Legal

Privacy Policy

Julia Fikse, doing business as One Step to Wellness®. Dear Food® and Food Peace™ are brands owned by Julia Fikse and used in connection with One Step to Wellness®.

Effective and Last Updated: September 21, 2026

Contact: info@onesteptowellness.com

Website: juliafikse.com

This Privacy Policy explains how Julia Fikse, doing business as One Step to Wellness®, collects, uses, discloses, and protects personal information in connection with One Step to Wellness® and its Dear Food® and Food Peace™ brands.

In this policy, “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Julia Fikse, doing business as One Step to Wellness®.

This policy applies to information collected through our websites and brands, including One Step to Wellness®, Dear Food®, and Food Peace™, as well as our email lists, forms, coaching services, Circle communities, Substack publications, programs, workshops, meetings, giveaways, and related communications. It should be read with our Terms of Use.

This Privacy Policy is a notice of our practices. Use of our websites and services is governed by our Terms of Use. If you do not want information handled as described here, do not use our websites, services, communities, or materials. Where a law requires a separate opt-in, we request that opt-in. Ordinary browsing is not that opt-in. This notice does not waive rights that cannot legally be waived.

1. Information We Collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following information.

Information you provide

You may provide:

• Your name
• Email address
• Telephone number
• Mailing or billing address
• Account and login information
• Coaching applications and questionnaire responses
• Appointment and scheduling information
• Messages, comments, and customer-support requests
• Community posts and discussion responses
• Survey, quiz, or feedback responses
• Testimonials, photographs, or other content submitted with permission
• Purchase, registration, or subscription information
• Giveaway or contest entries, including entries processed through KingSumo, and winner contact details used to notify you and ship a prize
• General wellness goals or information you voluntarily choose to discuss
• Religious or spiritual information you voluntarily provide, including prayer requests
• Audio, video, or photographs from meetings or events when a session is recorded or you submit that content

Payment information

Payments may be processed by Stripe or another payment processor. Payment providers collect and process payment-card and financial information under their own privacy policies.

We generally receive transaction details such as your name, email address, amount paid, purchase, payment status, and limited billing information. We do not ordinarily receive or store complete payment-card numbers.

Information collected automatically

When you visit our websites, use our publications, or open our emails, we or our service providers may automatically collect:

• Internet Protocol address
• Browser and device type
• Operating system
• Referring website
• Pages viewed and links selected
• Dates and times of visits
• Approximate location based on IP address
• Email delivery, opening, and link activity
• Cookie identifiers and similar technical information
• Website, email, and publication analytics

If we use a website analytics or marketing tool, including a WordPress analytics feature, Substack analytics, an email pixel, or a similar measurement tool, it may collect the technical information listed above.

We may also receive aggregated book-sales, distribution, and royalty reports from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, IngramSpark, and other booksellers or distributors. These reports do not ordinarily include complete payment-card information.

2. General Wellness Information

Julia Fikse is a health and wellness coach, not a physician or licensed healthcare provider. We do not provide medical treatment or maintain medical records as a healthcare provider.

Julia Fikse is a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC). That credential is subject to the NBC-HWC Code of Ethics and recertification rules of the certifying body.

Julia Fikse and One Step to Wellness® are not healthcare providers and generally are not covered entities under HIPAA. Our websites, email, coaching services, and communities are not intended to receive protected medical records or emergency information. Do not send medical records, Social Security numbers, insurance records, or highly sensitive clinical information through ordinary email, website forms, or community discussions.

You may voluntarily discuss general information about your wellness goals, habits, weight, nutrition, physical activity, emotional eating, or personal circumstances during coaching or community participation.

We use voluntarily provided wellness information to provide services you request, respond to questions, operate a program or community, keep business records, and comply with law.

We do not sell personal wellness information. We do not use it for targeted advertising. If that practice changes, we will update this policy and provide any legally required choices.

