When Keya Jenkins couldn’t find a decent glute-building exercise device, she decided to invent her own. 

“The tricep dipping belt I was using to build my glutes caused painful bruising,” she said. “I started searching for a belt with padding but couldn’t find one. So I went to Home Depot, bought a foam mattress pad, cut it up, and covered it with old gym leggings. A seamstress friend sewed it all together with polypropylene webbing and I loved it!”

Jenkins began inventing new exercises for the device and using it at her gym. Fellow gym-goers started asking questions. That got Jenkins wondering about the feasibility of marketing her invention. She had smarts and drive, but lacked business acumen. Her BS degree from Weber State University was in radiology, earned while on a full-ride tennis scholarship and being married at 19. 

Extra time was scarce since by then, she was a single mother of three with almost full-time care of the kids. She was also teaching tennis and working as an as-needed MRI tech. Driven by a desire for financial stability, she ignored the obstacles and moved ahead. She decided to capitalize on the current crave for bigger bottoms and named her device a BootyStrap (www.bootystrapfitness.com and thebootystrap on Instagram). 

“It works by targeting and isolating your glutes using a cable tower as leverage,” Jenkins said. “There’s no spine loading. I have two herniated discs in my back, so I have to be careful about that. Since the BootyStrap is connected to a tower, you stand at an angle, which forces you to push up with your heels and in turn activates the glutes. The angle also puts less stress on your knees.”

She contracted with a small local business, Brian’s Canvas Boat Cover Repair and Manufacturing in Clearfield to manufacture 1,000 BootyStraps in 2021.  

“It took two years to sell them,” she said. “I thought it would take three months.” But without a social media platform, marketing budget and almost no tech savvy on her part, the product wasn’t flying off the shelves. She built her own website by studying YouTube videos.

Sales finally surged when an influencer (@iamnunzi) fell in love with her product. He began traveling with her to trade shows on his own dime, and within months, Jenkins sold 500 devices. It was a blessing with a problem. Her small manufacturer couldn’t keep up with demand so the product is consistently sold out. She’s looking into moving manufacturing to China.

“I always cry when I tell people this, but the only reason I’ve been able to grow the business at all is because God put the right people in the right places at the right times,” she said. “It started with a man I met at my job as an MRI tech who helped me with an LLC and connected me with my current manufacturer. God has continued to help me all along the way.”

She dreams of the day when she can provide for her family and even help her parents, Pati and Scott Adamson, pay off debts incurred with their own business endeavor – Ace Academy. 

“It’s been really hard being a single parent,” she said. “I bought an old farmhouse with my parents on 1.5 acres in Farmington that’s off-grid, with a propane tank, septic tank and a well. It’s pretty, but remote and there are a lot of mice. My parents help me a lot, and I teach tennis for them at Ace Academy Monday through Saturday.”

Jenkins currently sells her product online for $89 through her website ($70 with the code “new”) and offers in-person classes for locals. She has a personal training certification through NASM. 

“I’m super excited to see where my business goes,” she said. “It’s been a crazy ride so far.”