In Case You Missed It with Christina Williams is an iHeart Women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Welcome to another.
Episode of In Case You Missed It with Christina Williams. And I want to call this news segment Fan Out Friday, because every Friday we are bringing you the most exclusive interviews with some of the biggest movers and shakers in women's sports and women's basketball industry. So, as you guys know, obviously I am a huge women's sports fans, but if you ever try to catch a game at a local bar, you know how rare it is to find women's sports
playing on the television screens. I know, for the most part in New York City, whatever I'm at a local sports bar, I have to like stop a waiter and ask them and request to put on WNBA games. So I'm super about this week's guest because she is creating a space that is truly welcoming for the women's sports community.
In her community and beyond.
And so in twenty twenty two, Jenny Wnn created the Sports Bar, and I'm super excited to have Jenny on the show because I've gotten to know her over the last few years, A super huge fan of everything that she's doing to change the game.
Jenny, Welcome to the show. Hey Christina, thank you so much for having me on.
I know this has been like a long time coming, I feel like in terms of getting you on the show and get an interview done. But welcome to In case you missed it, we are super excited to have you on this week. And so before we dive into your story and talk about all things women's basketball and women's sports, we like to ask every guest who comes on the show to share what a win for them was in the past week, and we call it the win of the week.
So, what was one of your wins this week?
Oh my gosh, what was one of my wins this week? Well, there's a personal one. I was able to score some free tickets to the Thorns game for my mom and dad.
It was Father's Day, so yesterday it was for Father's Day and it happened to be the Pride match at the Thorns too, so I knew it was going to like kind of sell out Portland's you know, showing out and it's about seventy seven degrees yesterday, so I knew all of Portland was going to be there, and I like, kind of last minute, I got got in touch with my dad and I was just like, hey, I would
love to take you to this afternoon game. And we were able to They were able to squeeze us in there and the Thorns pulled off a W. So it was just like a win win situation. So on the personal note, you know, handed one off to Dad for being so awesome and got to celebrate with him and some fans and the Thorns got a W so that that felt like really good. As I know, I know it felt really and that was like just yesterday, so it's really fresh in my mind.
And then, you know, when it comes.
To the sports bra, I just feel like there's so many things going on all at once. I think one really big one from last week was we did our very first weeklies we're calling them weeklies with our new franchisees.
So we did our very first weekly calls where we set aside one hour at least one hour every week with each of our franchisees to kind of discuss where they are in the process, what questions they have, what help they need, and we're kind of setting up some visits to go out to the cities and take a look at some places. So that was a huge first
step for us after our announcement. Is kind of like at looking at sites, So kind of setting up those first calls with franchisees and making sure that they're on track and that we're being supportive. That that felt like really really good and a really great first step after the announcement.
Jinny, I love that for you.
Not only did you get free tickets to the Storm game, you were able to get to the Thorns game as well, got the win, you got to spend time with your dad. But you're building an empire, and so I love that for you so much. So we're gonna dive right into it. What first sparked your love for women's sports, and especially women's basketball, because this is a women's basketball show.
But what sparked your interest in women's sports?
I mean, oh, my gosh, we'll heard that, and you know, I mean, I think you know this, Christina, but I my first love was basketball. I picked up a basketball around the age of five or six, started learning how to dribble really young. My dad was a huge soccer fan, so he tried to push me into soccer, and I was just like not having it. So I played basketball from super young age and it was really the only sport that I really gravitated towards, and as I got older,
I just you know, was a super fan. Grew up born and raised here in Portland, so grew up in the Blazers era, you know, right after they want a championship. I was born and born into like this incredible fandom of you know, basketball and kind of the highs and lows of be a Trailblazers fan for those who know no. But then there was this undercurrent that became a roar
recently of women's sports fandom. From a super young age, my dad was taking me to University of Portland college soccer games and this was when you know, we had Tiffany Milbrett and Shannon McMillan playing. And then he took me to the games where the Rapino sisters were playing with Sinclair. And then we had an ABL team, the Portland Power, and then we had a w NBA team, the Portland Fire, and we got season tickets to those games. And then the Thorns came around and just like kind
of defined women's sports fandom for soccer. What seems to me they defined it like internationally, like we had just an all out crowd. And so I kind of grew up, you know, loving basketball. That was my sport and kind
of what I was really gravitated towards. But then kind of grew up in Portland where there was this really strong current of women's sports fandom, and so that kind of just kind of crescendoed into you know, me thinking about creating a space for women's sports fandom in the shape and form of a sports bar.
