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BEHIND THE STRIPES

Chelsea Fishman

By Atlanta United FC

March 31^st, 2026

Chelsea Fishman had her epiphany halfway across the world.

While in Australia for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, she listened to some of the giants of women’s sports speak at a summit for sporting equality. There, she heard from the Billie Jean King’s of the world, the Brandi Chastain’s, women whose athletic achievements are outshone only by their lasting impact on the women and girls coming after them.

Fishman is living proof of that influence. After what she called the coolest three hours she’s ever spent, she knew that it shouldn’t end there.

“I wanted so badly to recreate that feeling and create a space that could house that feeling,” Fishman said. “That was the turning point of where I was like, ‘I want to give this feeling a space. I want to give it a home. I want other people to feel this.’”

Enter Jolene Jolene, Atlanta’s first women’s sports bar, founded by Fishman. More than just a place with televisions on women’s games, the bar is a community in and of itself, one where Fishman hopes to spark that same feeling she felt in Australia.

But wait, it wasn’t nearly that easy. A venue doesn’t just appear out of thin air, something Fishman knows more about than she’d care to admit. For her, the journey to creating this space was as material as it was personal. It was also a part of a larger movement around the country of demand for women’s sports, of demand for community spaces where women’s sports are easily accessible — not just “find it if you can” from the bartender with the remote.

“Because after it's happened 100 or so times, you're kind of just sick of it,” Fishman said.

The first ever dedicated women’s sports bar in the United States, The Sports Bra, was founded in Portland in 2022. Soon after, others followed suit on the West Coast, and Fishman watched on hoping something similar would manifest in Atlanta.

In 2024, she realized if she wanted it done, she’d have to do it herself. So, Fishman got to work in a process she described as “being loud” about her work.

“I needed everyone to know about it, because you never know who is going to know somebody,” Fishman said. “… I’ve met so many people I never would’ve met had I not constantly been talking about Jolene Jolene, had I not constantly been talking about women's sports. You kind of have to be annoying about it in a respectful way.”

She looked to other iterations of women’s sports bars around the country for guidance, particularly calling Jillian Hiscock, who owns a bar in Minneapolis called A Bar of Their Own. Many of the owners of these places are making a huge leap of faith to become first-time bar owners. They’ve forged their own community, sharing advice and keeping in touch in a group chat that spans throughout the country.

In Fishman’s experience, the concept of a sports bar solely dedicated to playing women’s sports was one that drew scrutiny, especially from potential loaners. It’s been an uphill battle getting the backing to create something out of thin air, especially as Fishman looks to secure a permanent space for Jolene Jolene.

“Initially it was a bit of a challenge making it make sense to people, because a lot of the people that I first had to talk to in order to try and get a business started in Georgia were men,” Fishman said. “I had to meet with men, whether it was banks or landlords, whoever it was.”

Fishman remembers one of her initial meetings with a realtor who couldn’t grasp why a women’s sports bar was needed in Atlanta.

“He was like, ‘You can just go to Taco Mac and ask them to put it on,’ Fishman said.

“But that's not what I want to do. I don't want to have to go to a place that's showing a dozen screens of a replay of the 1985 Super Bowl and ask them to put on this current, live championship match happening.”

Though the sports are what brings people in, it’s less about what’s on the screens and more about the people who are watching.

“There's a difference in going somewhere and asking for it to be on and going somewhere knowing it's going to be on,” Fishman said. “Because when you go somewhere that you know it's on, then that's where the other people that want to see that are going to be, and you want to be with those people.”

That’s what makes Jolene Jolene. Fishman is very intentional about the events the bar hosts, making sure to introduce herself everywhere. She’s fostering that “Cheers”-esque everybody-knows-your-name environment.

Jolene Jolene’s presence in Atlanta, though still new, now feels imperative. The city is one of few in the United States with multiple professional women’s sports franchises, with NWSL Atlanta on the way in 2028. There’s real demand for a place to tune in and even more so for a group of people to watch with.

“I think the biggest thing is the people that come,” Fishman said. “Our community has just been so stellar … When you can take a look and see that the needle has actually moved. It starts that snowball rolling, and you feel like you can keep moving it.”

Fishman emphasized how important just getting the process moving was. She, like many other women, felt the expectations of society to be polished, to be perfect — but she fought them.

“You only hear these success stories because women are doing it,” Fishman said. “… When you finally find something you really love, a lot of women are nervous to start, because they're not perfect yet. You just have to get to a place where you just start starting. You don't have to be perfect to start. You just have to start.”

Fishman, her mom and a couple of her investors were invited to Atlanta United’s Women and Girls in Sports match March 14. She and other 17s bore witness to just how many women and girls follow and support soccer in the city. In many ways, their work in creating Jolene Jolene is responsible.

In 2028, the bar will be there, and so will the people.

“When [Atlanta] United started in 2017, the city transformed,” Fishman said. “I firmly believe that we can do the same around women's sports, and I think we were starting to see that.”