My Story

Mabuhay! My name is Cecilia Belmonte​.

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I'm the founder of Jacaranda Botanicals and also a medicinal herb gardener, medicine maker, clinical herbalist-in training and drug safety physician.

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For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be a doctor. As a child, I was fascinated by how the human body worked. I remember spending my summer vacations casually reading about the human body systems and reading up about all kinds of diseases. My childhood prized possessions were a toy microscope and a chemistry set. I remember on many occasions taking samples of all the lotions, powders, creams, and perfumes from my parents’ bathroom, mixing them all up in small plastic bottles and being awed by the gooey solutions they made. Looking back, this seemed like child’s play pointing towards potential interests in chemistry and the lab. I do believe now that this was instead the natural medicine maker in me showing up in all its authenticity at such a young age.

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After graduating from medical school in the Philippines, I migrated to the United States and quickly got immersed in the pharmaceutical drug and biotech industry working in oncology clinical trials as a global clinical project manager, clinical operations manager and a drug safety physician. Over my twenty plus year career, I got to see cancer patients live to see another birthday, anniversary or holiday by benefiting from drugs developed by drug companies. This was always a touching reminder that the work I contributed to made a difference in many people's lives.

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It was in 2021 when my dance with the plants really began. Looking for a way to make time for myself while juggling a busy career and home life, I picked up a copy of Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide and the rest was herstory. I discovered that I have an undeniable passion for growing medicinal herbs from seeds. There is a deeply profound bond that  I feel when I sow seeds, care for them on a daily basis and see them transform into beautiful plants. Somehow, this makes me feel that I intimately am part of a plant’s life and journey from the very beginning.  Before long, my yard started to transform into a medicinal garden. I realized then that I needed to learn more about medicinal plants and found Land of Verse’s School of Herbal Medicine to jumpstart my formal education in herbalism. During my Apprenticeship Year, my passion for the plants deepened when I discovered my love for medicine making. I am happiest in my garden nurturing medicinal herbs from seed, cultivating, harvesting and making my own herbal tinctures, salves, creams and oils for my own and my family’s use. As I complete my last year at Land of Verse and build my private clinical practice, I hope to leverage my decades long experience as a physician from the pharmaceutical drug and biotech industry into my herbal practice to help others who are ready to start their journey and experience the power of herbs in their own lives.

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I founded Jacaranda Botanicals to embody all the different aspects of herbalism and herbal medicine that have now become my life-long passions and share them with you. Whether you want to learn the basics of seed planting, trying your hand at growing medicinal herbs with starter plants for your own garden or windowsill, need small batch dried medicinal herbs or want an herbal consultation, Jacaranda Botanicals is here for you. More offerings to come!