Yeah.
No, I love that.
And you talked about growing up being an athlete and how that shaped your fandom, but also the sports culture in Portland and how that also helped shape you and your journey. How do you think that all of those elements came together when you came up with the concept for the sports bar?
I mean, for the sports bra.
It was crazy because as I got older, you know, I started to go out with my friends, and all of my friends were I made through basketball, and so we would go out and whether it was a birthday party or a pre party or post party, you know, whatever it was, we were trying to watch women's basketball mostly and it was always the challenge. And so we'd go to these sports bars to try to eat and drink and public to hang out with friends and catch
a game, and it was just really challenging. And so for years that was kind of the status quo, that was kind of the norm. And then, you know, the only career I've ever had, so I played basketball, blew out my knee when I was nineteen. So right before my freshman basketball game, my first freshman basketball game, I had kind of a what was a devastating to me, a devastating injury, Like it was a blow to my ego.
My identity was wrapped up in basketball. So I felt like I had like lost my identity when I got injured. And so right after that, I felt I kind of fell into cooking, and so I started cooking in college, fell in love with cooking, and then went into the culinary field. So for a little over fifteen years, I was cooking in kitchens and became a chef. And so during that time, you know, I'm playing pickup basketball. In college,
I played innermural. I never went back to actually, like the coach tried to get me to red shirt, and I was just I think like mentally, I just wasn't there.
After my injury, I just couldn't, you know.
I rehabbed, but I just wasn't as strong of a player mentally, and so I played innermural, played pickup ball, and then cooked. So when it came to realizing that the sports bra might be something that we could put together in Portland, because of, you know, my love of basketball, I had, you know, this culinary background where I'd managed and run like kitchens, which really didn't it didn't prepare me to be a business owner, let's just say that.
Like that, it was just like one tiny aspect of every everything else, Like I really needed a ton of help to get the business going. But those those two things, combined with how Portland felt like it had always kind of embraced women's sports, along with my love of sports and my culinary background, it just kind of felt like
the perfect storm. And Portland being the town that I was born and raised in and grew up in, it just felt like, you know, to me, it almost felt like if the sports Bra as a concept didn't work in Portland, I wasn't sure if it would work anywhere because it felt to me like Portland was the place to kind of be the starting ground, you know, And I was like, Okay, let's just try it. And if it doesn't work in Portland, I'm not sure it would work anywhere else. So it's kind of my mentality about it.
But also, you know, it's my hometown, so I love this city.
Isn't it amazing how all the dots on your journey ended up connecting? And you're like, wait, I was freaking out for no reason, like I had to get derails here with an injury because later on in life, I was going to create something that was going to be a movement, like when you look back in hindsight and you connect all the little dots of your journey. You've said this before, you said, it's a traditional sports bar.
All we have to do is change the channel. Why do you think that mission resonates with so many people around the world.
