Entrepreneur Spotlight: Hook Williams Turns Family Memories Into Mama Sang Anyway

Every story we share Around The Village is personal in some way—but this one hits especially close to home.

For this Entrepreneur Spotlight, we’re celebrating Daryl “Hook” Williams, author of the upcoming memoir Mama Sang Anyway, releasing October 23, 2026.

Hook also happens to be my cousin.

And just like me, he's a grandson of Mama Sophie—the very Sophie behind Sophie’s Mart.

From Family Memories to Published Author

Mama Sang Anyway began with something many families can relate to: realizing that the stories you've heard your entire life won't always have someone around to tell them.

Growing up in Allendale, South Carolina, Hook was surrounded by Mama Sophie, Grandpa Coot, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and a house full of the personalities and everyday moments that make a family a family.

As he got older, those seemingly ordinary memories started to feel much more important.

So he began writing them down.

What emerged wasn't simply a record of his family tree. It became a memoir about family, identity, growing up, complicated relationships, healing, laughter, loss and understanding the people who helped shape you.

In Hook's words:

“Eventually, every family becomes a story. I just decided to write ours down.”

A Story That Came Full Circle

There's another piece of Hook's journey that makes this spotlight particularly meaningful to me.

He had worked on Mama Sang Anyway on and off for years. Then, after I published my first novel, Alkebulan: The Awakening, Hook says seeing his cousin actually finish and publish a book helped give him the push to finish his own.

Now, months later, I get to use a platform named after our grandmother to help introduce his book about her and our family to the world.

That's a pretty incredible full-circle moment.

Two cousins. Two authors. One grandmother whose influence is still traveling generations later.

The Story Behind Our Village

For readers who know Sophie’s Mart as a marketplace and community, Mama Sang Anyway also offers something we've never really been able to share before:

a glimpse into the story before the Village.

Before Sophie's Mart was a website, a business or an idea, Sophie was our grandmother.

She was a real woman with a real family, living ordinary days that none of them knew would one day become stories worth preserving.

That's ultimately what makes Hook's book bigger than just our family.

Most of us have those people.

The grandmother everybody gathered around. The grandfather with his routines. The cousins running through the house. The sayings that only make sense to your family. The stories you've heard so many times you assume they'll always be there.

Until one day, they aren't.

Mama Sang Anyway is a reminder that our family stories are worth preserving while we still have people here to tell them.

Meet Daryl “Hook” Williams & Discover Mama Sang Anyway

Mama Sang Anyway releases October 23, 2026, but you can step inside the story now.

We've created a special home for the book on Sophie’s Mart where you can meet Hook, learn about Mama Sophie and Coot, explore photographs from our family album, read a personal letter from the author and discover the story that inspired the memoir.

And maybe Hook's story will inspire you to ask a few more questions about your own.

Because that's what the Village is really about—knowing where we came from while building what comes next.

Explore the official Mama Sang Anyway page and meet the family behind the story.