We use reasonable measures to protect information. We do not represent that ordinary website forms, email, community platforms, or coaching communications are HIPAA-secure communication systems.

3. How We Use Personal Information

We may use personal information to:

• Provide coaching, educational content, programs, and community features
• Create and administer accounts
• Schedule appointments and meetings, including through Calendly, Zoom, and Google Meet
• Process registrations, payments, and purchases
• Deliver books, downloads, courses, memberships, or other materials
• Run giveaways, including through KingSumo, and notify winners
• Send newsletters and communications through MailerLite, Substack, or another provider, as permitted by law
• Respond to questions and provide customer support
• Manage events, workshops, and online meetings
• Review website, email, and publication analytics and aggregated sales or royalty reports in order to operate and improve our content and services
• Maintain security and prevent misuse
• Keep business, tax, and transaction records
• Enforce our agreements
• Comply with legal obligations
• Send marketing communications when permitted by law

We may use information for a new purpose if you authorize it, if the new use is compatible with the original purpose, or if the law requires or allows it and we give any notice the law requires.

We do not use sensitive personal information (such as health-related details you volunteer) to infer characteristics about you for advertising.

4. Email and Marketing Communications

We may send educational or promotional emails when you subscribe or otherwise provide valid consent. Entering a giveaway does not subscribe you to marketing emails unless you separately choose to subscribe. We may send administrative emails necessary to manage a registration, purchase, giveaway, appointment, account, or requested service.

MailerLite, Substack, Circle, or another email, community, or publishing provider may process your name, email address, subscription status, and email-interaction or publication-analytics information on our behalf.

If you subscribe on Substack, Substack also collects information as its own business under Substack’s privacy policy. We receive subscriber and publication analytics as the publication owner.

You may unsubscribe from promotional email by selecting the unsubscribe link in an email. We may still send nonpromotional messages concerning an account, transaction, appointment, legal notice, or service, as permitted by law.

5. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Our websites and service providers may use cookies, pixels, embedded content, and similar technologies to keep websites functioning, remember preferences, understand traffic and use, measure email engagement, prevent fraud, maintain security, and support forms, scheduling, payments, giveaways, and embedded media.

You can control some cookies through your browser settings. Blocking cookies may prevent portions of a website from functioning properly.

We do not currently use personal information collected through our website for cross-context behavioral advertising. If this practice changes, we will update this policy and provide any legally required choices.

Our websites may not respond to every browser “Do Not Track” signal because there is no single universally adopted standard. Where a law requires us to honor an opt-out preference signal and our systems can do so, we will honor it. We do not promise to honor unofficial or unsupported browser flags.

Third-party services, embedded content, and analytics providers may collect information about your activity over time and across different websites or online services, subject to their own privacy practices. The extent of this collection depends on the tools and embedded features active on our websites.

6. How We Disclose Information

We may disclose personal information to service providers that help us operate our business. Depending on the services you use, these may include:

• MailerLite, for email delivery and subscriber management
• Substack, for newsletters, publications, and related analytics
• Circle, for communities, memberships, related content, and related email or notifications
• KingSumo, for giveaways and related entry information
• Stripe, for payment processing
• Calendly, for scheduling
• WordPress, for website operation
• Zoom and Google Meet, for online meetings and coaching sessions
• Amazon, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, and IngramSpark, for book sales, printing, royalties, and related analytics
• Website hosting, security, analytics, storage, accounting, and professional-service providers

These providers process information under their own terms and privacy practices and, where applicable, under agreements with us.

We may also use other third-party providers in the ordinary course of business that are not named above, including but not limited to providers of hosting, security, storage, shipping, communications, giveaways, analytics, accounting, and professional services. Those providers process information under their own terms and privacy policies.

We may use artificial-intelligence tools to assist with administrative, writing, editing, or business tasks. We take reasonable steps not to submit confidential coaching information, sensitive personal information, or identifiable client records to consumer AI tools.

