When you walk through the door, Christian rock permeates the place, Jesus and Coffee signs hang on the wall and the smell of coffee surrounds everything. Standing behind the bar is Willie, or Ms Willie. She greets customers by name, discussing life, love and the Lord. This is the Love Life Coffee Shop, and all are welcome.

Much more than the owner of the coffee shop, Willie is also a trained nutritionist and a licensed non-denominational minister from Chicago. A pillar in the community Ms. Willie is friend, minister, ally, confidant, neighbor, wife, grandmother—Ms. Willie does not discriminate and all are welcome in the Love Light Cafe, a 501c3 coffee shop that supports women pulling their lives together after incarceration. Miss Willie has ‘done it all’ — she will tell you she smoked it, drank it and danced on it — so no lie or excuse saves you from Gods truth, and no lie will fool Ms. Willie.

“God doesn’t see color. God put a rainbow of different colors in the sky. He tries to talk to us in so many ways. We just never want to listen.”