Women in Sports Media: Why Storytelling Is the Missing Piece in Women’s Running

Episode: S6E8 | Guest: Ashley Mateo (RunHer Magazine) and Olivia Witherite (OnBase Collective) | Aired March 19, 2026 | 1 hr 2 min

Author: Nick Klastava

Podcast Hosts: Nick Klastava & Amanda Katz

Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube

Women’s running has more visibility than ever, but visibility is not the same thing as good storytelling, and it is definitely not the same thing as fair pay. In this episode, Coach Amanda and I sat down with Ashley Mateo, founder and editor in chief of RunHer Magazine, and Olivia Witherite, founder of OnBase Collective and head of content at ATHLOS, for our first ever two-guest episode. It happened to land during Women’s History Month, and the conversation ended up being one of the most honest looks at the business of women’s running content we have had on the show.

Key Takeaways

•             Long-form, print storytelling still has a place in a scroll-fast media landscape, and it builds a different kind of connection with readers than a social post ever will.

•             Financial independence for women in sports media means charging fair rates, not shrinking them to seem more marketable.

•             There is a real difference between an influencer and a content creator, and neither is automatically an expert.

•             Media literacy is a growing problem. A PhD and a viral hot take can look identical in a comments section even though they carry very different weight.

•             Race broadcasts still cut away from the women’s race to show men finishing, and that coverage gap is a solvable, structural problem, not an accident.

•             Camaraderie is one of the biggest reasons women’s distance running resonates with everyday runners who will never run a track relay but can absolutely relate to grinding out a marathon.

Why Print Media Still Matters in a Scroll-First World

Ashley built RunHer Magazine as a physical, tangible product on purpose. In a world of infinite scroll, where a headline you wanted to click can vanish the second an app refreshes, a print magazine cannot disappear on you. It sits on a coffee table. You pass it to a friend. You sit with a story instead of skimming it. Ashley was explicit that RunHer is not built for service journalism, the how-to-find-the-best-shoes content that belongs on the internet where people search for it in the moment. It is built for the deeper stories: athletes doing things differently than the formula they were handed after college, runners navigating what it means to leave the sport, and the systemic problems inside the running industry that need more than a thousand-word feature to unpack.

Building Your Own Platform Instead of Waiting for Permission

Both Ashley and Olivia started their own thing after running into the same wall from different directions. Ashley kept pitching women-centered, long-form stories that simply were not getting assigned. Olivia was working in sports media, including a stint at The Athletic, and kept seeing an appetite for stories about women in sports that the existing structure was not built to prioritize. Instead of waiting for someone else to greenlight the coverage they wanted to see, they built it themselves: RunHer Magazine and OnBase Collective. If you have ever felt boxed in by what you are “allowed” to cover, write about, or post, this is the throughline of the episode. Control of the narrative is worth the leap.

What Financial Independence Actually Looks Like

This is where the episode gets refreshingly direct. Ashley talked about the instability of freelance income, being entirely dependent on other people saying yes to a pitch, and why she is intentional about paying every contributor to RunHer fairly, even when that means a premium subscription price. Her point: if you want to see more high-quality women’s running content in the world, someone has to be able to afford to make it, and that requires real financial support from subscribers, advertisers, and investors, not just goodwill.

Olivia added a piece that applies far beyond media: she used to lower her rates to seem more marketable, and it backfired by making her feel like she had less value than she actually brings. Standing firm on what your work is worth, even when it is uncomfortable, was one of the most practical takeaways from the whole conversation.

Content Creator vs. Influencer, and Why the Difference Matters

We got into a genuinely useful distinction here. Olivia defined a content creator as someone working with a specific skill or lens, photography, videography, storytelling, while an influencer is a broader term tied more to audience size and reach. Ashley pointed out that the bigger issue is not the label, it is media literacy: too many people cannot tell the difference between someone sharing an evidence-backed recommendation and someone sharing a personal opinion dressed up as fact. A PhD researcher’s nuanced, “it depends” answer does not perform the way a confident, clippable take does, and the algorithm cannot tell the difference between good information and good engagement.

The Coverage Gap Nobody Has Fixed Yet with Women in Sports Media

Ashley called out something a lot of running fans have noticed but rarely hear named directly: race broadcasts routinely cut away from the women’s race right as it gets exciting to show the men finishing. It is not a conspiracy, it is often a local broadcast decision with limited resources, but it is still a systemic problem worth naming. The audience for women’s sports is there. Track and field, marathoning, and road racing keep proving that women’s races draw just as much passion and following as the men’s, especially in a sport where nearly anyone in the audience can relate to running a 5K or a marathon themselves, even if they will never run a 400 relay.

Guest Bios

Ashley Mateo is the founder and editor in chief of RunHer Magazine. Her writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Runner’s World, and TIME, and she is a certified running coach based in Denver, CO. Find her on Instagram and at runhermag.com.

Olivia Witherite is the owner of OnBase Collective, a social media strategy and brand marketing agency, and head of content at ATHLOS, a women’s track and field league. She runs with the Brooks Running Collective and Dashing Whippets in New York City and publishes a weekly sports jobs newsletter. Find her on Instagram

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is representation in women’s sports media still an issue? Race broadcasts and media coverage have historically defaulted to a male-first lens, cutting away from competitive women’s races to show men finishing and giving women’s sports less airtime overall. This is a structural, fixable problem, not a reflection of audience interest, since audiences consistently show up for women’s sports when they get equal coverage.

What is the difference between a content creator and an influencer in running? A content creator typically works with a specific skill or format, like photography, video, or written storytelling, while an influencer is a broader term tied to audience reach. Neither label indicates expertise on its own. The more important question is whether someone has the credentials or evidence to back up what they are recommending.

How can runners support better women’s sports media? Financially. Subscribing to independent publications, following creators who cite real sources, and choosing brands that pay contributors fairly all help build a media landscape that can afford to tell deeper, more accurate stories about women’s running.

Why does print media still matter for running content? Print offers a different kind of engagement than social media. It cannot disappear when an app refreshes, it encourages readers to sit with longer narrative journalism, and it gives space to the systemic, identity-driven, and industry-level stories that do not fit into a short-form post.