Jocelyn Rose DeGroot-Lutzner was thinking about her father when she wandered into the West Philadelphia restaurant Dahlak in 2013 to apply for a bartending job.

The restaurant, a favorite local hangout, was a seven-minute walk from her parents’ house. “My dad and his friends drank at Dahlak,” she said. “I didn’t want to mess up his vibe.”

When she got the job and began working there, she would eventually prove less of a distraction to her father than to the man who hired her, Ephream Amare Seyoum.

Ms. DeGroot-Lutzner, 33, and Mr. Seyoum, 36, are West Philadelphia natives. Growing up, they lived four blocks apart but never met.

Ms. DeGroot-Lutzner might not have applied for the bartending gig if it weren’t for an endorsement from a friend. “She said Ephream’s a really nice guy,” Ms. DeGroot-Lutzner said. She was also at a professional crossroads.

Months earlier, she graduated from the New School in New York City. “I always thought I wanted to move to Brooklyn and be a fashion designer,” she said. But after earning a bachelor’s degree in urban studies and fashion photography, she decided to return home. “I tested the waters in New York,” she said. “I decided Philly was much more comfortable for me.”