Yeah, I mean what's interesting is when I opened the sports bra, I thought I was I thought it was just changing the channel, But ultimately it's flipping the status quo. So it's the time. To me, it's the tiny changes that make all the difference. And so when I conceptually thought of the sports bar, I was like, Okay, all we're going to do is change the channel. But when we had the opportunity to create the space, we went
about every aspect of it with intentionality. And so with that intentionality was the opportunity to change the narrative, flip the status quo, put everything on its head. You know, whatever we didn't like about the traditional sports bar we were, we had the opportunity to give it a new life, give it a new story. So when it came down to you know who, you know, we had twenty one taps, what kind of beer are we going to put on tap? And I was just like, oh, I wonder how many
women are making beer. Turns out there's hundreds and hundreds of women in Portland making beer. So everything on a tap list is either owned, operated, or made with a woman in the brew house. And then so and so just these tiny little ways that we could like chain to the narrative in that space. We were like, let's do it with intentionality and see what kinds of things we can create. So it really started with changing the channel,
but it had a ripple effect. And I think that what people why it resonates with people is because for so long it felt as if sports bars, your traditional sports bars were made for like fifty percent of the population, and it really wasn't made for everybody. And so the opportunity to have inclusive spaces, to have representation on TV and on the walls, you know, to be surrounded by women's sports memorabilia versus men's sports memorability, there's a different
vibe to it. Women's sports flags, to have autographs of women athletes from local athletes to international athletes, to come in and just be surrounded by like a dedicated space for them, that feels special. So I think that I think there's a lot of things that resonate with folks from athletes to non athletes, sports fans to nonsports fans. And then we do it through the menu too, So we have like all our vegan, gluten free, dairy free,
and then all of our meat lovers. You know, we have like the full spectrum of things for folks to dine on and to drink. We have a bunch of na So we're finding, like, you know, zero proof drinks are getting more and more popular these days, which is awesome, so we've been adding more and more. So it's just like the ability to see people and have them feel seen in the space. And what's crazy is like again, it started out with just changing what I felt like
was just changing the channel. But when it got to it, we we could approach everything with intentionality, and I think that that makes a huge difference in helping people feel seen, feel represented, and feel like they belong, which creates just a great experiences for everybody, not just in fandom, but just in enjoyment.
And I think beyond that, I mean what you've been able to do in terms of the brand the sports Bra, being able to activate at tent pole women's sports events and you know, market your business and different appetents, but also give other women an opportunity as well.
I APPOLOGI you for that.
We obviously know that women's sports is at an all time high right now, not just women's basketball, women's soccer, tennis, across the board, women's sports is just blowing up, and it's like we've been here this whole time. People are just starting to take notice. But when you first opened up the sports Bra in twenty twenty two, what was the overall reactions that you received from the public, And then any point when things started to turn with you
and go on the up and up. Or was there ever a point where you had to eventually turn people away from the sports braw on Portland because it would get too crowded.
Yeah?
Absolutely.
I mean I want to say that from the moment it became public knowledge that the sports bra was happening, there was an overwhelming outpouring of support. It was like the floodgates had opened. People came out of every like internationally, even people were dming us, writing letters, sending stuff in the mail. It was just an incredible outpouring of support.
And again I had no idea. I thought, you know, maybe in Portland, maybe for this community, maybe for folks like me and my friends, giving us a space.
I had no idea.
It was such a universal not even a desire, but almost like a need, you know, to create these spaces. So the outpouring of support was very palpable from day one, from the moment from the moment people found out it was happening, and the space in Portland, like, I'm pretty risk averse, and I had no idea what was going to be like because when I did research, it turns out there's never been a women's sports bar, So I
had no idea if it was going to work. And so I I basically picked a place that, you know, if the whole thing failed, I could I could manage to get myself out of out of trouble. And so the bar is a forty seat bar, it's fifty people standing room onely uh like low key. It basically we
basically double that capacity on game days. Don't tell a fire or Marshall, but yes, but like you know, when there's a championship game or if there's like a huge playoff game where we fill up in five minutes and then it's and then it's done, you know, it's so so it's very clear that spaces like this have been needed, and it was just a matter of kind of thinking
outside the box. And you know, I remember when I sat my parents down and I told them my idea for the sports bra And by the time I got to telling my parents, I kind of had made up my mind, like there was no like changing my mind. I was like, this is what I'm doing. I'm just
letting you know. And the very first thing my dad said was like, so you're saying this a space like this has never existed before, And I said, yeah, from all I can tell no one has ever done this, And the very first thing he said was maybe there's a reason why. And when he said that, it kind of triggered this thing in me.
It was just which was just.
