Latina becomes first and only Wisconsin woman knighted by Belgian Brewers Guild

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A Puerto Rican woman from Milwaukee was honored in Brussels, Belgium earlier this month for her contributions in spreading Belgian knowledge and culture within some of the most popular restaurants in the area.

"I started as a bartender and then I slowly just worked my way up," said Ileana Rivera, chief operating officer at Lowlands Group. "I started bartending, then I supervised, and then I was assistant manager and then, I was general manager and was also beverage director."

Rivera said she has been in her current role for about three years now.

Lowlands Group owns and operates several known European-inspired grand cafés in Milwaukee, including Buckatabon Tavern & Supper Club, Café Benelux, and Centraal Grand Café & Tappery in Bay View.

Rivera has been working for the company for the past 15 years and said her mom, Ada Rivera, has served as her biggest role model.

"My mother came here at a young age, and she also built -- kind of -- her own empire, she was in education, so I had a person to look up to," she added.

Rivera said she aims to continue her mother's legacy of working hard.

"In this month especially, I think I just want to make sure Latinos and just, people in general, know they can do whatever they want,' Rivera said.

Just like she has--partaking in the behind-the-scenes of the restaurant business; whether it's what you see as a guest or what's prepared inside the kitchen.

"We really are focusing on that import aspect at seven of our locations...Belgian bier culture, which is really just deep in tradition, storytelling, we have multigenerational brewers that we're trying to carry," she said."Most of our biers, like 75 to 80 percent of our biers right now that we carry at our other cafés are either Belgian or Belgian influenced."

She told CBS 58 News she's been traveling to Belgium for the past decade to immerse herself in the authenticity of the process and report back so locals and travelers who dine at one of their restaurants learn more about biers. 

"I've spent numerous days with brewers learning their traditions, learning their brewing process," she explained.

It's because of her ongoing efforts to spread that knowledge that Rivera was recognized on Sept. 2 in Belgium.

She, alongside 17 others, were tapped on each shoulder with a mash paddle, which is an integral tool of the brewing process, and officially inducted into the 'Knighthood of the Brewer's Paddle.'

"Essentially, what it means, is that I am an ambassador for Belgian biers," she said.

The Belgian Brewers Guild is one of the oldest professional organizations in the world, dating back to the 1400s. Rivera was awarded a medal with very specific instructions.

"It's this red medal, it's got a little knight on it, and you are only allowed to wear it on the ground place during that period of time," she explained. "I was the only American-born restauranteur that was there."

Rivera is now the first and only woman and Latina knight in Wisconsin.

"I felt really, really fortunate to be there and also be amongst my friends," she expressed.