PENNSYLVANIA, USA — Free and fighting, Jennifer Foxworthy is a retired navy airman, a motivational speaker and an author.
She is also a domestic violence survivor.
And now, a victim advocate.
Foxworthy travels the country, sharing her story and spreading a message of hope and empowerment.
"The very first Unstoppable You conference started here in York, [in] November 2013, and we've been running strong ever since," Foxworthy said.
Helping the homeless, empowering victims of both domestic violence and human trafficking and giving men and women the tools they need to take back their lives, Foxworthy has been spreading care and kindness through her organization for nearly 10 years.
"We were trying to be proactive," Foxworthy said. "And that's why I want the community, I want schools, I want hospitals, I want everyone. Let's take a proactive approach to this, to these social ills."
It's something Foxworthy learned the hard way.
"I had many poor relationships," the advocate said. "I was bullied throughout my childhood. It wasn't considered attractive to be dark skin with full lips. Any self-esteem that I had was pretty much non-existent after high school. So, therefore, I was looking for love and acceptance in all the wrong places."
Like so many victims, Foxworthy didn't even recognize that she was being abused at the time.
"With my abusive relationship, I didn't even realize what I was experiencing, because we treat domestic violence like a dirty little secret. We don't talk about it."
"That's why I do what I do because I want people to be educated to know the signs and know that there are resources," she reflected. "And I don't want to just talk it. I want to walk it."
And walking it she is. Through "Unstoppable You Ministries," Foxworthy is drawing attention to these important issues so that no one can just look the other way anymore.
"Word of mouth. Sharing the information of what you learn, and that's the power of the Unstoppable You conference," Foxworthy said. "We're not just speaking on human trafficking, or domestic violence or overcoming adversity. We have speakers that are speaking on work-life balance as a married couple. We have a speaker that's going to be speaking on financial wellness. And if you look at it at the end of the day, they are all intertwined because if we are well in all aspects of our lives then we can shut down these vulnerabilities."
Vulnerabilities that traffickers prey on, and can make any man, woman or child the next potential victim of abuse.
"If we educate ourselves, empower ourselves on what it is, what it looks like, the red flags; our children, our students, whomever, our professionals, our healthcare professionals, and we know our resources, then we can contain this and decrease the statistics."
The Unstoppable You Conference is back in central Pennsylvania this week.
Jennifer and her team of inspirational leaders, survivors and thrivers from in the community will be speaking at the York JCC, located at 2000 Hollywood Drive, tomorrow.
The Saturday, Nov. 5 conference will begin at 10 a.m., with the doors opening at 9 a.m. The event will run until 3:30 p.m.