An Inspired Chat with Miss. Exodus Oktavia Brownlow

Miss. Exodus Oktavia Brownlow shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Exodus Oktavia, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
Every day, I begin with a prayer before my feet even touch the floor. If I forget to do this, I’ll stop whatever I’m doing to have that quality time with Allah, God.
I’ll check my phone for any important texts or calls.
I then make up my bed, every day, unless I’m stripping the sheets to wash.
Personal care follows: Brushing my teeth, washing my eyes (not my face because my night time routine is pretty sumptuous and leaves my skin with a softness and glow that I’d rather not wash off in morning unless I’m doing makeup that day). Hair care, if needed. Outfit, prepped the night before, if I’m not working from home. Accessories. Workbag. All of that.
While I make my coffee, I go ahead and take my daily supplements and vitamins.
If my coffee is iced, I like to let it sit in the freezer for about 10 or 20 minutes because I like it extra cold and a little icy throughout.
During that time, it’s all about to-do-lists which I write out in my planner every day. I prioritize mind goals, health goals, writing, reading, editing, home duties, outside-the-home duties, sewing plans or promotions, cooking, and play time.
When it’s coffee time finally, I’ll have that while I check and respond to emails, check and respond to group chat messages, a little social media time, and then before I know it? 90 minutes have passed and it’s time to get to work!

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Exodus Oktavia Brownlow. I am a writer, sewist, editor and fashion designer native to Blackhawk, Ms.
As a writer, I am unseperated(ly)-hipped to writing about Black Southern Americanism, Black Women, sewing, beauty and fashion. Coming of age. Strangeness. Magic. Love, love is at the heart and center of everything that I create. It’s in my fiction, nonfiction, essays, book reviews, and poetry. Love is my bread and butter. I am proud and so very joyous to share that I have a book deal with Screen Door Press (an imprint with The University of Kentucky Press) for my debut short story collection: “When It Gets Cold in The South” which will publish in 2027. My editor is the exquisite Crystal Wilkinson!
As a sewist, I am skilled at hat-making (berets), and I have a darling obsession with maximalism. I’ll work with fabrics that are beaded and bedazzled or I’ll add interesting appliques to existing pieces (this year, I added denim flounces to a pair of super-flare jeans and the results were very disco-queen coded). Right now, I only sew by hand but I’m in the works to become a machine sewist as well, and soon.
As an editor, I am the Editor-in-Chief of The Loveliest Review. We are petite a literary journal that only publishes one issue every two years featuring one artist per genre: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Drama, Art, Photography and Review. Each issue is digital and in-print, and has a theme. The year that we don’t publish an issue is our Fellowship Year (also with a theme) which rewards one single artist (all 7 genres are open to apply for this fellowship) $1,000 dollars, and digital publication. This year, was our fellowship year and the reward went to Adesuwa Agbonile, a truly extraordinary writer. Their winning piece “How to Teach a Man to Love You” will publish on our website (theloveliestreview.com) in December 2025.
As a fashion designer, this is the newest title to the bunch. And though it is new, and though I am a novice, I received a grant from The Mississippi Arts Commission this year to design a sewing project and write about that experience.

Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who taught you the most about work?
My mama, Tracy Ann Brownlow Williams. She’s a Virgo, you know. And not just any Virgo but a September Virgo, the most Virgo of Virgos. I, myself, am an August Virgo. I like to say that August Virgos are like the Stacks (from the movie Sinners) of Virgos and September Virgos are like the Smokes (again, Sinners) of Virgos. Meaning, us Augs-V’s can and do get the job done but Sep-V’s get the job done (underlined!). My mama’s work ethic and time efficiency are truly something that I admire and dream of perfecting as well. At the same time, my mama also emphasizes the importance of self-care, of alone time, that in order to do hard work, work that we’re proud of, we must also treat our minds, bodies and souls with care. The body is a machine, the most unique and non-replicable machine in existence, if we give it nothing, we can’t expect it to give us anything back to do what must be done and desired.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes, and during this time I would write on my wrists (where I could feel my pulse): “TTSP” and acronym for “This Too Shall Pass”. As a people, we have to understand and we have to remember that the bad times and the good times are temporary. We must allow ourselves to surrender to the pains and joys of life instead of fighting against them, or trying to hold them forever. That surrender? Allows the transitions to come smoother and more quickly and through the pains, we give ourselves grace and lean into our loved ones to soothe them, and through the joys, we give ourselves gratitude and give goodness back to others (though, I’d argue to do this during our pain periods as well!).

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
I have two projects that are both so exquisitely and deliciously maximalist that my mouth waters from the mental-images of their delightfully dense layers.
The first project is a book, a novel which will be a debut novel. I am currently working on it, and the process has been truly joyful.
The second is a ballgown, which I am currently acquiring fabrics for.
I don’t know how long either will take me but the visions of their executions feel so real to me, so physically real, and I have always believed that Allah, God would never give us a vision that we couldn’t bring into fruition. Time, aside, Work, aside. I know that my visions will inevitably happen.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. If immortality were real, what would you build?
Although I find the idea of an endless life quite terrifying, I would spend that time purely creating, purely learning, and purely being a patron of charities, the arts and philanthropies.
With that time, I would focus a great deal of it trying to establish happiness within others. Not, that we can make people happy but we can certainly cater to their circumstances so that true happiness could take root and bloom.
I would write a lot. Read a lot. Design a lot. Sew a lot. Draw and paint a lot. Travel a lot. The amount of degrees I’d seek to pursue and obtain would be enviable to The South’s most high-demand summer temperatures!
I would give. An endless life is made for giving.
I would play. An endless life is made for playing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.exodusoktaviabrownlow.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coocoo4afropuffs/
• Twitter: https://x.com/CoCo4AfroPuffs
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exodus.brownlow/
• Other: Threads: https://www.threads.com/@coocoo4afropuffs

Image Credits
Side Profile Photo in Selkie Butter Rose Gown Taken by Dawn Denham.