The Family Focus Media Women of Influence Awards are designed to acknowledge and amplify the influence exceptional local women have in our Community, showcasing their accomplishments and encouraging others to follow their example. Through their efforts, these influencers have demonstrated the power to shape attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors on a large scale. 

“Jacqui is one of the first people to work at CHOP as a massage therapist, and as you may have guessed, it’s really hard sometimes. Some of the cases she has are jaw dropping in terms of complexity and prognosis. The losses and sadness can be intense.  But she keeps going because these kids are really special and the work she’s trying to do in integrative health is exciting. This program at CHOP is in its infancy but she thinks it’s really cool to be part of a team that is hopefully going to influence care in a much more significant way in the coming years. They’re doing massage, yoga, and acupuncture studies and collaborating with some other pediatric hospitals to better define the effects of complementary therapies. It doesn’t seem too far fetched to believe that they will do some kind of CBD study in the coming years for pediatric oncology patients.” – Kim Zimmerman Turtzo

Meet Jacqui

Jacqui Bauers has been a full-time massage therapist for 14 years. She founded Joint Joint, a company that makes hemp-based topicals to soothe aches and pain, to help her continue in her profession and help her clients at the same time. Her products are available at local businesses and throughout the year, she donates a percentage of her sales to cancer organizations. Healthcare professionals at both the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Hospital and the Penn Medicine Head and Neck Surgery/Ear, Nose, and Throat departments recommend Joint Joint products to their patients. Jacqui also joined the Integrative Health Team at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to offer massage therapy to pediatric oncology patients. 

Hard Work and Giving Back

Jacqui is a single mom who was relying on her massage therapist’s income. When she had to stop massaging at the beginning of the pandemic, she decided to develop Joint Joint in order to continue to help her clients and provide for herself and her son. “Besides limited resources, I had no experience bringing a product to market. I’ve had so much to learn and there have been times when I have been extremely discouraged, not knowing what my next steps should be,” Jacqui says. “It is often when I feel like giving up, that I get a call from a stranger saying they tried Joint Joint and that it works for them. It is this kind of feedback that reignites me.”

Point of Pride 

Jacqui finds the work in the pediatric oncology department at CHOP to be very meaningful. “It is such an honor to work with these little ‘lights,’ even though it can feel intensely emotional at times,” she says. “The work at Children’s Hospital is exciting. We are conducting studies on the beneficial effects of massage therapy.”

She is also proud to be able to sell her products locally. “Outside of the cancer community, Joint Joint products are used by the general population to soothe any aches or pain. They are sold at a number of other small businesses around Philadelphia, many of which are woman-owned,” Jacqui says. “There is a beautiful network of woman-owned businesses that tend to support each other. I go out of my way to seek out these businesses and use any connections I have to funnel business their way.”

Read about all of Family Focus Media’s Women of Influence Award Winners!