From Veteran to Visionary: Jennifer Foxworthy’s Journey

The first episode of The Entrepreneurs’ Club Podcast was recorded at the Yorktown Hotel in York, Pennsylvania. Carter McKinney first met Jennifer Foxworthy when she spoke at a conference at Wind Creek Bethlehem. The room was quiet over morning coffee until she pulled out pom-poms.

Foxworthy is a wife, a mother and a retired Navy veteran who served for 21.7 years. Today she works as a motivational speaker, corporate trainer, author and serial entrepreneur. McKinney asked her about confidence, writing a book, her military career and how she leads the people around her.

Confidence you can earn

For Foxworthy, confidence is how an entrepreneur sells. If you do not come across as confident, she says, people will not invest their money in your business. The military taught her that. When you have to trust your colleagues with your life, you cannot go in with a weak mindset.

She built her speaking skills through Toastmasters International, moving from reading typed speeches at a podium to walking the stage with only notes or none at all. Visual aids, vocal variety and eye contact all matter. You have less than 30 seconds to hold an audience, she says, whether you are giving a keynote or an elevator pitch for plumbing supplies or books.

“It could be a passion and purpose all day long, but it has to be delivered with confidence.”

A book written for others

In 2014, Foxworthy self-published Tomorrow My Sunshine Will Come: Memoirs of Women Who Survive Domestic Violence. She shared that she grew up with low self-esteem, was bullied, and spent five and a half years in an abusive relationship. Afterward she carried shame and guilt.

Learning that one in four women and one in seven men will experience severe physical abuse from a partner in their lifetime showed her she was not alone. She wanted others suffering in silence to hear that it was not their fault. What started as her own memoir grew when women she had served with told her they had been through it too. She interviewed five other survivors, many sharing their stories for the first time, and wrote each one in the first person.

Working at their pace, the book took a year and a half and cost her about $980 in 2014, which she notes would cost more today. She chose self-publishing through CreateSpace so she could order author copies as needed, hired a cover designer and someone for the interior layout, and obtained a Library of Congress control number to make the book look as professional as a traditionally published title. She still sells more copies in person at events than online.

“Just because you self-publish doesn’t mean your book has to look mediocre.”

Twenty-one years in the Navy

Foxworthy spent her first four years as an ocean systems technician analyst, tracking enemy ships and submarines from Adak, Alaska, closer to Russia than to the mainland. She then trained as a naval aircrewman and avionics technician, repairing mission equipment in flight. In each of three squadrons, she was the first because of her gender and skin color, and being first, she says, is never easy.

She flew combat missions in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, logging more than 3,700 flight hours, often as the only woman or only person of color on a crew of 18. She retired as an E7, a chief petty officer, with a team reporting to her. Her final stretch was spent as a certified substance abuse rehabilitation program counselor for service members and their families. She compares integrity and character to a credit score: they decide whether people lean in or lean out.

Who is in your boat

The pom-poms are not just for show. Foxworthy says entrepreneurship can be lonely, and there will be days when nobody understands what you are doing. She wants to be in circles where people celebrate you rather than tolerate you.

She describes three kinds of people in your boat. The rower may not understand your vision but understands you, and helps you steer clear of rocks. The sleeper is sleeping on their own purpose and cannot support yours. The driller tags along while quietly drilling holes, then jumps out and gloats when the boat takes on water. Her for-profit tagline spells out FIT: focused, intentional and thriving.

“Finding purpose from the pain will then propel you from surviving to thriving.”

Learning to delegate

Her for-profit, Inspirationally Speaking LLC, offers motivational speaking and corporate training on topics like overcoming adversity, leadership, emotional intelligence, human trafficking and domestic violence, all approved for continuing education credits. Her nonprofit serves people facing domestic violence, human trafficking and homelessness, with a board of seven and a team of volunteers.

The nonprofit taught her a hard lesson. In the military, everyone understands the mission. As a civilian leader, she learned she had to ask for what she needs. Now she gives people small tasks, sees how they handle them, and builds from there. Trying to do everything alone, she warns, leads to burnout and resentment.

“When you have capable people in your circle who understand the mission and vision, you don't have to micromanage.”