Meet Jenny Footle | Entrepreneur, Activist, Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jenny Footle and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jenny, putting aside the decision to work for yourself, what other decisions were critical to your success?
Deciding to work for others. Like many people, I had misconceptions about what it actually means to be a leader. I never wanted to be a leader because I really have a passion for serving others and helping others succeed. I really had no interest in “making it big” or being in the spotlight, let alone being responsible for an entire company or team. Then I discovered that true leadership is a commitment to serve.
“True leaders understand that leadership is not about them but about those they serve. It is not about exalting themselves but about lifting others up.” –Sherry Dew
I have a commitment and passion to uplift my community and foster a space for the community to come together and grow stronger. As a leader, my greatest privilege and greatest success is using my agency, access, and position to give those I serve the opportunity to step up and thrive in life. I love using the business to give others a platform to use their voice and resources to contribute to anti-trafficking efforts. We create spaces for survivors, artists, donors, and activists of all avenues to do something about human trafficking. Leading by creating and giving people a space to act has led to our success as a nonprofit.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Beautiful Feet Wellness provides and connects services to people exiting human trafficking and sexual exploitation at no cost in order to help them find their healthy lifestyle and move through recovery. Beautiful Feet Wellness serves the larger community through wellness programming, educating them on the issue of human trafficking, and giving them an opportunity to support people exiting the sex trade. Many anti-trafficking service organizations help people with counseling, job skills, and housing, but very few are attending to survivors’ physical wellbeing. There is so much research around benefits of fitness, one of the leading experts in trauma is Bessel Van Der Kolk who wrote “The Body Keeps The Score” which talks about how trauma is stored in our body and it’s not just talk therapy that will help us overcome the effects of trauma, but we must also engage in physical practices. Trauma stored in our body causes health problems (the focus of the ACEs study) along with cognitive and behavioral problems, but the good news is that physical exercise has been well researched and proven to provide cognitive, behavioral, and physical benefits, some benefits that you can’t get with any other treatment or pill. When we don’t factor fitness into the equation for helping someone recover from trauma, we are leaving them (and service providers) “stuck” and unable to move forward in their healing journey. Another thing to note when it comes to the importance of incorporating fitness into a holistic recovery model, is that you cannot deny that the things that have happened to survivors of human trafficking and the sex trade are very physical in nature. It would make sense that they need to discover physical practices (like fitness) that are focused on serving them instead of serving someone else.
You can read more of Beautiful Feet Wellness’ research on the importance of physical fitness as it relates to survivors of human trafficking and the sex trade here: https://theaverycenter.org/2021/06/29/finding-how-to-fit/

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There are a few places I love to hit up with out of town friends and Denver has a variety of interests for everyone to check out. I tend to do life on a budget, so many of my suggestions are free or flexible with some exceptions. I would definitely take them to the First Friday Art Walk on Santa Fe, an evening at Avanti, a jazz class at Cleo Parker Robinson, the 1.4mi hike at Red Rocks, Manitou Hot Springs if we can get in, a drive to Boulder for the views on the way and the Mediterranean deli for Greek food once there. We’d also go to Brainard Lake, eat at City o City, pick up a Volmer’s Bakery dessert and Honey Smoked Salmon Fish Co salmon from the grocery store, hit up one of the many breweries if that’s their thing- Greg’s Tap House is actually good because you can get flights of all kinds of beer and cider, and Indian food at Little India or Yak and Yeti- you better come hungry. If we’re feeling fancy, we’d hike down to Greenwood village for JING (namely the seabass), make it up to 5430 Rooftop bar for some awesome views, and down to the basement of the Clocktower Cabaret for an excellent performance from people who are body positive. We’d go to church at Providence Bible Church to feel the love and energy, and we’d meander through the beautiful Denver Botanic Gardens to take in the beauty of nature from around the world.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Monica Prince I’d like to shout out Monica Prince, Professor of Activist and Performance Writing at Susquehanna University. Monica is a lifelong friend, incredible woman, brilliant writer, and fellow activist. She has had a front row seat to many people’s trauma and deep life experiences, namely in the BIPOC, feminist, and LGBTQ+ communities because she intentionally shows up and listens. I consider her an anthropologist in how she shows up and immerses herself in the human experience. Instead of writing field reports and articles that hide in scholarly journals, she shares peoples’ hearts and lives through art. She uses poetry and prose to help us grow closer to the people she sees and cares about. Monica was putting into words and expressing my experiences before I even could. Together we spread awareness about the realities and experiences of human trafficking through poetry and dance performances. Using art makes the information accessible and impactful.
She models what it means to stand in your power, and encourages, even teaches, others to do the same. Monica is a founding board member of Beautiful Feet Wellness and we continue to spread awareness, one performance at a time. After walking with Monica for over a decade, my desire for you is that you would find a friend who hears you, sees you, loves you, and does something about it.

Website: https://beautifulfeetwellness.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beautiful.feet.wellness/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-footle-86b02116a/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beautifulfeetwellness/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Ms6Ywk66qUwxGk3vT0hAw

Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeSYqT6-TDA

Image Credits
Martha Wirth Photography CAiR