Day in the Life: Rockwall Chamber President Darby Burkey

(ROCKWALL, TX – Dec. 19, 2019) Hit the links at any one of the Rockwall golf courses and you just might run into Darby Burkey, President and CEO of the Rockwall Area Chamber of Commerce. Between organizing and attending Chamber events and strategizing with the Board to prepare for future and current goals, swinging a club while listening to music provides her much needed stress relief on her downtime. Anyone who graduated with Darby from Rockwall High School would not be surprised by this, as she played for the Yellow Jackets when she wasn’t busy being involved in almost every student organization available.

Darby grew up in Rockwall and only left to attend the University of North Texas in Denton where she studied Marketing. As fate would have it, she found her way back to Rockwall by taking over her parents’ business, Rockwall Flower and Design. As a result, Darby joined the Chamber and quickly connected with Chamber and community members who also happened to be her customers. Her first task, not surprisingly, was organizing the Rockwall Area Chamber of Commerce golf tournament. This eventually led to her being offered and accepting a position as VP of Partner Engagement and inevitably, President of the Chamber.

You would be hard pressed to find anyone else as passionate as Darby is about her career. She truly feels blessed to be able to “work” with her friends in the community on a daily basis. In fact, her favorite thing about living in Rockwall is that everywhere she goes she knows someone and she loves that about our community. She takes great pride in working with the Chamber which she believes is a vital part of connecting business leaders, government officials, and the community together.

Our conversation turned to her adorable toy fox terrier, Daisy, who I frequently see pictures of on Facebook. One of her favorite things to do on the weekends and evenings is to spend quiet time with Daisy or doing Pilates. Other than that you may find her taking in a good country concert (her music of choice) at Winstar, or in San Jacinto Plaza, or at local restaurants.

I imagine her down time right now is fairly limited with the big 90^th Anniversary Rockwall Area Chamber of Commerce Banquet that will be held at the Hilton on January 24. While she would not give me specifics, Darby teased that the theme is “The Greatest Chamber” and there will be some really great entertainment to go along with that.

Tickets are available at rockwallchamber.org and the event will include recognition for our local businesses (in fact, Blue Ribbon News was nominated for the BEST PRACTICES IN COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT Award!) Come spend an evening of fun celebrating the 90^th anniversary and while you’re there, stop and say hi to Darby!

By Mary Bierds, Blue Ribbon News. Photo courtesy of the Rockwall Area Chamber of Commerce.

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