Evergreen & Oak: How two female leaders branched out on their own to create an adtech PR powerhouse

Next up in our Female Founders series in celebration of Women’s History Month are the co-founders of Evergreen and Oak, Lacy Talton and Brook Terran. These two women are niche Public Relations experts in the adtech and martech industries. 

As we uncovered in our conversation, there is a real need for these companies to tell a unique story to stand out in the space — what better way to do it than with press, and with who better to do it than these two remarkable women? Let’s dive into their journey to female co-founders, their unique superpower, and their words of wisdom for likeminded women.

We started out getting to know these two women — their locations, their background, and ultimately their “why” — why the adtech industry and why did they go out on their own?

A natural pivot

Lacy and Brook are based in “the triangle” (no, not the one below Canal) that encompasses the cities of  Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill in North Carolina.  The women shared that while Evergreen & Oak launched four years ago, they actually share ten years of working experience together. 

Covid marked a turning point in both of their careers and was ultimately the catalyst for their pivot into entrepreneurship. Lacy “went freelance” during Covid, while Brook went to do in-house PR. 

Covid was a strange time for all industries, the adtech industry was no exception. Clients needed guidance navigating unprecedented times: advertisers were cutting budgets, employee health was at risk and people were stuck at home. Lacy saw a lot of demand for her services and Brook decided to join her. According to the women, they “rolled that quickly into a partnership, then quickly into the foundations that would become Evergreen and Oak.” Adtech companies turned to Lacy and Brook for their steady hand through the bumpy seas. 

Adtech was in the DNA of the company from day one due to their deep relationships both on the media and the client side, so becoming the masters of adtech PR really behooved them. During Covid, Adtech companies turned to Lacy and Brook for their steady hand through the bumpy seas, and still rely on them today to navigate the tumultuous tech waters of 2025.

What’s in a name

While the roots of the business were planted and growing organically, they were in need of a name that would resonate for them as well as their clients. They ultimately landed on Evergreen and Oak. Brook broke down the name for us: “Raleigh is the city of Oaks. It's a bit of a homage to where we're based, while “Evergreen” relates to a media relations term, which is “evergreen stories” that have that lingering and mass appeal.” 

On working together

One of the benefits of their partnership is that there was no awkward first date — these two were in a thriving marriage from day one of their business. “We're both very type-A and really care about what we do. We've always brought that to our clients, which I think is the reason a lot of them wanted to come back and work with us again,” said Lacy. 

Evergreen & Oak’s approach

The services that Evergreen & Oak provide include public relations and marketing services. Brook elaborated that their services are really “centered around strategy, media relations, of course, and a lot of content.” On top of this, they consult on owned events, sponsored speaking and awards.

While they are able to take on a lot of work, they focus on steady growth and make decisions based on the best interest of their clients.  While some PR agencies sell in senior-level experts that ultimately barely touch the account, Lacy and Brook remain highly engaged with each client throughout the partnership, on an evergreen basis, of course.

Lacy commented that clients often complain about being sold a “rinse and repeat strategy,” forcing clients to fit their strategy vs. making their strategy fit their client. At Evergreen and Oak, they offer tailored strategies and are “voices of leadership” to their clients, always proactive, never reactive. 

“We've got many [clients] that have been with us since the beginning. We value them and want to keep those relationships active.”

They also take a “reporter-first approach.” “Working in the space for 15 years, we know what it takes for reporters to sell stories in to their editors,” said Lacy. Rather than “just hammering them with press releases of what you think is interesting,” Lacy and Brook focus on being a trusted advisor to reporters and clients alike.

 Their superpower? Narrative economics

Brook emphasized what truly makes Evergreen & Oak unique is their focus on “narrative economics” — essentially, leveraging storytelling to positively impact key business metrics. She added that they shine “a light on our clients in a way that directly impacts their public presence, ultimately leading to driving revenue. When it comes down to it, that's what we're all focused on.

Because of their trusted client partnerships, clients are willing to share data so they can assess if their narratives are truly moving the needle, i.e., confirming if those top tier placements are growing market share and driving metrics like web traffic. 

Founders lessons

The women shared a few lessons they learned throughout their journey as founders. 

In the early days, they were experiencing fast growth while Lacy was actually expecting a baby. Lacy explained that there was so much happening that they did not take the time to really think about certain aspects of the business, specifically around operations. From this experience Lacy recommends that founders “slow down” and celebrate your accomplishments, and “push yourself to think bigger about the company too.”

Brook cites the shift from “employee to employer” as being a lingering lesson, even four years in. “When you've spent, you know, many, many years of your career in one mindset and then you have to completely inverse that approach, that's been interesting,” Brook commented. “You see a much bigger picture than you ever do as an employee.”

They both mention the importance of mindset, and that they learned how to give yourself “physical and mental space” from the day to day in order to incite creativity and innovation for their own business and their clients. “There's less room for creativity when you're jumping from one call to the next or sitting on email or making phone calls. Really even just something as small as, like, getting out and taking a walk with the dog” helps them keep their mind clear and the ideas fresh. 

An early, positive lesson they learned is that cultivating “rising star” talent has been a successful way to grow their business while growing their leadership skills and growing their employees’ PR skills.

We always say “it's more challenging to be creative in B2B. If you can master B2B and adtech marketing and PR, you can probably shift to where you have a tangible product a little easier than vice versa.”

Final thoughts

Our founders left us with some parting thoughts for any women looking to grow their careers or their own businesses. Lacy’s advice for someone who's trying to grow their career at a company would be “try to get your hands in as many things as possible. Volunteer to take on things that are new challenges because when you are ready to start your own thing, you'll have that much more insight and experience doing things outside of just the day to day.”

Brook mentions “outsourcing things that don’t need your special touch,” and to embrace imperfection. “You know, perfection is just not real.” 

Finally, as entrepreneurs, they both emphasize the importance of relying on your network. According to the founders, tapping into your network helps you test your ideas and create viable paths forward.

We learned many valuable lessons from these two incredible female founders. What it comes down to is helping each other  — whether it’s your client, your business partner, a former colleague, or a friend — lending your time, your expertise, or your network, all of these can help women grow their business or their careers.