Like, if that were our mentality about everything, you know, we'd still be in caves, like not even thinking about rubbing two sticks together because fire would have been invented already, right, So in my mind, I was just like, you know what if this is how we invent things, this is how we progress when we when we need a space and it doesn't exist, we create it, right, and like
it just needed somebody to do it. And if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, but I'd always wonder if it would and so and that was kind of the you know, one of the triggering points for me where I was just like, let's let's try this. But since then it's just been incredibly like welcome. Like there's always haters, Like whenever you disturb systems of power or systemic systems, the folks in power are the folks who believe they're in power, they get upset, and so yes,
there were haters. We you know, I personally went through some stuff the store itself had some vandalism, like there, you know, things things that happened, but kind of it kind of goes to show that you're on the right track when there are some folks upset because you're kind of rocking the.
Boat, right. Yeah.
So so that was just part of the beginning, and then as time went on, it just became more and more parent that spaces like the Bra needed to exist, and right right from like probably a month in, I started to get emails from other women from across the country and even other cities around the world, asking how I did it? Would they would they would? I recommend
them to do it themselves. And you know, so much of the folks out there right now opening spaces like the sports Bra or their own version of a women's sports bar, to create spaces for community and fandom, all of that is so beautiful and so collaborative and so supportive.
I'm sure you know about this, but there's a slack channel that all of us are on, and I want to say, like every week, a couple more folks get added, whether they're thinking about starting their own, whether they're thinking about franchising with the sports Bra, whether they're you know, hosting watch parties or you know, just trying to make all of all of our lives better by helping create more fandom, create systems, whatever it takes, and so you know,
it's just you when you involve women, it's just so collaborative and so beautiful. And I'm just so I feel so grateful to be a part of this movement. And it really has become a movement. And what started out is just like my little dream of having us fought in Portland, and I was just like, if this can last a couple of years, I'll be happy. You know, let's give let's give some fans a space to have fun and celebrate in community.
And that's that.
But then it became something else and it unlocked just so much potential and I just say, I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful for it every day.
I love that whatever takes mentality.
And I like to call people like us Jinny Good disruptors because I sort of did the same thing when it came to the digital space and how women's basketball was covered in the digital space, and seven years later we see more and more coverage in the digital space kind of how like I used to do it when I first started covering the WNBA good disruptors, Okay, and Kat Williams said it best. You need to lead a
little bit of a hater haters. If you're not, if you don't have any haters, you're not doing something right. But it is a good balance to have. And he talked about the Sports bra being welcoming to so many people in a place that is necessary. You've been able
to welcome non binary, queer and trans individuals. Is there a story from a sports fan or a patron who is now, oh now has a place to watch on the sports that they love that kind of keeps you going and lets you know it reminds you like, this is my why, This is why I started the Sports broad This is why I created this space.
Girl, I ain't gonna cry this morning. I'm not crying this morning. On our interview, there are so many stories, like legitimately, there are so many stories from so we're an all ages bar until ten pm. So we try to bring families, kids, everybody in and try to normalize women's sports on TV and create fans out of everybody. Right, So there are moments where I catch a little kid watching women's sports on TV and their eyes are just huge,
glazed over, their mouth is open. They're witnessing somebody playing the sport that they love and that they can relate to. They see themselves in them. And when I think about that moment, I think about, you know, I can't help but think about my younger self and if I had been in a space at the age of five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, twelve, fifteen, seventeen twenty one, if I if I'd been in a space that had women's sports like that, what kind of
an impact it would have made on my life? And I see that in kids at the BRA, and so like, whenever I see a little kid kind of like just all in, you know, fandom for women's sports and being surrounded by adults cheering for the same people that that
is that that is part of my why. And then when it comes to you know, the community, the LGBTQI plus community, it's incredible that, you know, I have a lot of intersectionality based on my lived experience and when I opened the Sports Bra, I really did it based on my women's sports fandom, and it hadn't occurred to me that I'm also a first generation Vietnamese American queer woman. And so when I opened the space, I was just like, oh, I'm going to create a space that I feel really
good in. And it turns out that there's a lot of intersectionality there. And when I did that, you know, I have friends that are also very intersectional, and so just again being intentional about certain things help so much. And a lot of it is such a learning process too. You know, we open the doors and people were like, hey, Jenny, have you thought about doing this because it would really help us feel more seen. And I'm like, oh my god, you know, of course I had. I hadn't even considered that.
