Roslyn is a co-founder and head of operations and finance at The GIST, a women-led and operated digital sports media company with a mission of leveling the playing field in sports. Roslyn leads the team’s operations, finance, audience growth, analytics, and technology. Roslyn and her team have been accelerated through programs with Facebook, Comcast NBCUniversal, Techstars, and the Trailblazer Venture Studio involving Billie Jean King, and were named Forbes 30 Under 30 in their media category. Prior to going full-time with The GIST, Roslyn worked in deals at PwC and graduated with a Commerce degree from Queen’s University (where she met her two co-founders!).

How did The GIST come to be?

When my co-founders, Ellen, Jacie, and I got together, we made an observation: Although we’d been athletes and sports fans our whole lives, no one in sports media was talking to women—or about them. Knowing we were not alone in this, we decided to take on the male-dominated sports industry and level the playing field—literally.

We chose to channel our obsession with athletics into creating a space where ALL people are welcome in the larger cultural conversation around sports.

The GIST—created by fans for fans of all levels, genders, and beyond. Featuring balanced coverage of women’s and men’s sports, told through a new lens and with a different perspective, no topic is off limits. And fan-first content covers issues that affect everyone in the athletic space.

Since 2019, we’ve grown The GIST into a community of over 850K, including 25+ women and non-binary folks who are making sports fun and accessible for all. In this newly defined arena, there’s always room on the roster for new players and everyone is welcome to play the game.

What sets The GIST apart from other media outlets?

One of the key reasons why we stand out from other media outlets is that we’ve always started with the “why” behind the newsletter: the mission of leveling the playing field, the notion of bringing a conversational female voice to a traditionally male-dominated space, and the fact that we were serving an untapped, underserved market.

The GIST is all about bringing long-absent female voices and perspectives to the forefront, which allows us to provide a refreshing angle on sports in comparison to the traditionally male-dominated sports space. And with that comes equal coverage for both men’s and women’s sports. Get your NFL and your USWNT news in the same place.

In comparison to traditional media, we’re also talking to all sports fans. We want to be that witty, sports-obsessed best friend that you turn to learn more. We provide curation and context so that the newsletter is a meaningful read no matter someone's background or experience.

At the same time, our newsletter is fun and lighthearted — we’re the opposite of the exclusive or dry format that you’re used to seeing in traditional sports columns. We want to welcome people into the sports community, not push them away from it.

We hold ourselves to very high journalistic standards, producing high-quality and thoughtful content in each and every newsletter, while also having an irreverent voice and inclusive takes.

What core values have you established for your company?

The core values we’ve established as a company are progressiveness, equality, inclusivity, and community and we define those as follows.

Progressiveness: Our fan-first content is all about what matters to them, widening the conversation and including perspectives that haven’t previously been given a voice. We talk about issues that affect everyone in the athletic space (both on and off the field), and no topic is off the table.

Equality: Balanced coverage of women’s and men’s sports is only half the answer in a space that’s kept women on the sidelines. With sports as a main driver of culture, we believe in and are dedicated to making it accessible to everyone, leveling the playing field in the process. Inclusivity: It’s not just what you say that matters but how you say it. We deliver sports highlights and news for everyone—from seasoned fans to first-time watchers. We don’t just inform, we invite everyone to join the exciting world of sports.

Community: We’re not just building a sports community, we’re growing the entire sports fanbase by reaching athletes and casual fans who’ve traditionally been excluded. Our safe, supportive spaces are for learning, sharing, and getting “into it” with other fans who meet you at your level.

How has social media helped serve the mission of your company?

Social media has been hugely impactful to our mission of leveling the playing field, both at the sports industry level, as well as at our company level.

At the industry level, social media has played a major role in the democratization of attention paid to women’s sports as well as to media companies that prioritize female and diverse voices in sports. Before social media, the major sports media outlets decided how much airtime women’s sports and female voices got, regardless of what fans may have wanted or been asking for. With social media, sports fans and the general population decide who they give their time and attention to, which has allowed female athletes to grow their own followings (and correspondingly incomes) and to serve as a proof point for the demand for and commercialization potential for women’s sports.

At the company level, social media has been an amazing place for female fans to discover us as well as for us to welcome new fans into the fold. Part of what we do is provide approachable, engaging, inclusive content and a safe space for women and underserved sports fans to grow their sports fandom. Social media is a very low-barriers and easy way to meet people where they are and invite them into the sports conversation at their own pace. As they grow in their sports fandom and want more information, we can then direct them to other GIST channels, like our newsletters and podcast.

How often do you send out newsletters, and what helped you determine that scheduling structure?

The overarching purpose across all of our channels is to ensure GISTers feel informed about the need-to-know latest in sports. We achieve this through our three separate newsletters that cover mainstream sports, women’s sports business, and college sports respectively.

Our sports newsletter is sent 4x-weekly in addition to our special editions. With mainstream sports, there’s always something happening, so our Monday, Wednesday, and Friday sports newsletters allow us to keep GISTers in the know on the latest sports news. We also send a Sunday Scroll which provides a deeper dive into a specific topic, like Sportwashing in the World Cup, or the impact of Title IX. Our special edition newsletters act as a timely cheat sheet for big upcoming sporting events like the World Cup or the start of a new season or a championship game.

Our women's sports business and college newsletters are each sent 3x-weekly (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) for now. Those two newsletters are relatively new (both launched in 2022) so we’re currently still learning from those audiences how they’d like us to add additional value in these areas and how we should increase the frequency or introduce new channels altogether for additional coverage in college or women’s sports business.

Can you tell us a little bit about ‘The GIST of It’?

The GIST of It is our twice-weekly podcast where our co-hosts, Ellen Hyslop (also our co-founder and head of content) and Stephanie Rotz, discuss current sports topics and how they intersect with pop culture and social issues. This could mean giving the latest on the NFL quarterback DeShaun Watson's suspension, or it might mean providing our audience with information on how the NWSL playoffs are set up.

We know that GISTers are multidimensional and are interested in all types and facets of sports news. Outside of recaps and previews, our audience is thoroughly interested in sports stories that intersect with culture including pay equity, workplace culture, etc. and the podcast is a prime spot to dive a little bit deeper and provide our opinion on these topics. As an all-female and non-binary content team, we approach these sports stories with a very unique lens and perspective and pride ourselves on having a progressive take.

What is your favorite athlete quote, and why?

Billie Jean King, who is a major inspiration (and now a partner of The GIST), says: “Sports are a microcosm of society.”. This is really important to us because it gives meaning to the work we’re doing in a way that transcends sports. We’ve chosen to direct our work towards an industry that, like many, is dominated by those with privilege, and one that also is displayed on the world stage. We hope that any contributions The GIST make in leveling the playing field not only directly impact our community, the athletes we write about, and women in the sports industry at large, but that The GIST also inspires women and those in underrepresented groups to take up space in any and all of the places they’ve traditionally been excluded from. □

Article Credits

Roslyn’s Instagram: @roslynatthegist

Roslyn’s LinkedIn: @RoslynMxLarty

The GIST’s Twitter: @thegistusa

The GIST’s TikTok: @thegistsports

The GIST’s Instagram: @thegistusa

The GIST’s Facebook: @TheGistUSA

The GIST’s LinkedIn: @TheGIST

The GIST’s Website: www.thegistsports.com

The GIST’s Podcast: @TheGistOfIT

Photo Credits: Robyn Pearson and @smooth.studios