The email cursor blinked against the dark of her screen, a small pulse of light in the quiet. It was past 10:30, and the apartment around her was still. Jamara Hicks sat at her kitchen table, staring at the 60-day notice on her phone — the one telling her she had to leave the place she had called home for nearly thirteen years.
The herbal jars lined neatly on the counter didn’t match the chaos in her head. Peppermint, chamomile, ginger — blends she had made hundreds of times for customers, friends, and family. She had built Blacker the Berry Health + Wellness from these jars, from the knowledge and care she had gathered over years of healing herself and others. But business revenue was down. Her savings were thin. Her credit score was too low for a mortgage. And now, the clock was running out.
She thought of the CLTRE Keeper First Time Homebuyer program — something she’d heard about when her products were stocked in the CLTRE store. That night, she typed an email explaining her situation and her interest in joining. She didn’t overthink it. She just sent it.
Her application was in. And weeks later she was approved.
That moment didn’t erase the uncertainty ahead, but it gave her something she had been missing: a place to start.
Blacker the Berry was born years earlier, out of necessity. At thirteen, Jamara developed Bell’s Palsy. The condition was misdiagnosed, and for more than eight years, it went untreated. She never fully regained mobility in the left side of her face, and the years that followed brought wave after wave of illness — anxiety, arthritis, bronchitis, costochondritis, chronic depression.
Doctor visits became a loop of prescriptions offered before examinations. Around her, loved ones battled cancer, crippling anxiety, and other chronic illnesses. She began to see the patterns they shared: poor eating habits, unmanaged stress, and constant negative thoughts. She came to understand negative energy as something tangible, something that could eat away at the mind and manifest in the body.
She turned to natural healing, teaching herself how to restore balance by reconnecting the mind, spirit, and body. Her kitchen became a workspace. The herbs she blended were as much about intention as flavor. She brewed teas to calm, teas to strengthen, teas to soothe. She gave them away. She sold them at pop-ups. She created a brand that reflected both cultural tradition and a deep belief in self-healing.
By the time she entered the CLTRE Keeper program, she had years of experience as a business owner but was facing the same financial instability that challenges so many creatives. The program gave her something different — a framework for building personal stability while sustaining her business.
“I learned how to prioritize the steps necessary for reaching my goal of homeownership,” Jamara said. “I learned how to manage and reduce expenses, how to reduce debt, and what steps to take to increase my credit score. The most important lesson I learned was how to keep my home once I’m in it.”
That foundation made space for growth. She joined CLTRE’s EveryDay Creative program next, supported by the City of Sacramento and open to entrepreneurs across the Sacramento region. This was where the creative economy came into focus — where she could see her work not just as a small business, but as part of a larger network of culture and commerce shaping the region.
Before the program, her reach had been limited to pop-up markets and a small following on social media.
“I was never one to be front and center,” she admitted. “But I started creating more content by literally making everything content.”
The EveryDay Creative program encouraged her to examine her business from every angle. She restructured her product line for sustainability, eliminating what drained her resources and doubling down on what worked. She built a pitch deck that told her story visually and strategically, a tool she could take into any investor meeting.
The seed funding she received through the program allowed her to increase production, improve packaging, and expand her marketing reach. That pitch deck helped her secure additional private investors beyond the initial $1,500 investment from CLTRE.
It was during this time that the idea for the High SocieTEA Party began to take shape. She wanted a way to integrate her products into an experience, one that could address major health issues affecting her community while offering space for networking and education.
The first of these events, the Cancer Warriors High SocieTEA Party, will take place September 7, 2025, from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Arcade Underground at the Waterfront in Old Sacramento. Guests will gather over her handcrafted teas to honor survivors and caregivers, share stories, and connect in a setting designed for both healing and celebration.
Already, she has been invited to bring the experience to Oakland and other cities across California. The event is not only a milestone for her business, but also a living example of what the creative economy can produce when entrepreneurs have access to resources, mentorship, and capital.
“The biggest shift for me after being in both programs was my perspective,” Jamara said. “I knew there were things I could do better in business, but I didn’t know how much I didn’t know. In becoming a better business owner, I was able to add additional revenue streams and resources, which helped me better prepare for homeownership.”
Her story is the kind of ripple effect CLTRE was designed to create. Through programs like the CLTRE Keeper program and EveryDay Creative, backed by partners like the U.S. Bank Foundation and the City of Sacramento’s Office of Arts and Culture, creative entrepreneurs gain the ability to strengthen both their businesses and their personal foundations.
For Jamara, it means Blacker the Berry is not just surviving, but expanding. It means she is on track to purchase her first home. It means her work can reach more people, in more places, while staying true to the purpose that started it all.
Tickets for the Cancer Warriors High SocieTEA Party are available now through Blacker the Berry’s website. Each ticket is an entry into her world — a world where herbs become healing, where culture and commerce meet, and where creative entrepreneurs are building the future of Sacramento’s economy one idea at a time.
