I am. And you have to be genuine in this world, or people will — I just feel like it’s so weird to pretend to be something you’re not or be fake or put on the mask.
This is me. Yes, obviously not everything should be shared, but people are asking me, “How did you not crash out?” It’s like, no, I love therapy. My hot take on every single questionnaire I get is that everyone should be in therapy and read books.
Because I promise, if someone reads three self-mastery books, like The Four Agreements, When Things Fall Apart, and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, they would be unrecognizable. You’d actually be unrecognizable in three months.
And so I think I’m just so passionate about it because it changed my life and it gave me a second life, so to speak. Genuinely, it gave me another life.
And now I get to do this, and I’m so blessed. So why would I ever want to gatekeep that? And I think it’s so cool to be vulnerable and show, especially young guys — obviously I love my audience, but young guys — like, yo, it’s OK to cry, it’s OK to be vulnerable, it’s OK to be called soft. Because it’s like, bro, it just is.
