Brooks is best known for her portrayal of the character Maya Wilkes, Joan's former sharp-tongued secretary and now acclaimed author, on the CW sitcom Girlfriends, in which she starred alongside Tracee Ellis Ross, Persia White and Jill Marie Jones from 2000 to 2008.

[citation needed] Brooks has won Black Reel Awards for her portrayal in the 2004 film Motives, co-starring with Vivica A.

In 2008, Brooks was cast as Kim Kaswell in the Lifetime comedy-drama pilot Drop Dead Diva,[4] but later was replaced by Kate Levering.

[6][7] In 2015, Brooks was cast in a recurring role of Patrick Stewart's lead character's ex-wife in the Starz comedy series, Blunt Talk.

[10] Brooks was fired from Lethal Weapon after the project's table read, and Keesha Sharp, her Girlfriends co-star, later replaced her in role.

[11] In 2017, Brooks was cast as the lead character's mother in The Darkest Minds, a young adult dystopian thriller directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson.

[18] In 2019, she reunited with her Girlfriends co-stars Tracee Ellis Ross, Jill Marie Jones and Persia White in the episode of ABC comedy series Black-ish.