Basketball and softball were Lauren Henderson’s first loves, but after 10 years, she suffered a back injury, ultimately leading the College of Natural Resources alumna to her calling: advocating for women in sports and sport management. Today, she is pursuing her master’s degree in sport leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University.
“When a back injury unfortunately put me on the sidelines, I still wanted to advocate and contribute to the industry,” said Henderson, a May 2025 graduate of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management. “I was unfortunately misdiagnosed because of my gender and that led to me permanently having to retire from sports. So, that was always in the back of my mind, even as I came into the college as undecided.”
In choosing a major, sport management was the only one that truly stuck out to Henderson. Not only would it allow her to pursue the industry side of sports, but she could also advocate for women and other underrepresented groups.
During her four years in the sport management program, Henderson was ambitious and strived to perform her best in every class, which culminated in achieving a 4.0 each academic year. She also pursued several extracurricular activities. As a first-year student, she became involved with the Sports Science Club and was a member of a parks and recreation service team started by Keith Howard, an assistant teaching professor in the college.
Advocating for Women and Girls in Sports
Upon reaching her sophomore year, Henderson wanted to do more to advocate for women and underrepresented groups, so she became heavily involved with the Women in Sport Leadership Summit, also known as WISL.
“Being able to advocate for women and other underrepresented groups is pretty much my passion, so joining that was just a perfect fit,” Henderson said. “And luckily, I’ve been fortunate enough to collaborate on the past WISL summits, and then my senior year, I was made a student co-lead and administrator, so I helped plan every single spring series event we had.”
Henderson’s success throughout her journey at NC State was heavily influenced by Kim Bush, teaching professor of parks, recreation and tourism management. “She had been my number one supporter since I met her my sophomore year,” Henderson said. “She really took me under her wing and started to help me out of my shell, to help me to be more active.”
During her time with WISL, Henderson co-wrote the curriculums for the mentoring programs they taught at Saint Mary’s School and Washington Magnet Elementary School. Fellow alumna Tylene Powell, another May 2025 graduate of the sport management program, helped create the curriculums. She also helped plan the logistics of the summit’s networking event.
“There was also our Girls and Women in Sports Clinic that we have in Carmichael every year; I loved being able to see how it impacts people on a personal level,” Henderson said.
Building a Future in Sports Leadership
During the spring of 2024, the Hendersonville Honeycrisps baseball team was looking for a baseball operations intern, a role well suited for Henderson. That summer, she helped design merchandise for the team and helped run merchandise sales, which she helped to increase by about 120% by the end of the season. In addition, she ordered concessions, coordinated the food trucks, and helped coordinate with different nonprofit organizations and sponsors.
Henderson attributes her dedication and work ethic to her time in the college, in addition to her ability to speak up if there was something in particular for which she wanted to advocate. Due to her advocacy, the Henderson Honeycrisps held a special needs baseball night and a women and girls in sports night. At the former, all sales of autism awareness hats went to Special Needs Sports in Western North Carolina.
“The special needs baseball night was very important because my cousin, who lives in Hendersonville, is actually on the special needs baseball team there,” Henderson said. “It was pretty important being able to honor her at a game, as well as being able to continue to advocate for women in sports.”
What she thought was only going to be a summer internship actually became a seasonal opportunity for her for several months. From May through August, Henderson worked as a game day operations director and general manager for the Hendersonville Honeycrisps. In this role, she coordinated with different sponsors and different national anthem singers, helped drive group sales, helped manage the team’s marketing and promotions and hired a team of interns.
In August, Henderson headed off to Virginia for the next stage in her journey. At Virginia Commonwealth University, she is involved with two graduate assistantships with VCU Athletics, one in sport operations and the other with the equipment room.
“I’m going to get my master’s degree, and I want to use that in conjunction with the College of Natural Resources and my sport management degree to hopefully one day become a WNBA general manager, where I can not only focus on my love for basketball and help organize logistics, but then help use that platform of a WNBA team to create or continue working on certain initiatives to help promote girls and women in sports and other underrepresented groups.”
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