Cindy “CeCe” Nichole Blackwell is a former Division I volleyball player, entrepreneur, and healthcare advocate. She became one of the most visible basketball moms in college sports as her twin sons, Cameron and Cayden Boozer, led Duke to a No. 1 national ranking in the 2025-26 season.
Carlos Austin Boozer Jr. was born on November 20, 1981, in Aschaffenburg, West Germany, and grew up in Juneau, Alaska.
A two-time NBA All-Star, he played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Utah Jazz, Chicago Bulls, and Los Angeles Lakers across a 13-season career, winning an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics and a bronze at the 2004Games. At Duke, he helped the Blue Devils claim the 2001NCAA Championship under Coach Mike Krzyzewski.
After his playing days, Carlos stepped into a new spotlight – this time as the father of Cameron and Cayden Boozer, the Duke freshman twins who earned a No. 1 national ranking and an ACC title in the 2025-26 season.
But standing just as prominently alongside him at every game is the woman who shaped those sons long before they ever touched a basketball court.
CeCe Boozer, Born Cindy Nichole Blackwell, Is the Former NC State Volleyball Player Who Became the Family’s Driving Force
Cindy “CeCe” Nichole Blackwell is of African American ethnicity, a detail confirmed across multiple family profiles given the frequency of fan searches on the topic.
She attended North Carolina State University, where she played Division I volleyball and earned a degree in business administration – an academic foundation she would put to direct use later in life as an entrepreneur.
CeCe first crossed paths with Carlos in 1999, when she was a student at NC State and spotted the then-17-year-old incoming Duke recruit at the campus bookstore.
According to a 2004 Sports Illustrated profile, she tracked him down through the student directory and invited him to dinner. CeCe was three years older. Carlos was just starting what would become an NBA career under Coach Krzyzewski.
The couple married on August 10, 2002, in Durham, North Carolina, the same year Carlos was selected 35th overall in the NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
For over a decade, CeCe moved with her family as his career took them through Cleveland, Salt Lake City, and Chicago. She was the household’s anchor, managing three children while Carlos played at the sport’s highest level.
How CeCe’s Decision to Pursue IVF Saved Her Eldest Son’s Life and Brought the Twins Into the World
The most defining chapter of CeCe’s life began on May 31, 2006, when her eldest son, Carmani Boozer, was born.
Carmani was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia almost immediately. Doctors told the family that the best chance for a cure was a bone marrow transplant from a genetically matched sibling – but no such sibling existed.
CeCe spearheaded the research. After learning about preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), a process that screens IVF embryos for both genetic disease and donor compatibility, she and Carlos pursued IVF specifically to conceive children who would be sickle-cell-free and a genetic match for Carmani.
Out of 10 viable embryos, only two were a perfect match. Those two became fraternal twins, Cameron and Cayden Boozer, born on July 18, 2007, in Salt Lake City, Utah, where Carlos was then playing for the Jazz. The twins grew up in Miami, Florida.
Immediately after delivery, doctors harvested stem cells from the twins’ umbilical cords. Carmani underwent chemotherapy to prepare, and the transplant was performed successfully.
By 2008, Carmani was considered cured – a result that Carlos later described in a feature for ESPN’s E60 documentary “Blood Brothers.”
“When we found out, it felt like our whole universe was crumbling around us,” Carlos said of Carmani’s diagnosis. CeCe’s response was not to collapse under that weight but to find a path through it – which is, arguably, how she approaches everything.
CeCe’s Career, Her Kids Today, and Life After the Marriage
CeCe and Carlos filed for divorce for the first time in March 2009, citing an “irretrievably broken” marriage, but briefly reconciled. The split was finalized in 2015 after proceedings resumed in Miami-Dade County. The divorce was settled amicably, according to attorneys quoted by the Salt Lake Tribune at the time.
After the marriage ended, CeCe built a professional identity well outside the NBA’s shadow. She founded and now operates assisted living facilities and residential homes tailored for adults with special needs. She has described this work as growing from her experience navigating the medical system th during Carmani’s illness, and later from a desire to help her mother, who would eventually need care.
In a May 2025 interview on the “Grown Woman with Shannon Allen” podcast, she said, “It’s something completely different that I’ve never done before. Now in my empty nest, I will expand and pour more so I can keep myself busy. I feel like this is something that I feel proud of.”
She also serves as a chief financial officer at Iconic Creative Agency, and maintains an active presence through her Instagram handle @3amigosmom, a direct nod to her three sons.
Carmani, the eldest, now attends the University of Fort Lauderdale as a pitcher and first baseman. He has credited his twin brothers with saving his life and maintains a close bond with them. Cameron, a 6-foot-9 forward, was named ACC Player of the Year, ACC Rookie of the Year, and The Sporting News Men’s College Basketball Player of the Year in March 2026, and is projected as a top-five pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Cayden, his twin, stepped into a starting point guard role late in the season and was selected to play in the 2025 McDonald’s All-American Boys Game as a senior in high school.
Throughout Duke’s 2025-26 run, CeCe became one of the most recognizable faces in the stands. She wore a custom jacket featuring both sons’ photos with “BOOZER” across the back during a Duke-North Carolina rivalry game, and her courtside presence drew viral attention multiple times.
Both parents rarely missed a game, and Cayden made clear how much that meant in a People interview ahead of March Madness – noting that his dad had attended nearly every game, and adding that his mom’s constant presence made the experience that much steadier. “Having family that’s so supportive that comes to every game just makes this college life a lot easier,” he said.
Despite the divorce, CeCe and Carlos have maintained a visible and cooperative co-parenting relationship, frequently seen sitting together at games – a dynamic that has drawn its own kind of admiration from fans watching the family story play out on national television.
In Case You Didn’t Know
- Cameron and Cayden attended Christopher Columbus High School in Westchester, Florida, where they led the Explorers to four consecutive Class 7A state championships – the first basketball titles in the school’s history – before committing to Duke.
- Carlos Boozer remarried in 2017 to Aneshka Dawn Smith, a yoga instructor and designer. That marriage ended in 2022. The two share one daughter, Bloom Boheme Boozer, born on April 5, 2019.
