GOLF at 11:00am.
BASKETBALL at 12:30pm.
SWIMMING at 2:00pm.
SOCCER at 6:00pm.
ROLLER DERBY at 7:00pm.
FOOTBALL at 7:30pm.
No, that is not my athletics schedule from my Gustavus days. It’s the schedule for women’s sports coverage at A Bar of Their Own, the bar I founded in Minneapolis earlier this year. It is the first sports bar in the Midwest—and the third in the country—that exclusively shows women’s sports. While I didn’t participate in athletics during my four years on The Hill, my academic and extra-curricular experience at Gustavus uniquely prepared me to do it.
Growing up in Mankato, I was a three-sport athlete and my life revolved around whichever season of sport I was participating in—tennis, gymnastics, and softball. I loved being a part of a team, whether making up silly cheers with my teammates or celebrating a big win. Sports also taught me how to lose—learning from the mistakes that cost me a match and building mental toughness after a fall on beam. So much of who I am today is because of my participation in athletics when I was younger.
Like so many high school athletes, my involvement in sports changed once I started at Gustavus. I went from the loudest player on the field to the loudest fan in the stands. I watched in awe as my classmate Amanda Parker ’05 won the all-around gymnastics title in 2002 and cheered on our 2005 Women’s Hockey team to a third-place finish in the NCAA Tournament.
My time at Gustavus was a case study in the benefits of a liberal arts education. I was a Vocal Music major, but I didn’t have long-term goals of being a professional singer. While I dove deep into the world of music theory and voice lessons, I also discovered a passion for learning about social inequities through a course titled School and Society from Philosophy professor Lisa Heldke ’82. I’ve often credited her for changing the trajectory of my post-college life. I went from wanting to be a high school choir director to wanting to figure out how to break down systems that were created by and for white males.
I started asking, ‘What if the game I wanted to watch was on the television at the bar?’”
—Jillian Hiscock ’05
My extra-curricular involvements followed a similar trend—I made incredible memories touring with the Gustavus Choir under the direction of Dr. Gregory Aune. I also found myself having deep, late night conversations with my friends in the Diversity Center about our upbringings—finding similarities in seemingly vastly different journeys. Not only was I able to think outside of the box of my major, I was encouraged to be curious, ask questions, and never settle for being satisfied with the way things were.
My liberal arts education at Gustavus helped me find my niche as a systems disruptor. This led me to a 15-year career in college admissions and non-profits, working with systemically excluded students to assist them in gaining access to higher education. It also prepared me to jump from the professional world I knew into a crazy dream that combined my personal love of athletics with my systems disruptor nature.
Having spent most of my adult life walking into sports bars knowing the game I wanted the watch—whether the Minnesota Lynx or NCAA softball—would not be on the televisions, I started asking, “What if?” What if there was an inclusive, welcoming space where I knew my favorite team would be playing? What if women were intentionally lifted up on the television screens, as well as through the food and drink menus?
In the summer of 2023, I sought to answer those questions, which led to the opening of A Bar of Their Own that March. It’s a place where
women’s sports memorabilia covers the walls, all the taps are from breweries owned and/or operated by women, non-binary, and trans folks, and women’s sports are on all the time. People from all walks of life enjoy cold beverages with a tasty meal while taking in WNBA basketball games, NWSL soccer matches, and roller derby bouts.
My goal was a women’s sports bar, but it has become much more than that. Sports icons like Billie Jean King and political rockstars like former Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen have come to check it out. Parents of young trans kids have told me it’s one of the few places they knew would be safe to bring their children.
Gustavus taught me a lot of things—and the importance of building community is at the top of that list. I’m grateful for the opportunity to live out the Gustavus values in my own way, serving my community with excellence.
