Exploring Life & Business with Jenny Footle of Beautiful Feet Wellness

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenny Footle.

Hi Jenny, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
When founder Jenny Footle felt called out of policy work to work directly with individuals, she did what most people do — she found a reputable organization. She began to investigate how they could use her skills, resources, and connections as a volunteer. At first, the organization suggested she make dinner at the safe house once a month so they could learn cooking skills and spend time with her. Jenny quickly realized that the women in the safe house could far outdo her cooking abilities and how demeaning it must feel to have young volunteers coming in and trying to teach the residents how to boil pasta. What did they need help with? How could they be empowered and not degraded? Noting their sedentary lifestyle, how often they commented on their physical appearance or limitations, and observing that some of them couldn’t even leave the safe house for various reasons, Jenny began to offer fitness classes at the safe house.

After doing some digging and inquiring, it became evident that most sex trade aftercare programs that claim to be “holistic” or take care of the whole survivor were missing this physical care component, which is huge for a population whose identity and worth is often defined by their physical being. If they were lucky, some places had a few hand weights, yoga mats, or bicycles, but rarely did a program even have two of those three materials. Within a few years, Jenny began volunteering at other programs that serve people coming out of the sex trade by providing fitness programming. She would teach group fitness classes, help participants figure out a fitness and wellness plan that worked for them specifically (personal training), take individuals and groups to the gym or walks or hikes, give them equipment, and even provide scholarships or ways to get gym memberships for individuals who were serious about continuing their fitness journey. Soon the demand for delivering the physical aspect of programming became overwhelming for Jenny’s capacity to volunteer, and she had to start turning people down. She remembers telling one organization;

“If I had the time, I would absolutely love to come more often, but I have to go to work.”

When Jenny realized she was called to work with this population more than just volunteering her “spare time.” There is a significant void in the caring of these individuals on their journey to wholeness. She’d even seen others who were “trauma-informed” instructors try and work with people coming out of the sex trade and then leave because it was tough work. Many organizations see the physical component as necessary, but they are forced to funnel their resources towards case management, counseling, and the material needs of survivors. The heart of Beautiful Feet Wellness is to make fitness and wellness coaching accessible to those coming out of the sex trade by an informed, experienced and invested professional. Beautiful Feet Wellness exists to equip people to find their healthy lifestyle through wellness coaching and fitness and freedom for the body, mind, and soul.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’m what they call a “reluctant leader.” I have a lot to bring to the world that not many others can offer, namely a strong fitness background combined with a long-time experience with human trafficking. I also have the gift of being able to dream big and implement action, which is a rare combination. Usually, someone is visionary or task-oriented. I’m practical and a hard worker, so when I first sat down with my business advisor, he was relieved and hopeful that I could make it as an entrepreneur because I have dreams and significant follow-through. All this is great, right? When you’re an introvert whose life goal was to “just be normal,” you love working for someone else because you value stability. You’d instead make people look good than be in the spotlight. Let’s say leading an organization, let alone starting one, was not on my radar. It doesn’t matter if you’re large and in charge or think you’re nothing special. Their significant barrier is to “get out of their way for many leaders.” I’ve had to step into my true superpower of leading, inspiring, and encouraging others to join me. Especially after ‘laying low’ for so long in my community, it’s been hard to find my voice and be recognized by those closest to me.

OR

After I got away from human trafficking, I didn’t want to work with survivors for the longest time. But I finally felt the call to get involved and give back. I am very pragmatic, so I originally planned to provide transitional housing and start a job skills program. I worked with a partner on this, and we did not connect well. I thought sometimes you have to work with people you don’t connect with for the greater good. Since this is the most significant need in our community, I also thought I would do this. In reality, it was not working out. I eventually realized that while this is the greatest need, it is not the best way that I can serve the community. And the way that I serve the community is significant. I should not belittle the passion and gifts that have been placed in my heart and my life. So, I started Beautiful Feet Wellness instead, and it just skyrocketed. I was already doing the work, and I had years of experience. I didn’t have to convince anyone that I was qualified to do it. It is so much fun because it is what I love. So my advice is that when you see a bigger need, have enough faith in the universe that someone else will fill those shoes or even encourage others who have that gift to fulfill the role. But be true to yourself.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Beautiful Feet Wellness?
What does Beautiful Feet Wellness do? Bring fitness and wellness programming to people from the sex trade, survivors of human trafficking, and the organizations that serve them.

Why does it matter? Because the things that happen to them are very physical, we need to help them heal their body and mind; otherwise, we leave them “stuck” in their healing journey and no one else is doing this work. Beautiful Feet Wellness is having an incredible awareness event!

Beautiful Feet Wellness has partnered with the Knox College Dance Department to create a dance and poetry concert that will raise new awareness about human trafficking and support this new anti-trafficking non-profit called Beautiful Feet Wellness.

The event will include dance performances, poetry readings, a silent auction, awareness sparking presentations, and a panel talk-back session with the dancers and choreographers. What is fantastic about this event is that it’s meant to be a night out on the town and educational and supports a great cause. I chose to do a dance performance because art speaks to us on a deeper level than just words in a presentation. I don’t want to bore people with more information or give them a Sally sob story about this dark issue, and I want them to understand it on a heart level and present it in a way that is dignifying to survivors. Between each dance or poetry piece, there will be a dialogue about what you just saw or what you’re about to see, really bringing a new and deeper awareness to the issue of human trafficking. You won’t want to miss it! Here’s the link: https://beautifulfeetwellness.ticketleap.com/a-new-awareness/

We’d love to hear what you think about risk-taking?
I think you have to take risks, but risk-taking should come from a place of intuition, not impulsivity – there’s a difference. I recently heard an interview with the late Colin Powell who said you start making moves when you have 40% of the information and you better make a decision by the time you have 70% of the information because if you wait until you have 100% of the information, it’s too late. I think most recently about my decision to have a dance performance instead of a cocktail party to launch my non-profit publicly. I want people I don’t know to show up to this event, and I want to spread awareness! I didn’t want it to be a giant love fest of all the people who were already interested in me or my work. I’m doing something very different, and it would be a waste to do an ordinary event. When I had this idea of a dance performance and started moving on to it, I had to talk about it like it was a done deal. This is what I am doing, decision made, dive in. Otherwise, no one, probably not even myself, would have taken me seriously and got on board. Now I’m collaborating with artists from DC, PA, MO, IL, and CO, and the work will continue to spread awareness after this event is over. It’s risky to pull off something this big with a little following, and while people are still hesitant about going out due to Covid, I’m glad I didn’t settle. I’m much more proud of and eager to own this work than to have said, “Yeah, we had a launch party, and it went well for being a start-up.”

Contact Info:

• Email: jenny.footle@gmail.com
• Website: https://beautifulfeetwellness.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beautiful.feet.wellness/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beautifulfeetwellness/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Ms6Ywk66qUwxGk3vT0hAw

Image Credits
4 dancers: Robert Nguyen