We may also disclose information:

• At your direction or with your consent
• To complete a transaction or provide a service you request
• To comply with a subpoena, court order, or legal requirement
• To protect our rights, users, property, or security, as permitted by law
• To investigate fraud, misuse, or unlawful conduct
• In connection with a sale, transfer, or reorganization of the business

We do not sell or rent personal information. We do not sell or rent our email or member lists to other companies for their own mailings.

We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own independent direct marketing.

7. Amazon and Other External Booksellers

Our websites or communications may link to books and products sold through Amazon or other outside booksellers.

When you select an outside link or make a purchase through another company, that company may collect information under its own privacy policy. We do not control information collected directly by Amazon or another independent seller.

We may receive aggregated sales reports, royalty information, and limited transaction information through publishing and distribution platforms such as Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and IngramSpark. These platforms generally do not provide authors with a buyer’s complete payment information.

8. Community Privacy

Information posted in a Circle community, group discussion, comment area, workshop, or other shared space may be seen by other participants.

Do not post medical records, financial details, passwords, home or mailing addresses, or information you do not want others to see.

We ask participants to respect one another’s privacy, but we cannot guarantee that another participant will not copy, disclose, or misuse information shared in a group setting.

Private coaching communications and public or group community posts should not be treated as having the same level of privacy.

9. Testimonials, Photographs, and Recordings

We seek permission before using your personal story, photograph, private testimonial, or identifying information for public marketing, except where another use is allowed by law.

We may quote a review you chose to post publicly on a third-party site such as Amazon about a book or product of ours. We will quote it accurately and make clear it is a public third-party review. We will use a name only if that site displays one and its terms allow us to use it. Otherwise we will use a generic attribution, such as “customer review.” You may email info@onesteptowellness.com to ask us to stop future use of that quotation.

You may withdraw permission for future marketing use of a private testimonial, photograph, or story by emailing info@onesteptowellness.com. We may not be able to remove a use that has already been printed, published, or sent, such as a book, podcast episode, or email already delivered.

10. Legal Bases for Processing

Some jurisdictions ask a business to name a legal basis for using personal information. Where that kind of law applies to us, we rely on one or more of the following. This section does not mean every foreign privacy statute applies to our business:

• Your consent
• Performance of a contract or provision of a requested service
• Our legitimate business interests, where those interests do not override your rights
• Compliance with legal obligations
• Protection of legal rights, safety, and security

11. Data Retention

We retain personal information as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including providing services, maintaining business and tax records, resolving disputes, enforcing agreements, and satisfying legal obligations.

Examples, subject to legal requirements:

• Newsletter addresses are kept until you unsubscribe. We may retain a suppressed email address so we do not email you again by mistake.
• Purchase and invoice records are kept for the period required by tax and accounting rules.
• Circle, Substack, and similar account, community, or publication content is kept while the account is active and for a reasonable period after closure.
• Giveaway entries processed through KingSumo are kept as needed to run the promotion, notify winners, and meet recordkeeping rules. We may use a winner’s contact and shipping information to deliver a prize. If official rules say we may publish a winner, we will use only a first name or first name and last initial, unless the rules and the winner say otherwise.
• Coaching correspondence is kept as a business record as needed to support the relationship and later questions about the services.

When information is no longer reasonably needed, we may delete, anonymize, or securely dispose of it. Information stored in backups may remain until those backups are replaced according to ordinary system practices.

12. Data Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures intended to protect personal information.

No website, email system, community platform, video meeting, payment system, or storage service can guarantee complete security. You use online services with this understanding.

Notify us at info@onesteptowellness.com if you believe information associated with our services has been accessed or disclosed without authorization.

13. Your Privacy Choices and Rights

Depending on where you live and which laws apply to our business, you may have the right to request information about personal information we maintain, access or a copy of your information, correction, deletion of certain information, withdrawal of consent where processing depends on consent, opt-out of promotional email, information about disclosures, an appeal of a denied request, and exercise of privacy rights without unlawful discrimination.