So it's like all of these things are learning also. And that's another huge part that I always want to like emphasize on folks with small businesses or even massive multi billion dollar companies, that you need to continue to listen. You need to continue to listen to your employees, your team,
your customers. They're going to bring in viewpoints of what you're what you don't know, like I you know that I don't have a lived experience with and hearing that helps create a better world and a better environment for everything.
And so when I think about, like when you said when you asked that question, there was one story that kind of stood out in my mind, and there was a woman, sorry, there was a person who had fled a Central American country and she this person had been living in their home.
For fear of.
Retaliation of leaving the house because they had been under kind of some severe death threats and things like that from living in a Central American country. So they had moved to the United States seeking asylum, and they hadn't left the house in months, and one of their very very close relatives convinced them to come to the sport and it was the first time that they had left the house and been in a public space in general
in years. And I met this person, and you know, we didn't speak the same language, but there was very much this exchange of sincere gratitude, and I just thought about, how, you know, this space again, I had created it for fandom, for women's sports fandom, and how it had become almost like a sanctuary for more than that. And you know, there are moments that are bittersweet because I'm grateful that at the Sports Bra, my team and I have been able to create what feels like a very safe space
for a lot of folks. But then there's this bitter part that there aren't spaces like this more often or everywhere, and so you know, that's kind of an extreme case, but it really does kind of amplify the idea that the sports bra has this certain something about it that is really special, and that's that's done with intentionality. It's
not by accident, you know. And I think that I want to impress on people that as business owners or managers or even employees, you can you can help create these spaces for folks who absolutely need it and deserve it. And we try to like promote this welcoming atmosphere for everybody. And we always say like everyone welcome, except for like the haters, you know, no bigots.
How about that? Yeah, oh yeah.
It's just like yeah, you know, we get phone calls and it's just like our kids allowed, Are men allowed?
You know?
Are these that and the others?
And it's like, yeah, everybody, everybody, as.
Long as you come in with love.
Yeah, absolutely, women's sports fandom, come on in.
Well, I can't wait to finally visit.
I know, I told you back in October movie We're at the WNBA Finals Game two.
I was like, I have to get there. And I've been telling you saying it for years and I really mean it. I really have to get there. If I have to make it solo trip to Portman just to visit. I want to visit the og Sports Bra. But what should I order when I visit?
Because you talked about being a chef in the menu, being intentional, what's your favorite thing on the menu?
Oh my gosh, girl, I got so many favorites.
Now.
So we brought on a new chef a couple months ago, several months ago now, and the menu had stayed relatively unchanged since I wrote it in twenty twenty two. And you know, as a proud chef, I'm just like menus the way it is, it's going to stay forever. And this new young gunner, I mean, she's extremely talented. She came in with so much passion, so much experience, and she just was just like, Jenny, I really think that we can up level the menu. And I was just like, Okay,
let's take a look. And she basically pitched me a whole thing. She had a presentation, everything, and then we did an R and D. I tasted everything and I was blown away. So a bunch of the stuff on the menu is kind of the same, but up leveled a little bit. And then there she added some brand new menu items. So right now I happen to be like super excited about the menu. But there's some og ones that are from the first day until now are
the same that she didn't touch because they're perfect. One the very first one I got to mention is the first thing on the menu, which is my mom's baby back ribs, which is based It's based off of a classic Vietnamese dish that I grew up eating, and it's literally word for word like mom's recipe. The only difference is we changed it from pork shoulder like braised pork shoulder to baby back ribs, so it could be like finger food.
But it's delicious.
It's sticky, salty, sweet, is so good, and that's kind of a signature dish, you know, the babyback Mom's baby beck ribs. And then my a couple of my personal favorites right now is the smash Burger classic smash Burger, American cheese griddled onions. Chef added a little burger sauce to it to make a little extra special, uh and it's kind of classic, you know, it's it's nothing too frilly. I'm kind of a simple person, so I like a simple burger, and it kind of highlights the beef, which
is from a female rancher out in eastern Oregon. Uh So, Corey Carmen is one hundred percent grass fed beef. Not very many female ranchers out there, so you know, we had to give a shout out. So all of our beef is coming from Carmen Ranch. And then the other thing that Roxy added, which is actually a holdover from one of our old chef's specials, is a dry rub fried chicken wing.
