For her clients and everyone who has been inspired by her humanity, Alua Arthur is a friend at the end of the world. As our country’s leading death doula, she’s spreading a transformative message: thinking about your death–whether imminent or not–will breathe wild, new potential into your life.

Warm, generous, and funny AF, Alua supports and helps manage end-of-life care on many levels. The business matters, medical directives, memorial planning; but also honoring the quiet moments, when monitors are beeping and loved ones have stepped out to get some air–or maybe not shown up at all–and her clients become deeply contemplative and want to talk. Aching, unfinished business often emerges. Alua has been present for thousands of these sacred moments–when regrets, fears, secret joys, hidden affairs, and dim realities are finally said aloud. When this happens, Alua focuses her attention at the pulsing center of her clients’ anguish and creates space for them, and sometimes their loved ones, to find peace.

This has had a profound effect on Alua, who was already no stranger to death’s periphery. Her family fled a murderous coup d’état in Ghana in the 1980s. She has suffered major, debilitating depressions. And her dear friend and brother-in-law died of lymphoma. Advocating for him in his final months is what led Alua to her life’s calling. She knows firsthand the power of bearing witness and telling the truth about life’s painful complexities, because they do not disappear when you look the other way. They wait for you.

Briefly Perfectly Human is a life-changing, soul-gathering debut, by a writer whose empathy, tenderness, and wisdom shimmers on the page. Alua Arthur combines intimate storytelling with a passionate appeal for loving, courageous end-of-life care–what she calls “death embrace.” Hers is a powerful testament to getting in touch with something deeper in our lives, by embracing the fact of our own mortality. “Hold that truth in your mind,” Alua says, “and wondrous things will begin to grow around it.” (Mariner Books)

Tembi Locke is a New York Times bestselling author, TV producer, actor, and screenwriter with a passion for connecting with her audience both on the page and on the screen. In partnership with Hello Sunshine, Tembi served as co-creator and executive producer for the adaptation of her memoir, “From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home,” for Netflix. The series, “From Scratch,” became an instant global hit, spending weeks on Netflix’s Top Ten List in over thirty countries around the world and earning six NAACP Image Award nominations and the prestigious Los Angeles Film Italy award. Her aforementioned memoir was also a Reese’s Book Club pick and an instant bestseller. Tembi and her sister, Attica, are currently under an overall development deal with Universal Television

In addition to her accomplishments as a writer and producer, Tembi is an accomplished actor with over sixty film and television credits. She most recently held a recurring role on Netflix’s hit show, “Never Have I Ever.” Offscreen, she is a nationally recognized speaker, delivering keynotes on resilience, loss, creativity and the power of storytelling. Her TEDx talk has been viewed by individuals and nonprofits around the world. She launched her podcast, “Lifted,” which features dynamic women sharing their stories of what and who have lifted their lives. Through her work Tembi aims to inspire people to embrace resilience, love, and the power of community.

This ticketed event will take place in the Forum at All Saints Church located at 132 N Euclid Ave, Pasadena.

Tickets include one copy of Briefly Perfectly Human which will be handed out at check-in.
A book signing will follow the discussion.