About Us

Oak City Communications began in 2019 with me – Coleen Hanson Smith – and has since grown to an extended network of exceptional colleagues I’ve worked with over the years who I can call on as needed. Our goal is to help organizations that don’t have the marketing resources they need to achieve their goals – without the commitment that comes with hiring someone full-time.

About Coleen Hanson Smith

After 20 years of working in both agency and in-house marketing teams, I started Oak City Communications to help companies looking for freelance support get the help they need. I understand how hard it is to find reliable, talented freelance support when you don’t know where to start or the workload gets overwhelming. I’m not flaky, I don’t need babysitting or hand-holding and my partners and I deliver exceptional work – quickly and with little direction. I’m passionate about what I do and I only work for organizations that I truly believe in, thus my focus on select niche areas – all of which I believe provide value to our community, humanity and/or our local economy.

I graduated from North Carolina State University (self-funded) with a bachelor of arts degree in Communications and a concentration in Public Relations. From there, I spent more than five years working at local PR/Advertising agencies including BtB Marketing Communications, French/West/Vaughan and RBW Advertising – a blur of long hours and a barrage of awesome clients I credit with inspiring my unwavering work ethic, creativity and passion for marketing.

From there, I joined the in-house marketing team of former client, WakeMed Health & Hospitals where I’ve spent the past 13 years learning the complexities of health care, the incredible value of internal and stakeholder communications, and the thrill of developing meaningful, clever marketing campaigns for one of the best health care systems in the country (yes, I am biased). I’m proud to say they are my client once again!

About My Partners

While I have decades of experience in many facets of marketing, there are many times I need to call on the experts for back-up. Fortunately, I have an incredible network of like-minded freelance professionals who specialize in things I can’t do alone – such as graphic design, web design, media buying, video production, photography and publicity. Rest assured, if I bring in a partner to work on a project for you – you’re getting the very best in the business. Learn more about our partners.