The same year Brooks starred in the superhero series Peacemaker (2022–present), and returned to Broadway in the revival of the August Wilson play The Piano Lesson, for which she received a Drama Desk Award nomination.

[10] After graduating from Juilliard, Brooks won roles in two theater productions: the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Servant of Two Masters, and Blacken the Bubble.

She left both productions in 2013 to join the cast of the Netflix-produced television series Orange Is the New Black, a show about a women's prison, based on Piper Kerman's memoir of the same name.

In an interview with The New Yorker she said that she was paid less on the final season than the lead child actors made that same year on Stranger Things.

Brooks made her Broadway debut in the 2015 revival of The Color Purple as Sofia alongside Jennifer Hudson and Cynthia Erivo.

[24] In June 2019, she played Beatrice in The Public Theater's production of Much Ado About Nothing, receiving a Drama League Award nomination for her performance.

[31] In 2022, Brooks was cast in James Gunn's Max superhero series Peacemaker playing the role of Leota Adebayo, Amanda Waller's (Viola Davis) daughter.

In a 2022 interview, Brooks revealed that Gunn was a big fan of Orange is the New Black and wrote the part of Adebayo with her in mind.

In 2022, Brooks starred as Berniece in a Broadway revival of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson starting on September 19, 2022,[33] directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson;[34] the production received mixed reviews from critics.

Her charismatic presence is spellbinding, and her emotional dexterity in covering the full spectrum of affectations, from tear-jerking to side-splitting, is a joy to witness.

"[40] Alissa Wilkinson from The New York Times called her "incredible",[41] while Ella Kemp from Evening Standard wrote: "Brooks’ star power is infectious".