SOUL & SOVEREIGNTY

A Sweet Life Homecoming in New Orleans

June 25-28, 2026

Join us in New Orleans for a four-day, three-night Sweet Life retreat designed for the woman ready to return to herself gently, joyfully, and without apology.

This is not a vacation.
This is a homecoming.

A space where Black women are invited to soften, savor, and remember who they are beneath the responsibilities, the expectations, and the constant doing.

Held in the heart of one of the most culturally rich Black cities in the world, Soul & Sovereignty is an immersive Sweet Life experience rooted in pleasure, presence, and choice.

The Experience

For four days and three nights, we’ll gather inside The Blackbird Hotel, an intimate boutique retreat space created with Black women in mind modern, serene, and intentionally designed for rest, creativity, and connection.

New Orleans is a city where soul lives out loud.
Where food is ritual.
Where music carries memory.
Where joy is communal, ancestral, and alive.

This retreat honors that spirit offering a slow, luxurious rhythm that allows you to receive fully.

Expect mornings that begin without urgency.
Afternoons spacious enough for wandering or resting.
Evenings filled with intentional gatherings, laughter, storytelling, and care.

Everything is curated so you can arrive, exhale, and be held.

Who this retreat is for

This retreat is for the woman who:

  • Is craving spaciousness not another packed itinerary

  • Desires joy that feels grounded, not performative

  • Wants luxury without excess and depth without heaviness

  • Is ready to experience rest, culture, and sisterhood as medicine

  • Knows she deserves to be poured into fully and intentionally

If your body has been asking for softness…
If your spirit has been longing for joy without explanation…
If you’re ready to choose yourself without negotiating it away…

This space was curated for you.

Reserve Your Spot

INVESTMENT

June 25 - 28, 2026

  • Single Room: $3,850 (save $200 when book before March 1st)

  • Shared Room: $5,850 total / $2,925 per person

Payment options available:
✔ Pay in full and receive 5% off
✔ Flexible installment plans

This experience is intentionally limited to 6-8 women to preserve intimacy, care, and high-touch facilitation.

Reserve Your Spot

Questions? Feel free to email us at retreats@holistree.com - we’re happy to help.

EXPERIENCE INCLUDES

  • 4 days / 3 nights at Blackbird New Orleans

  • Sweet Life Welcome Ritual + curated gift set

  • Daily grounding practices (meditation, breathwork, slow mornings)

  • Sweet Life signature workshops + reflection sessions

  • One curated cultural immersion experience rooted in Black joy, history, and artistry

  • Guided Joy & Ritual session

  • Dedicated Sweet Life sanctuary spaces for rest, journaling, and integration

  • Savor the Sweetness Dinner candlelit communal dining + storytelling

  • Professional retreat photography (digital gallery)

  • Curated city guide featuring Black-owned local gems

  • Sweet Life retreat workbook + themed practices

  • Access to the 2026 retreat playlist

  • Closing circle + blessings for your return home

Optional Add-Ons

  • Private photo shoot

  • Black Glove Concierge Upgrade

  • Additional night at Blackbird (based on availability

Join Us in New Orleans

WHY NEW ORLEANS. WHY NOW.

Because New Orleans holds a kind of joy that can’t be rushed a joy that has been protected, passed down, and practiced in community.

Because you’ve been giving so much of yourself to work, family, leadership, and life and it’s time to receive.

Because rest isn’t something you earn.
Joy isn’t something you postpone.
Pleasure isn’t a reward.

They are practices.

Because being surrounded by women who understand your rhythm, your softness, and your sovereignty changes you long after the bags are unpacked.

Because the Sweet Life isn’t about escape.
It’s about returning to what feels good, true, and sustainable in your body and your life

Sample Itinerary

DAY 1 Thursday, June 25

Arrival + Soft Landing

  • Arrival at Blackbird New Orleans

  • Sweet Life Welcome Ritual + curated gifting

  • Light bites + gentle connection

  • Opening Circle: Where Soul Meets Sovereignty

  • Evening wind-down + porch conversations

DAY 2 Friday, June 26

Rest as Ritual

  • Sunrise meditation + intention setting

  • Chef-prepared breakfast

  • Sweet Life Session: Finding Your Rhythm Again

  • Free time for rest, journaling, or neighborhood wandering

  • Dinner at a curated Black-owned New Orleans restaurant

  • Evening affirmations + sweetness cards

DAY 3 Saturday, June 27

Joy as Medicine

  • Morning grounding + gentle movement

  • New Orleans cultural immersion experience

  • Afternoon rest block

  • Sweet Life Signature Session: Softness, Sensuality & Soul

  • Savor the Sweetness Dinner candlelit communal dining + storytelling

DAY 4 Sunday, June 28

Return Renewed

  • Closing circle + blessings for the journey ahead

  • Farewell brunch + departures

  • Optional late checkout for extended rest

(Itinerary subject to minor changes to preserve flow and spontaneity)

Meet the Curator

Rakita Lillard Brown

I curate Sweet Life retreats because I believe Black women deserve spaces where rest, beauty, culture, and care are not treated as luxuries but as necessities.

Each experience is intentionally designed to honor your humanity, your pace, and your desires. Not to fix you. Not to rush you. But to create the conditions for you to soften, listen, and return to yourself.

Soul & Sovereignty is an invitation to choose yourself without apology and to experience what becomes possible when joy is practiced in community.

I can’t wait to welcome you into this sacred space.

Founder + CEO of Holistree LLC

Woman with curly hair leaning on a black railing holding a bouquet of baby's breath flowers on a city sidewalk with brownstone houses in the background.
A young woman with curly hair standing in the middle of a street with parked cars on either side, holding a purple handbag and smiling at the camera, with trees and houses in the background.

FAQs

  • Your investment covers:

    • 3 nights of accommodations at the Blackbird hotel in New Orleans

    • Scheduled group meals, snacks, and beverages during the retreat. *anything outside of group meals are on your own

    • All workshops, sessions, and curated experiences.

    • Special welcome gifts and keepsakes to take home.

    • A community of like-minded women and access to facilitators.

    Travel to and from New Orleans is not included.

  • Yes! We offer the option to make payments (automatically charged monthly) to make the experience more accessible.

    There is a 5% discount on single rooms when paid in full.

  • Due to the intimate nature of this retreat and the upfront costs required to curate the experience:

    • Deposits are non-refundable

    • Payments made beyond the deposit are non-refundable if cancellation happens after April 15th

    • Your spot may be transferable to another participant with prior approval, up to a specified date

    We strongly recommend purchasing travel insurance to protect your investment in the event of unexpected changes.

  • Upon registration, you will receive a welcome message with general trip information within 48 hours.

    If you opted for an installment plan, you will also receive a reminder prior to payment date.

    As the date of the retreat approaches over the next few months, you will receive emails on specifics relevant to your trip and a final itinerary 30 days before our retreat.

Past Retreat Reviews

Dionna M.

“What I love most about these retreats is the intentionality. I always feel like they’ve created the moment exactly for me!”

Chanika M.

“The thing that has touched my heart so deeply was the love, enthusiasm and celebratory manner in which I was received by my fellow retreaters! I felt heard. I felt valued.”