Brown was born in Germany and grew up in Harvey, Illinois. He is an only child and was raised by his mother, grandmother, and aunt, all of whom encouraged his interest in cooking. His mother set Chopped-style challenges for him, purchasing a variety of ingredients and telling him to produce a dish with them. His grandmother was born in Mississippi, and he learned to cook Black southern cuisine from her.
Brown worked at mk in Chicago for seven years under Erick Williams, starting as an unpaid prep cook and eventually as garde manger and sous chef. With Williams' encouragement he moved to Roister for a year, and when Williams opened Virtue in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood in 2018, he hired Brown as chef de cuisine. Virtue serves Black southern cuisine. Esquire named it to their list of the best new restaurants in the country in 2019.
In 2022 Brown competed on Top Chef, coming in fourth behind Buddha Lo, Evelyn Garcia, and Sarah Welch; Brown was voted fan favorite. That same year, Food & Wine named him one of the country's best new chefs in 2022.