Rhetor Communications
Expert Communications Services
What Rhetor Communications Delivers
At Rhetor Communications, we help leaders communicate with clarity — in moments of growth, crisis, or change. We offer smart, custom strategies grounded in research, driven by insight, and shaped by real-world experience. Whether you’re building trust with stakeholders, managing sensitive issues, or preparing for high-stakes public engagement, we bring the right balance of strategy, substance, and speed.
Founded by Jennifer Gearey, a communications leader trusted across federal government, media, and global institutions, Rhetor offers a full suite of services designed for organizations that can’t afford to get the message wrong.
Strategic Communications
We design strategies that are research-informed, goal-driven, and fully aligned with your organizational needs. That includes rapid-response planning in crisis situations, as well as short-term issue-focused strategies and long-term positioning. Whether it's a single campaign or enterprise-wide transformation, we map out smart communications pathways and help motivate your teams around shared goals. Each strategy includes clear measurement tools so you can track progress and impact — not just outputs, but outcomes.
Issues Management
The best response starts long before the headline. We help you anticipate problems, manage public scrutiny, and build messaging that holds under pressure. That includes message development, holding lines, stakeholder response strategies, and internal briefings to ensure alignment at every level.
Internal Communications
Your employees should never be the last to know. We help organizations connect with their internal audiences through timely, honest, and effective messaging — because internal trust and engagement are essential to your external success. From leadership notes to staff town halls, we make sure your internal comms have impact.
Digital Communications
We audit your current channels and content to assess what’s working — and what’s not. Then we build a smarter approach. We advise on tone, language, and content strategy for each digital channel, and help you use digital tools to engage, not just broadcast.
Stakeholder Mapping & Engagement
Knowing who to engage is just as important as knowing what to say. We map out key players, power structures, and influencers relevant to your issue or sector, then build customized engagement strategies that foster trust, manage expectations, and create allies instead of adversaries. Stakeholder trust isn’t won overnight. We help you build it.
Media Relations & Training
Not every file needs a press release. We help you assess when to speak, where to place your message, and how to shape the angle so it lands with the audience that matters. From behind-the-scenes guidance on incoming media inquiries to building a proactive media strategy, we offer strategic and tactical support at every level.
We also offer tailored, hands-on media training including interview prep for executives, spokespeople, and public figures. From broadcast coaching—everything from wardrobe to soundbites—to op-ed writing and editorial placement, we help you show up polished, prepared, and persuasive across all platforms.
External Communications
We help shape the public-facing messages that define your brand and reputation — across earned, owned, and paid channels. Whether it’s a public inquiry, a brand launch, a public awareness campaign, or a complex regulatory issue, we bring structure, discipline, and impact to your external messaging.
Speechwriting
Great speeches don’t happen by accident. They’re crafted with care, with rhythm, and with purpose. We work with leaders to shape speeches that resonate, move audiences, and leave a lasting impression. Whether it’s a keynote, testimony, or internal address, we capture your voice and bring your message to life.
Content Creation
From thought leadership to annual reports, we help clients tell their stories in ways that are powerful, professional, and on brand. That includes editorials, advertorials, talking points, ghostwriting, blog posts, campaign copy, newsletters, and more. We also provide content reviews, redline editing, and rewriting services for clients who want their message refined.
Crisis & Reputational Communications
When everything is moving fast and the stakes are high, we provide the steady hand. We offer real-time crisis planning and messaging, as well as long-term brand reputation strategies. We also provide issue-specific media monitoring so you know exactly what’s being said and how to respond when needed.
Government Relations
For clients navigating public policy, legislative files, or complex regulatory environments, we offer support rooted in experience inside federal departments and ministerial offices. We help you understand the process, build meaningful relationships, and communicate with credibility in political and bureaucratic environments.
About Rhetor Communications
Principal, Jennifer Gearey, is a battle-tested communicator with the instincts of a journalist, the resilience of a political advisor, and the strategy of a senior public servant. With over 20 years spent navigating Canada’s media, political, and public service landscapes, she brings unique insight into how messages move — and how reputations are made, managed, or mended.
Your Trusted Communications Partner
From Parliament Hill press scrums to crisis rooms in federal departments, Jennifer has worked both in front of the story and behind the scenes. Her early career as a journalist sharpened her ability to cut through noise — a skill she now uses to help organizations tell the right story, at the right time, to the right audience.
She has advised Cabinet ministers, top government executives, and international partners on issues as complex as global health crises, legislation, and defence. Jennifer brings this high-stakes experience to clients looking for clarity, credibility, and communications that resonate with audiences.
Jennifer doesn’t just build plans, she builds trust, momentum, and impact. Whether you need a compelling narrative, calm in the storm, or someone who can translate policy into plain language that people care about, Jennifer shows up, rolls up her sleeves, and gets it done. Her work ethic is relentless. Think of her as your communications fixer — part strategist, part storyteller, part emergency response unit.
Background
Jennifer has spent her career at the intersection of storytelling and strategy — where words don’t just inform, they influence.
She began as a journalist, chasing the facts and finding the heart of every story. Those early days in the newsroom — and later on Parliament Hill — gave her a deep understanding of how media and politics move in tandem, and how critical timing, tone, and truth are when the stakes are high.
Her path led into senior government, where she became a trusted advisor in some of the most complex, high-pressure portfolios in Canada. At the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, she helped shape global messaging on nuclear safety in the shadow of the war in Ukraine. At Health Canada, she steered public communications during the COVID-19 pandemic and led national messaging on opioids, safe supply, and harm reduction. She has held senior-level roles at Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Defence, the Treasury Board, and in the Senate — each time, the go-to person when clarity, credibility, and calm were needed most.
Jennifer brings together media savvy, policy fluency, and an unshakable work ethic. She’s not afraid to ask hard questions, cut through clutter, or call the play when the moment demands it. Her style is direct but thoughtful — part coach, part collaborator, always a step ahead.
Whether it's a global campaign, a critical stakeholder engagement, or preparing a CEO for a primetime interview, Jennifer brings the same discipline, creativity, and precision to every file.
She’s built a reputation for showing up, delivering results, and never backing down from a communications challenge.
Jennifer holds a Master’s in Journalism from Carleton University and a Bachelor’s in English Literature from Concordia. She’s fluent in both English and French, with working proficiency in Spanish, and maintains Secret-level security clearance.
Our Philosophy & Expertise
At Rhetor Communications, we believe strategic communications should not only be effective, but equitable. We are committed to working with organizations that value inclusion, representation, and respect — including meaningful engagement with underrepresented communities, Indigenous peoples, and LGBTQ+ voices. Leadership is about more than messaging. It’s about earning trust, creating space, and showing up with integrity every time.