I love me some chicken wings, Danny. It's real good. It's real good.
We used to we started out with the Vietnamese version only on the menu, and now we have three versions that are all outstanding. So we have Vietnamese version, which is named after my aunt Tina, and then we have a buffalo wing, which is of in house fermented chili's so made from scratch buffalo sauce. And then the dry rub, which I'm really a big fan of because it's just spicy enough. I'm kind of sensitive palette, so it's just
spicy enough. Dipped in ranch or blue cheese, and then I'm good to go.
It's it's real good.
It's like I'm getting so hungry just thinking amazing food. So the baby back ribs, the dry rubbed wings, and the smash burger, I'm gonna order all that when I visit.
There's also a lot of.
Excitement around the Sports Brah this past few weeks because you all made a huge announcement with Alexis Ohanian. So what was the announcement and what should we be excited for the future for the Sports BRA.
I guess I didn't hint at it early on. I kind of just like blurted it out. But a couple of weeks ago, we announced that we're franchising to four new cities. And the announcement really is kind of the first step, like right after we announced it, basically means we found people in those cities that we that want to open the sports brought in their communities, which we're so so excited about. And those four cities are Las Vegas, Saint Louis, Indianapolis, and Boston. Yes, that's so we're really
really excited about that. And so first step is the announcement. Now we're onto like finding a site and you know, we've got to secure funds for them, and then we
got to do the build out. So a lot of folks have been asking, you know, when is it opening, where is it at, and it's like, we don't know any of that stuff, but we're really excited and we just couldn't wait to tell the cities so that they can also get behind these new franchisees and you know, are our goal is to make sure that our franchisees people know that they're the owners and operators of these small there's basically small businesses. You know, it's not us
opening them. We're helping to support an opening. But these are community spaces, just like the sports Brown Portland is a community space. And that's that's the reason why we decided to go with franchising versus opening our own stores, is because we really wanted people who live, breathe, and you know, support the women's sports fandom and communities in those cities to be the ones owning these spaces.
I absolutely love that having a community hand in building their community but also building women's sports around Last question for you before you get out of here. You talked about your franchisees and just community building. But what advice would you tell someone who wants to open a SPORTSPRA franchise.
Oh my gosh, Well, technically I can't really say too much because there's a lot of franchise laws. But the first step would be check out our website. On our website, there's tons of information. So go to the sports BRA I think, gosh, I can't remember the sports brascial dot Yeah, the sportsproofficial dot com will get you to where you need to go. There's there's tons of information on there, and there's a phone number that you can reach out to us. And connecting with us is the first step.
And you know, we announced we were franchising in April of last year. Then we opened a website for franchising in October of last year, and it took us until from October until, you know, a couple of weeks ago to really vet people and really get to know people and understand where they're coming from. And honestly, the franchise world is pretty massive and the franchise business is incredibly
complex and a huge undertaking. But as the Sports BRA, we're kind of doing things a little bit unconventional, so We've gotten a lot of advice and we're taking as much as advice as we can, but we're also like,
you know what, this is the sports Bra. We're going to have to do things our own way on some of these things because it's we are kind of paving a new path for you know, there's not it's been a long time since in the food and beverage market that there's been a new kind of market and we're kind of defining that now, and so it's a little
bit unconventional, but we're we're here for it. We're excited, a little scared, a little nervous, but all of those things are probably really good for us as we grow. But yeah, I would say reach out to us, let's get the conversation started, and we're just we're just really really excited to open more of these for more folks.
Well, I'm super excited for you, Jenny. I just want to thank you again for joining us this week on In Case you missed It with Christina Williams on the Iheartwomen's Sports Network. Super excited for the sports Bra franchises across Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Saint Louis, and Boston. Make sure you guys, follow Jenny and her journey all across social media and we'll talk to you next time. Thank you so much, Jenny, I appreciate you so much. Thank you Christina.
All Right, you guys, that's gonna do it for this week's episode of In Case You Missed It with Christina Williams. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast, and we'll see you back here next week. In Case You Missed It with Christina Williams is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
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