Former dancer takes over podiatry clinic

So it is perhaps not such a big career change - especially with 13 years of NHS experience inbetween - for her now to be taking over a Wigan podiatry clinic!

The Swinley mum of three, who hails from Guantanamo, is the new boss of what for four decades was Jeremy Smith’s on Wrightington Street.

She is keen to uphold the proud tradition that the now retired Jeremy established.

Now called The Foot Pod, the clinic will undergo a makeover early in the new year, while also promising to provide new and improved foot care.

Yescica has taken over the business along with some help from her husband Ian, a photographer and director who has worked with famous faces including Sir David Jason and the Dalai Lama.

Yescica was born in Cuba and became a professional dancer, trained in a wide variety of dance disciplines.

She was a leading part within a Cuban dance group who performed throughout the UK and Europe.

She first came to the UK in 1999 when the group performed at the Royal Opera House, and she appeared at many other theatres across the UK and at the Glastonbury Festival.

While performing in Cuba, she met her husband Ian, when he came to photograph the dance group.

The couple then married and moved over to the UK, however, she was unable to continue dancing because of a dancing accident.

After undergoing severe knee surgery to have her anterior cruciate ligament reconstructed, Yescica decided to change her career to be a podiatrist.

She said: “I chose to go into and study podiatry because of the knowledge and understanding I already had of the issues with feet and knees.”

She graduated from the University of Salford and after a stint at Scholl in Chester, achieved her goal of working in the NHS, which she did in Chorley for more than a decade. She and Ian bought the clinic from Jeremy stating it was “too good of an opportunity to pass upon serving the local community and using her passion for podiatry.

Yescica said: “I’ve worked in the field of podiatry for 13 years and it’s a huge passion. We are hoping to make the surgery more modern and expand.”