Meet Emily Bergh | Founder – R Public Relations

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emily Reynolds Bergh. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emily below.

What was your thought process behind starting your own business?

It actually wasn’t a planned thing, I just sort of fell into it. When I was a single mom of two young kids, I was just trying to hold things together—I had no idea what my calling was and envied people who had that kind of direction, like knowing you wanted to be a backup dancer for Madonna since the time you were three years old! But I always enjoyed writing, I did a good bit of it in college, and I was always socially inclined, just loved being around and working with other people. I happened upon a promotional writing job, and that turned into a longer gig, and one thing led to another until someone took a chance on me and offered me a PR job. I just took to it, I felt comfortable and in flow; and I was strongly motivated by not wanting to let my boss down.

But with two kids under five, the job just wasn’t a good fit for our schedule, so I decided to go freelance. Lots of networking and connections later, I found myself with enough clients to actually be able to hire some assistants to help me fulfill the workload. Flash forward more than a dozen years later, and here I am running R Public Relations (RPR), which operates out of five cities nationwide and serves an incredible range of clients both locally and remotely. I’ve been called an “accidental entrepreneur,” I guess because my passion and my life circumstances birthed my PR firm instead of a business plan or a five-year strategy. I relish the creative side and the customer relations, but I admit that the business aspect is still the hardest part for me.

Alright, so let’s jump right in! The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there a person, group, organization, book, etc., that you want to dedicate your shoutout to? Who else deserves a little credit and recognition in your story?

I really have a lot of people to thank, so I appreciate this opportunity to do so. My first-ever client, Jason Dady and his wife, Crystal, of Jason Dady Restaurants, were wonderful mentors—they served as an incredible source of support for me when I started my business and then pursued my goal of becoming a publicist. All the agencies I worked with along the way taught me not only what to do, but even more importantly, what not to do in all things marketing (I’m still learning!). I simply must call out Madison Baber, my longest-running staff member and now the marketing director of RPR for her loyalty and ceaseless dedication. Everyone on my team now—all the staff in Nashville, New York, Texas, LA, the UK, and beyond—we truly form a circle of collaboration, and I’m so honored to work with each and every one of them.

Oh, gosh, all the coffee shops that gave me a start in networking, The Malin office space that now houses our Nashville office, and of course my husband, Colter; I couldn’t do any of this without his support and his input as RPR’s CEO.

In terms of some other individuals who enhance my daily efforts now, my marketing sisters come immediately to mind: Mariko Hickerson of Huckleberry Branding, Kristen Kukta of Unblurred Media, and Tianna Christiansen of SocialCake. I also rely on Erin Pacitti of Paralian Marketing, Cindy Nixon of Bookmarker Editorial Services, and Laura Schweizer of Local on 2, our media training guru.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the book that’s been most impactful for me: “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert. As a creative entrepreneur, it’s my own personal bible and finds a place on the shelf in each RPR office.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally? Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way? What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?

We are a group of exceptional PR and marketing professionals situated across the globe. Because we work so well with lifestyle brands (especially travel and hospitality), we love a good bite to eat and are always up for jet-setting adventures. We are cultural and fashion trend seekers, aiming to identify what’s going to take off next so we can translate that to our projects for our clients.

Because my firm started out so small and I have a very personal, hands-on management style, RPR really does treat clients like family, making their business our business and prioritizing their dreams and goals. We’ve got a long list of enduring relationships that evidence our level of care and longevity in the industry, so I’d say that’s what I’m most proud of. And I remain excited about the diversity and breadth of our client list—from celebrities to corporate accounts to mom-and-pops; each brings something distinctive to the table and each keeps my firm growing. But the one thing we have in common, the one thing all my clients possess, is a passion for their work. Whenever I’m talking to someone, if I see their eyes light up when they’re telling me about what they do, I know we’d make a great fit, and so I’ll send a text or email to connect. When I had my first-born child, Lilah, I promised her and myself that I would go to work every single day utterly loving what I do, and that’s exactly what has happened. I couldn’t have it any other way.

That said, it’s been far from easy to build a business from scratch just on the fuel of passion! As I mentioned earlier, the business parts of business pose the challenges for me—the craft has always been what’s come naturally and easily. I’ve learned to tackle those challenges by breaking down tasks into smaller building blocks and becoming more familiar with and adept at managing them over time and with practice.

We’re currently in the process of becoming accredited by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and I’m really enthusiastic about that—happy to take whatever test is needed to show that we’re the best of the best. We don’t feel like we own R Public Relations; we feel like it’s our clients’ business, here solely to serve them and help their brands thrive. So we merge their aspirations with their vision and bring it to life! We aim for nothing less than setting the bar in the PR space … and then raising that for ourselves any way we can.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc. In your view, what are some of the most fun, interesting, exciting people, places or things to check out?

If my best friend was visiting Nashville, I would start in The Gulch. RPR’s office space in The Malin is just gorgeous, so I would treat my friend to a wine-and-cheese pairing there hosted by the manager, Gina (we love you, Gina!) as we mapped out what they’d most like to do and see, like touring the Ryman and the Grand Ole Opry. BBQ, sweet tea, live music—they’re all imperatives. So we’d go to the legendary Peg Leg Porker and hopefully catch the owner, Carey, there so he could regale us with some of his incredible stories in the loft upstairs as we sampled and sipped. I’d make sure to include a happy hour and whiskey tasting at Burger + Grain, and for the dinner hours, we could restaurant hop to places like Bringle’s Smoking Oasis, The Pharmacy Burger, and Urban Cowboy, a favorite of mine, for some tots, a craft beer, and great music. That’s a lot of eating and drinking, I realize, but Nashville is such a foodie hot spot! It would be so fun to introduce my friend to Puttshack for next-level mini golf like you’ve never experienced. And our evenings would no doubt be spent on Broadway, where we’d dance the night away at Robert’s Western World.

Website: https://rprfirm.com/

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Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/r-public-relations-firm/

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Image Credits
Josh Huskin