The Art of Rising

The bright neon sign catches your eye after walking in, just to your right: "Does my sassiness upset you?" The words glow against deep, jewel-toned walls as you step into WeRise Wine Bar on 2nd Avenue in downtown Seattle. The space is barely a block from Moore Theater, but step inside and the city noise melts away. The first thing that hits you is the warmth. Not just the cozy temperature, but that feeling of finding a spot where you can finally relax your shoulders. I sank into one of the velvet couches on my first visit and didn't want to leave.

I've been back at least five times since they opened last December; each visit reminds me how different this place is from what I’ve come to expect in a wine bar. Wine bars have a reputation, you know? That subtle pressure to pronounce everything correctly, to hold your glass just so, to nod knowingly at terms like "terroir" and "malolactic fermentation." Not here.

On my first visit, a guy next to me asked what seemed like a pretty basic question about red wine. Instead of a dismissive answer, the bartender grabbed a bottle, turned it around, and started telling this wild story about meeting the winemaker at a tiny festival in Eastern Washington. She then described how the woman behind the label had converted her parents' garage into her first winery. On another visit, they were pouring wine from a Black-owned vineyard located outside Paso Robles, California; that one started with just a half-acre patch of land—a plot smaller than most suburban backyards.

This thoughtfully designed haven is the creation of Jamila Conley, whose vision for WeRise only recently emerged, after having spent 25 years in the tech industry. During an interview with Northwest Wine Report, she talks about the awakening she experienced during a wine dinner organized to celebrate Black women in the wine industry. As the evening progressed, Conley realized how few of the featured wineries she recognized. The dinner sparked her curiosity about diversity in the wine world, and led her on a journey to understand the barriers facing underrepresented winemakers.

"I have the spirit of how can I thoughtfully push against the system and do something that people tell me you can't do?" Conley says of the inspiration behind WeRise. "To me, that's what it's about: how do we break out of the box people think they can put us in?"

The name, as well as that eye-catching neon sign, draw from Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise"—a fitting tribute to the establishment's mission of elevating voices often marginalized in the wine industry.

You can tell Conley's heart is in every bottle at WeRise. When asked about the selection process that goes into choosing the bar’s offerings, she lights up. "We're really on a mission to help diverse small businesses that happen to be wineries," she says emphatically. As with the garage and the half-acre patch, every bottle has a backstory, and Conley makes sure it's one worth sharing.

The wine bar also reflects Conley's own creative journey. Before launching WeRise, she worked at the most senior levels of tech in Seattle, all the while creating art herself—photography—which she exhibited at galleries and spaces throughout the city. However, the passing of Conley’s mother dimmed that creative flame.

"My mom would always buy a piece of my art at my openings," she explains. "A big piece of her was linked to my practice."

Though she hasn't returned to photography, Conley has channeled that artistic energy into the design of WeRise, which includes ample wall space allocated for work by local artists (it is a regular stop on the Belltown Art Walk). Not only has the space become a canvas for community connection, it’s a vibrant homage to her late mother.

Beyond wine, the bar also features merchandise from local Black-owned businesses, including Nor Lux candles, hand-crafted chocolates by Hot Chocolat, and jewelry from a range of local artisans, each carefully selected to align with the WeRise mission of supporting diverse entrepreneurs. Since it opened, I've found myself returning often, laptop in tow, to write while enjoying their polished, tapas-inspired small plates. There's something about the atmosphere that invites creativity and focus, while still feeling connected.

Which is just how Conley wants it. For her, creating this space goes beyond business. "I think the other thing that is special about us is our aim to connect underrepresented communities to an industry that a lot of times feels like it doesn’t have much to offer us," Conley explains. "People may enjoy wine as a beverage, but may not go wine tasting or experience the depth and breadth of wine because they feel like 'this isn't meant for me' or 'my people aren't making this wine.'"

WeRise goes far to bridge that gap, transforming the wine culture of Seattle with a space that emphasizes belonging, and insists on presence.

"People should feel like they belong here from the second they walk in," Conley says, gesturing around the space. "I love seeing someone leave knowing something new about wine or diversity in the industry that they didn't know before. That's the whole point: You're going to leave knowing a little bit more than you knew coming in the door." ◼︎

WeRise Wine Bar is located at 1913 2nd Ave. Visit their website for hours, events, and featured artists.

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Leilani Lewis is a Seattle-based writer, art critic, and essayist. She’s also an award-winning organizational leader and consultant who knows how to build and when to disrupt. Her work dives into beauty, resistance, and radical mischief, always chasing truth and sparking connection.