Neely Burks

Hi, I'm Neely Burks, Founder & President of SourceYourCity.

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  A graduate of the University of Tennessee in public relations, Burks began her career at the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce as a public relations coordinator.   While at the Chamber, she managed media relations, fielding source requests from both local and national press—an experience that laid the foundation for an idea that would eventually become SourceYourCity.   Taking the plunge into agency life, Burks joined KVBPR in 2008 where she also managed media relations efforts for Pfizer, First Tennessee, Smith Seckman Reid, SSRCx, Stites & Harbison, LandDesign and The Blakeford. Here, she further honed her PR skill-set as she worked to garner news clips for clients in local, regional and in some cases, national markets.   Through her experiences, she became familiar with various technology-based services that broker source exchanges between journalist and PR professionals. Although effective national options like Help A Reporter Out (HARO) and ProfNet are available, Burks noted a need for efficient sourcing on a local level.   In-between this market lag, SourceYourCity was born. Founded in August 2010, SourceYourCity connects local reporters with local experts to enhance the quality of local news.  

Copywriter at Sullivan Branding

September 2011 - Present | Nashville, TN

Manage copywriting needs for a variety of clients in the healthcare and hospitality sectors

Account Executive at Katcher Vaughn & Bailey Public Relations (KVBPR)

March 2008 - June 2010

I specialized in hyper-local media relations for a variety of clients in health care, banking, engineering, legal, senior services and social enterprise.

Public Relations and Communications Coordinator at Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce

October 2006 - March 2008

Media relations management with responsibilties that included fielding source requests from both local and national press—an experience that laid the foundation for an idea that would eventually become SourceYourCity.

Founder, President at SourceYourCity

August 2010

SourceYourCity is a virtual community connecting local reporters and local experts to enhance the enhance the quality of local news through confidential news sourcing in real-time.

University of Tennessee-Knoxville

2002 – 2006

Advertising with a concentration in Public Relations

Public Relations, Media Relations, Technology, Entrepreneurship