The Brooke Mobley Story, 'Purple Tears', & More

The Memoir, given life by Alex Auguste's storytelling, is set to hit Amazon markets, with a launch on February 5th, 2023.

On February 5th, 2023, I'll be in attendance for the official launch of I, Too, Cry Purple Tears: The Brooke Mobley Story. I won't be in attendance as a regular attendee, and it's not really one of those Vivid Life Tour events where I'll be showing you cool slow motion shots or the whirling upside down shot I usually do. Instead, I'll be in attendance as a sort of Guest of Honor.

I, Too, Cry Purple Tears is a memoir about life, love, abuse, and the story of Dr. Brooke Mobley, a survivor of domestic violence. It's a story I had the honor of bringing to life and giving voice to over the least two years and some change.

The book launch will be taking place February 5th, 2023 at Brio Italian Grille in Tampa's International Mall beginning at 4pm and will be a book launch, Q&A session, and an opportunity to learn more about who Dr. Brooke Mobley is, her story, and her initiatives with Purple Tears, LLC.

RSVPs are now open, but seating and spaces are limited, so be sure to lock yourself in if you'll be in the Bay Area and interested in attending.

September 2020

If you live in Tampa, you're probably familiar with the group, Young Black Professionals, and that's how this story begins. With over 600 users in the group, one day I just popped in to find that someone in the group was asking questions about publishers, book-writing, and more. With it being just months since I started The Unlikely Company, and the beginning legs of what would become MRVL WRLD, I reached out.

I've been asked dozens of times about ghostwriting, co-writing, or writing books for other people and I've always stayed away from those conversations. A lot of people don't really understand what goes into publishing books, let alone writing them. It requires proximity. It requires commitment. And most importantly, it requires peeling back a lot of layers to get the story and information necessary to bring the story to life. On an hour-long call while driving from Miami back to Tampa, I spoke with Dr. Brooke Mobley about what her story was and what the vision was.

She was a survivor of domestic violence, and wanted to tell her story.

It peaked my interest, but it also felt like a project that was outside of my realm. I write fiction. Having written We Missed A Meeting and A Boy Bathed In Blood, this story felt delicate and like it needed something I wasn't feeling entirely comfortable with at first. But the discussion wasn't about the story at first, and more about her why.

She wanted to tell a story that could be empowering to other women, possibly in the same situation as her, to which I had to point out that, as a Black man, there was going to be a challenge in that. Again, the story seemed delicate.

When I finally met with Brooke face-to-face was really when I decided that this was something I was going to take on. The story just didn't match the persona, and I realized that may have been a bias of mine, unknowingly, about what it meant to be a survivor and I got intrinsic.

I had to reflect a bit on what "a survivor" is. And that was the point of my full commitment. I laid out a plan for what the process would look like, took a deep breath and started our interviews shortly after, learning the story, asking the questions, and being brought to the places, spaces, and times that would become her vision for this compelling story.

There were hurdles. For example, my apartment was broken into. As if they couldn't have taken more, the backpack with my interview notes was used to steal the laptop where the manuscript was, and so we had to start back all over again, this time with my writing from memory.

Between fully committing to MRVL WRLD and recommitting to assure the story came to life, I went all in, even actually visiting landmarks where her story began in Baltimore, Maryland.

I, Too, Cry Purple Tears is easily the most challenging story I've worked on. It required a lot of reflections from myself as a Black Man, and forced me to revisit past relationships, including my own upbringing, and pushed me to narrate a story about pain, while providing what might be stimulus for a conversation that is worth having within our communities about relationships, love, success, and generational curses.

I'm very thankful to Dr. Brooke for challenging me with this process both professionally and creatively, and am grateful for the inspiration it gave me to bring more real life, human issues to my own upcoming projects like The Boy Who Finally Spoke Up, We Missed A Meeting, and more.

Check out all details from Purple Tears, LLC and continue to follow along with the developments of this new book, which will be provided during the event and after via my YouTube Channel, I AM ALEX AUGUSTE, and more.