Brown was born in Houston, Texas and has three older sisters.[5] He is of Jamaican and Cuban descent. He came out as gay at age 15.[6] Brown grew up in Coral Springs, Florida and graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in 1999.[7][8] Following the shooting at the school in 2018, Brown became an active member of the Never Again MSD movement started by the students, advocating for new gun control legislation. He graduated from Florida A&M University, a historically black university, and worked in social services for nearly a decade after The Real World.[9]