Rhondi Love used to serve people as a police officer. Now, she serves them cocktails in her own cocktail bar.
Love also was a domestic violence victims’ advocate and a 911 operator, and now, she’s the owner of a downtown Milwaukee cocktail lounge called Edith. “I have always had a passion for serving and helping people,” says Love. “I also have always loved great cocktails. I guess I am just serving folks in a whole new way.”
Love says that she would travel frequently to Chicago and New Orleans in pursuit of trying delicious cocktails. “In the back of my mind, I held this dream of being an entrepreneur, of owning my own place,” she says, adding that she wondered if she could make it happen.
Love is the first entrepreneur in her family. She also is perhaps the only woman and only African American woman owner of an upscale cocktail lounge in the city. “You don’t see many people who grew up in the 53206 zip code in Milwaukee opening up a craft cocktail bar in downtown Milwaukee,” Love says. “It’s definitely been difficult, but it’s worth it.”
To get her cocktail bar off the ground, Love received assistance from the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC). “Rhondi is a shining example of how women-empowered entrepreneurship can work here in Wisconsin and beyond,” says Jenn Ring, a small business consultant at the WWBIC., is Wisconsin’s largest micro-lender. “Many people have a business dream they want to pursue, but they just don’t know how to start on their entrepreneurial path. That’s where WWBIC comes in. We help support women like Rhondi.”
Love continues to work hard to establish her bar in the theater district of Milwaukee. Her luxurious, carefully curated space is located close to the River Walk in what was once a sandwich shop.
The name Edith isn’t a family name. “When I was turning in (my business paperwork), people would ask me if my grandmother was named Edith,” Love says.
The name, instead, comes from the main character of Crimson Tide, a goth horror film. “She was strong character, and I thought Edith would make a good name for a cocktail bar,” Love says.
Her drinks take inspiration from pop culture, music and more. Love and her bartender Nick Sellers create all of the recipes for the cocktails, and they change the menu seasonally. Love says she likes to use craft spirits and bitters, and she creates all of the syrups from scratch and dehydrates all of the fruit garnishes.
To get her cocktail lounge off the ground, Love currently works as a paralegal by day, then tends bar Wednesday through Sunday nights. This Sunday, she’s marking Edith’s first anniversary by hosting a special party with tastings, food trucks and more. “I’d like to raise a glass to all local entrepreneurs who are working hard on their dreams,” Love says.
“I am a proud graduate of Milwaukee Public Schools, and I want to be an inspiration to other young women of color,” Love says. “Dream big, and then go do the hard work to make it happen.”