The city’s first bar dedicated to enjoying, highlighting and celebrating women’s sports is in the works.
Jolene Jolene is expected to land in metro Atlanta in early 2025. Owner Chelsea Fishman said it’s an ambitious timeline, but she’s optimistic. They’re currently working on nailing down a location, which they hope to announce in the next month or two.
Jolene Jolene, named after Fishman’s cat, will be a full bar and restaurant, with women’s sporting events (both collegiate and professional) showcased on the TVs. They also envision forming partnerships with teams and local organizations.
“I want it to be a place I would want to hang out at,” Fishman told What Now Atlanta.
Armed with a background in marketing, a love of soccer, and a desire to fill a void for a women’s sports bar in Atlanta, Fishman started working on Jolene Jolene in January of this year.
“We’re in this trend of women’s sports bars opening up around the country,” Fishman said. “I remember years ago, me and thousands of other women’s sports fans had the same idea. I had a conversation with my mom, I said this exact thing to her, ‘It would be cool to have a place for women’s sports.'”
Similar concepts started popping up around the U.S., like The Sports Bra in Portland.
“A bunch of us breathed a sigh of relief that it was actually happening,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for one to show up in Atlanta. It’s a great place for it.”
And when one didn’t show up in Atlanta, Fishman got the ball rolling. A Kickstarter campaign for the concept has surpassed its $32,000 goal. (At the time of publication, the campaign had more than $35,300 pledged.)
The mission behind Jolene Jolene, and Fishman’s passion for gender equality, came into further focus when attending an equality summit during the FIFA Women’s World Cup last year in Australia.
“It was so inspiring,” she said. “I knew that if I could create a space that could have those conversations, looking at ways that people in a community, women and men, can connect to uplift people, push the needle a bit for equality… That stuff happens in the conversations you have in a bar. Jolene Jolene came out of a result of all that thinking and experience.”
Follow @jolenejoleneatl on Instagram for updates and information about the pop-up events and watch parties that Jolene Jolene is hosting at local breweries.
