Auburn, Ellensburg and the PNW

Before his time in the Villa, before the streams and the book club, Jeremiah Brown was, and is, a proud graduate of Central Washington University.

“I went to Central in September of 2018. I stayed at Wilson [hall],” Brown said. “We had a broken door, so if you forgot your card, you could yank the door and it would pop open … you’d be loud as hell.”

Brown described his time at CWU as “amazing” stating, “My freshman year was honestly the most fun because it had the most roller coasters. I found all my best friends that still visit me to this day.”

Eventually, Brown graduated from CWU with a degree in Film, and still credits the university for some of his longest lasting friendships. “I’m forever grateful for Central, because they gave me the best friends I could ask for,” Brown said. “It was a perfect place for me. We went through covid together as a school, so that was another thing we had to tackle. But I found the best community living at The Verge. So I’m forever grateful.”

He described growing up in the Pacific North West (PNW) as a “perfect” place to live his early years. Having been raised in Auburn WA, Brown fondly remembers being around the water and the greenery, especially after having now lived in Los Angeles for so long.

“Growing up, just going to the waterfront, whether it’s Ruston or Seattle, going to the water is always special,” Brown said. “The Pier has always been special, even though it’s kind of overdone. You know, me and my mom and my sisters and my pops used to walk over there a lot.”

To Brown, there was no better place to grow up than Washington State. “The PNW is the best home base because, yeah, the weather is not the best, but home is where the heart is,” Brown continued. “The Westfield Mall was low-key stomping grounds for a minute, the Outlet Collection was stomping grounds, all of middle school and high school. Just places like those that I have memories with my friends going back there and we’d have $10 to our name in high school and we had to go split something. So places like that have a special meaning to me.”

Life After Love (Island)

After living in LA and modeling for a few years, Brown found himself with a once in a lifetime opportunity, joining season seven of world renowned reality tv show “Love Island.”

“I had no idea what the show could do,” Brown said. “Obviously I’ve seen some of the success from season six, but at the same time, it’s like you’re rolling the dice. You could go in there, get canceled. You can go in there, ruin your life … There’s so much that can happen where it’s like, you never know what is going to happen after.”

But luckily for Brown, the community he’s been building post “Love Island” has been one of positivity, and in an almost full circle moment, education. “I got blessed enough that people got to go back and watch my old book reviews. So when I did come out, I would have never thought I would start a book club. But when I came out, and people were walking up to me like, ‘Yo, I love your book reviews,’ and I’m on live, and people are saying, do a book club.”

“Once I saw the platform that I did somehow get from the show, I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to make sure I do this the right way,’ because I owe that to myself and my family to really be intentional,” Brown continued. “Now I’m very intentional, because I want to help people, whether it’s through books or humor … No matter what I get out of this, I just want to make sure that at the end of the day, I’m intentional.”

Growing up, Brown was a huge fan of streamers and youtubers alike, but was always on the viewing end of the experience. Now, having left the Villa with millions of followers across all his platforms, he’s been able to experience the other side of the experience. And for Brown, it’s been a mostly positive experience at that.

“95% of the time, it’s the biggest blessing that people support me,” Brown said. “I can make someone happy or smile or laugh by interacting with them … It’s so surreal, because for me, it’s just me, but at the same time it affects them heavily … It’s such a blessing to be able to make someone smile, or make their day, or whatever you want to call it, just off a picture and an interaction with them.”

What’s next for Jeremiah

With his bookclub passing its second wildly successful month online, a rapidly growing twitch channel, discord community and a massive follower base on most social media platforms, there’s really no limit to what could be next for Jeremiah Brown. 

But according to Brown, his main focus is on building his community, building his merch brand and providing an opportunity to get books back in the hands of people like him. “[I want to do] more live streams, a couple more appearances, and more panels. It will actually be mostly book club panels, or just speaking [to] the youth … Long term, I’m going to have a book club carnival. I’m going to partner with TikTok or a brand to do an in person book club, like a scholastic book fair for adults.”

Reading changed Brown’s life, and he’s been using his newfound platform to provide that same opportunity for others. “Reading totally shifted my mind and my perspective,” Brown said. “The happiest I ever was has been since I started reading. And the more books I read, the more insight I get. So for me personally, reading gave me a second chance at life, [a chance] to really be grateful, present, etc, etc, because of the books I read and what I’ve learned to help my mindset and my perspective on life.”