We were lucky to catch up with Marcy Bartula recently and have shared our conversation below.

Marcy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

What changed the trajectory of my career to work in the specific field of human trafficking was my first case in 2015. We had a young 15 year old come in to be forensically interviewed about being trafficking. This case had the FBI attached to it so I knew this was a something very serious but I had no idea what human trafficking was. After trying to connect the family with resources I found very quickly there was nothing out there. There was nothing specific to this childs needs and the very complex PTSD she was experiencing. From that point on I took every training and began to learn more about this dark world. I was in the middle of my Masters Degree and had to go into my internship. That is when the tide turned to learning about this and then doing something about human trafficking. After learning what I learned I KNEW I had to be apart of the solution. I could not sit idly by and let young girls be trafficked over and over. As I entered into my internship I opened a minors facility specific to girls being recovered. This is where I had cases come in with the FBI, DEA, District Attorney office. This is where the AH HA moment came. I leaned the huge gap, the high need for specialized care and realized this was about to be the biggest fight I was about to jump into.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am Marcy Bartula and I am the Founding Director of Different Day Foundation. I have my Master in social work from University of Southern California and I have been a social worker for 16 years. I am a band wife married to Jody Bartula Band leader, Fiddle/Guitar for Cody Johnson. We have been married for almost 10 years and together for 12 years. I have toured with my husband the last 12 years and I was always in a green room typing away, talking to the kids I served, or leaving because a case blew up, or leaving because there was an FBI bust I had to get too.

My career was always devoted to be the best social worker I could be. I take a lot of pride and have a lot of passion to serve. My entire career has been working with at risk youth. I had a knack for working with tough teenagers. I was a kid who came from hard places and had a lot of trauma myself, I could understand the teens I was working with. I really could empathize with the things they were going through. I started as a family advocate for teen parents which led me to my career with Child Protective Services. This is where I learned how to be a social worker. It was the best job and worst job I ever had. However, this where I learned the largest gaps in our community, our broken system and within our state. I went on to learn and become an expert in the field of human trafficking. At every job since 2015 I was the go to person for human trafficking cases. As I began new positions after CPS I worked for an agency where we only served survivors of human trafficking and helped with the recovery piece. I was on the front lines of recoveries helping law enforcement when busts would occur. It was hard to see and hard to find women in these disgusting motels. We would be the second in to talk with the women and help provide their basic needs. The largest gap I could see when doing the recoveries was placement. We could recover women all day however, if there is no safe and stable housing we only replicate the cycle. It takes up to 7 times for a woman to leave “the life”. When there is no housing or safe house for the women recovered this poses a huge safety threat to the survivor. We would see women be thrown in jail, put back into hotel to retrauamtize or back to their trafficker. I could not sit idly by and let this happen in my community. We ALL have responsibility as a community to step up and say we are not going to let this happen anymore. I stood up and said no more! I live by the motto ” be the change you wish to see in this world”, Ghandi.

I always had a want to open my own non profit and do my own thing the time never was right. It was really in all Gods plan for me. My faith is what ultimately led me to open Different Day. Brandi and Cody Johnson came to me while I was down from a major surgery and said they wanted to help build this sanctuary. We planned and dreamed. Now that dream is a full reality. I build the program from the ground up and Brandi Johnson our CEO came in and helped with the infrastructure along with helping build the business. We started Different Day 12/2021 and became a non profit in May 2021. From that point on it was building and implementing. Different Day is a sister agency of Thistle Farms out of Nashville. We had a lot of training over the last 3 years with them on the model, structure and program. I tailored the program to the needs of the Brazos Valley in Texas. When building the program I took into consideration the needs of survivors, the gaps I saw in my career, and what our community needed. In my area we are in “the triangle” between houston, dallas, and austin. Easy for a trafficker to move women to various places along those interstates which causes a lot of cases in and out of Bryan/College Station.

Our program is unique because we are able to heal, house, and employ. Along with the services we provide gainful employment. We have a boutique in downtown Bryan called Stage Left, This thrift boutique is a culmination community members closing donations, various boutiques, and the band wives closets. We are able to give stability in housing, provide functional medicine to each survivor, one on one counseling, equine assisted therapy, life skills and expressive arts We are looking at healing holistically and ensuring we can truly rewire the trauma brain. These out of the box therapeutic processes are what is needed to provide the brain new positive formations. These formations allow true healing in a brain that has suffered completed trauma.

We now have a residential facility that opened March 2023. We have over 325 days of cumulative safe and stable housing, 11 months of cumulative meaningful employment, served 44 survivors, 7 in residency, we have 9 months of cumulative sobriety. We are seeing HUGE strides in the women we are serving and seeing a tremendous positive difference in their lives. We are seeing them understanding their trauma, learning the red flags, and learning to communicate positively. The women we have the honor of walking with are truly a blessing. They change our lives each day. The program is working and the women are thriving. My dream of helping survivors of human trafficking is a full reality. We are closing a gap in our community by providing a space full of love and community. Love is the most powerful force in the world for change.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I met Brandi Johnson 12 year ago when I started dating my husband Jody. We became friends from the road and all of us wives are very close. Because we were on the road so much we naturally became close. This is also where Brandi and Cody would see me in those green rooms working away, dedicating my time to my cases while also trying to support my husbands dream. All of band wives have a special bond and we are a “camp” that is not out there in Texas or Nashville. We do things together, we talk, we love each other and support each other.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

If you ever read the book by Dr. Perry what happened to you? It is a great illustration of how children residency and their trauma does not define them. I am one of those children. I believe children from hard places is leaning what happened to you vs. why do you act that way? I was an angry child due to the family violence in my home. I had a lot of bad things happen to me from the ages of 6-12 that changed my life. I blocked a lot of the abuse out. Your brain protects you from trauma you are not ready to work through or perhaps God only gives you what you can handle. In my teen and 20s I had a lot anger and did not have the tools to cope or process. I knew I didn’t want to live a life in anger, distrust, and being at risk for a turbulent life. I knew I wanted better for me. I think children who have come from hard places have amazing resiliency. I could have ended up in jail or a lifetime of drugs but I turned my life into serving. Wanting to change the lives of others. I waned to give someone the voice I never had. I learned that I could turn my trauma into power. I learned that although I had horrible things happen to me I am resilient and I have the passion to serve others. Having a servant heart helped me heal.

Contact Info:

• Website: differentday.org
• Instagram: different_day_foundation
• Facebook: differentdayfoundation
• Youtube: Differentdayfoundation1728

Image Credits
My headshot picture shared is Shelby Mears photography