We will respond to requests as required by a law that actually applies to us. Those rights may be subject to legal exceptions, including information needed to complete a transaction, prevent fraud, comply with tax or recordkeeping laws, establish legal claims, or honor another person’s rights. Promotional-email unsubscribe is available to everyone, whether or not a broader privacy statute applies.

To submit a request, email info@onesteptowellness.com with the subject line “Privacy Request.” Describe the relationship you have with us and the email address you used. We may take steps allowed by law to verify your identity. An authorized agent may submit a request where the law permits it.

If applicable law requires an appeal process after a denied request, we will follow that process.

We do not sell mailing lists to third parties for their independent marketing. We do not currently use personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. If that changes and a law that applies to us requires an opt-out, we will provide one.

14. California Privacy Information

California residents may have rights under California law if that law applies to our business, including rights concerning certain categories of personal information collected, used, disclosed, sold, or shared.

We do not sell mailing lists. We do not currently share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.

We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own independent direct marketing.

If a California privacy law applies to a particular request, we will respond as that law requires.

15. Consumer Health Data

Some state laws define “consumer health data” more broadly than medical records protected by HIPAA. Where one of those laws applies to us, information about wellness goals, weight, nutrition, physical activity, emotional health, symptoms, or health-related behavior may be treated as consumer health data.

We may collect this information when you voluntarily provide it to request coaching, participate in a program, complete a form, or communicate with us.

We use this information to provide the service or response you requested. We do not sell it for a third party’s advertising. We do not use it to target ads to you.

We may disclose relevant information to service providers when reasonably necessary to provide a service you requested, operate our systems, or comply with law. These providers may include Circle, Calendly, Zoom, Google Meet, website-form providers, email providers, and secure business-service providers.

Where a law that applies to us requires consent before collecting or disclosing that kind of information, we request that consent. You may email info@onesteptowellness.com to ask us to review, correct, or delete information as a law that applies to us allows.

Information you voluntarily post in a community area may be visible to other participants. Do not post health information, home or mailing addresses, or other information you do not want others to see in shared areas.

16. Children’s Privacy

Our paid coaching services, memberships, accounts, and interactive programs are intended for people at least 18 years old, as stated in our Terms of Use. The public website and general educational content are not directed to children under 13.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. We do not knowingly enroll anyone under 18 in a paid or interactive program. If a person under 18 provides personal information, contact us at info@onesteptowellness.com so we can review and delete it where required.

17. International Users

Our business is based in California, United States. If you access our services from another country, your information may be transferred to and processed in the United States or another country where our service providers operate.

Privacy laws in those locations may differ from the laws where you live.

18. Third-Party Websites and Services

Our websites may contain links, embedded content, or integrations operated by third parties, including providers named in this policy such as MailerLite, Substack, Circle, KingSumo, Zoom, Google Meet, Amazon, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, and IngramSpark.

This policy does not govern information collected directly by an independent third party. Review the privacy policy of any outside service before providing personal information.

If you create an account or subscribe through Substack, Amazon, Circle, Zoom, or another independent platform, that company is responsible for the information it collects directly from you under its own privacy policy.

We cannot control every aspect of an independent provider’s security or privacy practices.

Any third party we use in the ordinary course of business, even if not listed by name, processes information under its own terms and privacy policy. Named vendors in this policy are examples of current or intended providers, not an exhaustive list of every tool that may process information on our behalf.

19. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy when our services, technology, or legal obligations change.

The updated policy will be posted with a revised “Last Updated” date. If the law requires additional notice or consent before a change applies to previously collected information, we will provide it.

20. Contact Us

Questions or privacy requests may be sent to:

Julia Fikse, doing business as One Step to Wellness®

Dear Food® and Food Peace™ are brands owned by Julia Fikse and used in connection with One Step to Wellness®.

Email: info@onesteptowellness.com

Website: juliafikse.com