Evolve Nutrition in Smithfield is a little more than 30 miles from Jeffries Field, the home of the Barton College softball team, in Wilson. But the Bulldogs’ softball program is an important part of Evolve’s origin story.
AnnaKate Gilchrist, 24, is a Johnston County native, a Barton graduate and yes, a former member of the softball team. It was that time spent in Wilson that led her to owning Evolve Nutrition and Inspire Nutrition in Clayton.
“I met Hayley, who used to own Evolve,” she said. “She was on the team with me at Barton. She was a couple years older than me, and she was opening her nutrition shop (in Wilson). So our whole team went out to support her. I quickly got addicted to the drinks and fell in love with the products. And she’s like, ‘you need to start working for me because you can at least use your paycheck on your drinks.’ Because she knew (that I was a) broke college kid.”
At first, the vast array of mega tea and shake options was daunting, but as one might expect from someone who went on to earn a master’s degree in strategic leadership and a bachelor’s in business administration, she picked it all up quickly.
After a couple of years working for her teammate, Gilchrist decided to buy her own in 2023. With the help of her parents, she ran Inspire Nutrition until she graduated in May. She added Evolve to her business portfolio in January 2025, and both shops are focused on teas and meal replacement shakes, both of which are healthy alternatives to sodas and sweets.
“It’s an herbal green tea,” she said. “That’s why it’s called a tea. But it’s basically a clean energy drink that tastes like flavors of Kool-Aid. They’re sweetened with Stevia, so there’s less than a gram of sugar in it. The caffeine in it is a clean energy source. It’s got your vitamins B6, B12 and C. It’s going to boost the metabolism with the guarana extract. So you’re actually burning 80 to 100 calories when drinking it, and the drink itself is only 25 calories without any add-ins.”
If you’ve had your caffeine fix for the day, the shakes are a solid option, too.
“It’s a full meal replacement,” she said. “It can be your breakfast, lunch or dinner. It’s 24 grams of soy protein. We do have whey protein that some people replace it with. But it is a complete meal replacement with 21 essential vitamins and nutrients. It’s low carb, low sugar and low fat.”
She credits her “amazing staff,” time management skills, her family and her faith for helping her on her journey.
“(My parents) were the ones meeting me late at night after my master classes got out at 10 p.m.,” she said. “I’d run up to Inspire, they’d meet me there and we’d work all night. They held it down on days that I couldn’t make it because I was traveling for softball. And just my faith alone. I couldn’t do anything without it. The Lord has provided me with so many blessings. And I wouldn’t be here without it.”
For more on AnnaKate’s shops, follow Inspire Nutrition and Evolve Nutrition on Facebook and Instagram.
