diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f64fb8eebb6273081bbcbd61d096742a8ca5c181..03480b8dfb67d82ba5bf21fe475c68640cf77a56 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ politics = Route(
     utterances=[
         "isn't politics the best thing ever",
         "why don't you tell me about your political opinions",
-        "don't you just love the president" "don't you just hate the president",
+        "don't you just love the president",
         "they're going to destroy this country!",
         "they will save the country!",
     ],
@@ -147,4 +147,4 @@ Daniel Avila, [Semantic Router: Enhancing Control in LLM Conversations](https://
 
 Yogendra Sisodia, [Stop Chat-GPT From Going Rogue In Production With Semantic Router](https://medium.com/@scholarly360/stop-chat-gpt-from-going-rogue-in-production-with-semantic-router-937a4768ae19), Medium
 
-Aniket Hingane, [LLM Apps: Why you Must Know Semantic Router in 2024: Part 1](https://medium.com/@learn-simplified/llm-apps-why-you-must-know-semantic-router-in-2024-part-1-bfbda81374c5), Medium
\ No newline at end of file
+Aniket Hingane, [LLM Apps: Why you Must Know Semantic Router in 2024: Part 1](https://medium.com/@learn-simplified/llm-apps-why-you-must-know-semantic-router-in-2024-part-1-bfbda81374c5), Medium
diff --git a/semantic_router/encoders/openai.py b/semantic_router/encoders/openai.py
index 7699c3c1558cde828055d28b1c313424d3253a54..de6c0599710b59a14124ae269eee3b047eb33063 100644
--- a/semantic_router/encoders/openai.py
+++ b/semantic_router/encoders/openai.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ class OpenAIEncoder(BaseEncoder):
     def __init__(
         self,
         name: Optional[str] = None,
+        openai_base_url: Optional[str] = None,
         openai_api_key: Optional[str] = None,
         openai_org_id: Optional[str] = None,
         score_threshold: float = 0.82,
@@ -29,11 +30,14 @@ class OpenAIEncoder(BaseEncoder):
             name = EncoderDefault.OPENAI.value["embedding_model"]
         super().__init__(name=name, score_threshold=score_threshold)
         api_key = openai_api_key or os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")
+        base_url = openai_base_url or os.getenv("OPENAI_BASE_URL")
         openai_org_id = openai_org_id or os.getenv("OPENAI_ORG_ID")
         if api_key is None:
             raise ValueError("OpenAI API key cannot be 'None'.")
         try:
-            self.client = openai.Client(api_key=api_key, organization=openai_org_id)
+            self.client = openai.Client(
+                base_url=base_url, api_key=api_key, organization=openai_org_id
+            )
         except Exception as e:
             raise ValueError(
                 f"OpenAI API client failed to initialize. Error: {e}"