By Cameron Lee
July 16, 2025
When Vashti Hurt, a UNC Charlotte graduate and Columbia, South Carolina native, first stepped into the media world in 2013, women made up just 11% of sports reporters and journalists, according to the Associated Press Sports Editors Racial & Gender Report Card.
Hurt’s voice and platform are now familiar to anyone following Carolina Panthers press conferences or ACC basketball postgame scrums, but in 2014, she launched her own sports media company, Carolina Blitz, mainly because no one would hire her.
“I applied for every sports job imaginable,” Hurt recalls. “I went to NABJ conferences. I tried everything just to get my foot in the door — I couldn’t even get an interview.”
Hurt’s path to the press box was anything but traditional. A psychology major at UNC Charlotte and a former stockbroker, she once envisioned becoming a sports psychologist — before sports psychology was a widely accepted profession.
“It was just as simple as blending two things I loved,” she said. “I wasn’t fully aware of how much of a mental toll collegiate or professional sports could have on young people.”
While she jokes she wasn’t up for the years of rigorous training and licensing to become a psychologist, Hurt says her background still shapes how she covers sports — especially in locker rooms dominated by men. Her demeanor and thoughtful questions often draw different, more open responses.
“I could tell I was received not differently, but like a breath of fresh air,” she said. “The way I pose questions, the way I interact — I could be a sister, a cousin, an auntie, a homegirl. And I think that’s refreshing.”
A Tomgirl with a Love for ACC Hoops
Growing up in Gamecocks country, Hurt’s first sports obsession was actually ACC basketball. She vividly remembers the old CRT televisions being rolled into classrooms to watch local teams like Clemson in the ACC Tournament. As a child, she was also a competitive swimmer and played basketball at Irmo High School — fiercely competitive, she always wanted to “compete with the boys.”
Her favorite NBA players growing up were Michael Jordan and Penny Hardaway, but she didn’t fully embrace football until the Panthers’ first Super Bowl run in 2003, when she was in college. She credits Julius Peppers — the UNC two-sport legend she was a big fan of — and the video game Madden for teaching her football.
“I would watch the guys in the dorm rooms, and they all wanted to play Madden. And I was like, okay, I’ll learn, because I really wanted to decode Madden,” Hurt said. “So I learned how to play, and through learning to play Madden, I learned football — defense, the difference between a 3-4 and a 4-3, what a zone blitz is, a corner blitz, a safety blitz — and then offense. That’s how I actually learned football, just through my competitive nature.”
From the Banking Floor to the Locker Room
Like many UNC Charlotte grads, Hurt started her career in banking — working in a call center and then earning her Series 7 license right before the 2008 financial meltdown.
“You’re supposed to have a mentor and work your way up, but I was just thrown to the wolves,” she said. Eventually, she realized the corporate grind wasn’t for her.
“It just wasn’t worth it. I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
Before she left banking, a co-worker and friend, Stephanie Glover, invited Hurt to write a weekly sports column for her blog, Meet the Fresh.
“I’d break down the games and people started reading it,” Hurt said. “It was fun. I picked football because it was easier to recap one or two games a week.”
Those weekly columns led to an opportunity with Black Sports Online, which credentialed Hurt to cover her first NCAA Tournament — Duke in Philadelphia. She paid her own way, and walked away certain she’d found her calling.
“I remember leaving Philly and thinking, this is what I want to do,” Hurt said. “That was my aha moment. I knew nothing. I probably had my credential checked 1,000 times, because back then, there weren’t many women doing it.”
From Mt. Zion to the Panthers Beat to the Super Bowl
Since that first NCAA Tournament game, Hurt has hustled for every opportunity, but in 2018, Zion Williamson’s electric freshman year at Duke became a turning point. Covering the Blue Devils for a full season put Carolina Blitz on the map — and in social media algorithms across the region — earning millions of online impressions and expanding the platform’s reach.
“I remember one time, I was in three different states in a 48-hour period. I did a Panthers thing, I was in Chapel Hill for a UNC game, and I flew to New York for a Duke game,” said Hurt.
Her determination paid off, and Hurt set her sights on covering the Panthers next, emailing their communications staff relentlessly until they finally gave her access. “I think they were like, Lord, just let her come,” she joked.
Today, Hurt is a staple on the Panthers beat and one of the Carolinas’ most trusted independent media voices. Her candid questions and timely clips make Carolina Blitz a go-to source for fans, and Hurt has even covered the last four Super Bowls as one of the few women-owned outlets credentialed to the world’s largest one-day sporting event.
A New Playbook for Women in Sports Media
Hurt knows Carolina Blitz wouldn’t exist if those early job applications had worked out. The rejection fueled her drive to build something of her own — and to compete in a space still dominated by men.
“I think that the universe or God or whatever higher power you believe in, will make things move, or will give you things, or not give you things that will further your progress,” said Hurt. “I think not getting a job was the best thing that could have happened to me.”
Her advice for anyone following her path is simple: show up, stay consistent, and authentic.
“It might be one of the hardest things to do, because you might not see people looking at your stuff, but you never know what’s going to pop,” she said. “Don’t try to be somebody else, be yourself, because that’s what people are going to resonate with.”
Hurt leads by example: showing up as her authentic self at practices, pressers, and big games. She’s focused on growing Carolina Blitz with new partnerships, contributors, and community events — while also growing as a journalist and business owner.
“Each year, I look for growth — more money, more followers, but also: have I grown as a reporter? Am I trending upward?”
For Vashti Hurt and Carolina Blitz, that upward trend shows no signs of slowing down — in a game where she’s learned to call her own plays and carve her own path, leading the charge in the region for women in independent sports media.
Check out Carolina Blitz for Panthers coverage this upcoming season on X (Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
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