PRSay Houston

Strategic Comms in the Political Sector

• Veronica V. Sopher, PRSA Member and Host

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Welcome Jordan Hunter Rice, to PRSay – the podcast of the Houston PRSA Chapter.
In this episode, Jordan shares about Strategic Comms in the Political Sector.

Jordan Hunter Rice, a policy analyst and strategic communications expert, leads teams in developing actionable strategies and guides clients through the ever-evolving political and economic environment. A former White House Press Secretary and congressional staffer, she is plugged into the policy world and 24-hour news cycle to ensure her clients are ahead of what’s to come.

While on Capitol Hill, she created and executed communications campaigns and strategies for a wide range of policy arenas and supported efforts on the House Armed Services Committee. After her stint on the Hill, Rice served as press secretary at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she delivered on communications strategies supporting over 90 science and technology streams and played an integral role in the COVID-19 international science response.

She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelors of Science in Political Communications and worked in the Texas State Capitol throughout her time in Austin.

Connect with Jordan at:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-hunter-rice/
Instagram: @jordan.like.mike
Facebook: Jordan Hunter Rice

Learn more about the PRSA Houston Chapter, our events and opportunities at www.prsahouston.org.

PRSay is brought to you by Veronica V. Sopher, Public Relations 

Veronica Sopher:

Welcome to PRSay, the podcast of the Houston chapter, the Public Relations Society of America. On PRSay. We spotlight our talented members and get to know each other a little better. If you are a PRSA Houston chapter member and don't get a chance to network as much as you'd like, or are unable to attend our in-person events, here's your chance to connect with your fellow members. Hello, and welcome to the award-winning podcast of PRSA the Houston chapter, we are PRSay. And I'm your host, Veronica Sopher. So excited to be here with you because I have an opportunity to introduce you to yet another one of our fantastic members here in the Houston chapter. So before I bring on my guest, just a couple of housekeeping rules and tips for you if you have not already, let us know where you're checking in from if you're watching on YouTube or Facebook, drop us some comments we want to hear from, from where you're tuning in and on what platform you're checking us out on. If you are listening on the podcast, make sure you hit subscribe. We don't want you to miss any episode of PRSay because we're constantly introducing you to new members, because our focus is getting to know each other so that we can have a really robust network here in the Houston chapter of prsa. So with that, I'm going to go ahead and bring on our guest. We have the amazing Jordan Rice joining us. Hello, and welcome.

Jordan Hunter Rice:

Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to chat. Awesome.

Veronica Sopher:

Well, Jordan, you're gonna you're coming to us with a really amazing background, street strategic communications, some political communications, you've got experience in the nonprofit agency and government sector. So I can't wait to learn more about you just so excited about having you on. Yeah,

Jordan Hunter Rice:

Thank you, I'm excited to talk about it.

Veronica Sopher:

So tell us a little bit about your background, what got you into comms because you clearly have you took a couple of different paths along the way. But what directed you right to where you're at right now?

Jordan Hunter Rice:

Yeah, absolutely. So I studied political communications at the University of Texas in Austin, which was a great place to do that, because I had the opportunity to also work in the Texas Capitol while I was there. And I started in communications, I worked for a representative and then for the Speaker of the House, and then in true me fashion wanted something something bigger. So I've moved to DC. The same week I graduated from college, and started on Capitol Hill with a member who was the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. So really got into national security and armed forces. But really, I mean, every issue under the sun we worked on, which was which was great to kind of learn from that. And then from there, I went to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, as a press secretary and worked with a lot of scientists, frankly, and worked on 90 different streams. But again, in true me fashion moved across the country, again to Santa Monica, California, where I worked for a nonprofit, and the veterans and first responders space. And now I'm back in Houston, I've been working for an agency out of DC remotely while here. But but happy to be back where my my roots are and trying to get more involved in the Houston Community, which has been really fun and so many different characters of people, which I love about Houston.

Veronica Sopher:

Oh, for sure. And our chapters great because we've got folks in all of the different spaces that you mentioned, plus oil and gas, plus education, plus health care. So you really get a breadth of knowledge when you're at our events. And so tell me, what what what are some of the, I would say similarities out in the political space, you know us because we're not in Austin, a lot of us, you who are have worked in government space or quasi governmental, like roads, or infrastructure, or maybe transportation or something like that. But there's probably a lot of similarities in the different spaces you have been in. Tell us a little bit about that.

Jordan Hunter Rice:

much as we don't want to admit it, the government touches so much and covers so much of what we do every day, and what what companies have the ability to do. So having that understanding of what the government touches and what politics have to do with the day-to-day news, especially can affect any company. Oil and gas in particular is something that I know a lot of people in in Houston are focused on in the energy sector in general, which is so affected by the government and what the government is talking about. Markets can shift based on on one congressperson saying something or tweeting something so you know, having your your finger on the pulse of what's going on in in not only Washington but in Austin is so important, but as far as similarities go, the way a company is run is so similar to weight the way of political Office or government offices, Ron has the same, you know, I think of like a congress person as being the CEO of the company, and you know, Chief of Staff being a part of the C suite. So definitely a lot of the same personalities, I would say and, and a lot of the same day to day, but being able to kind of shift your hat to whatever comms people are the best at that right is like, yeah, 400 different hats is very similar when it comes to corporate and nonprofit or government communications.

Veronica Sopher:

For sure. And what do you think some of the challenges are, and especially in the political space, you know, sometimes we assume the work is seasonal, at least maybe from an agency side, or we see in the work that y'all are doing, whether it's pressors, or events or any of the media releases, those kinds of things? Is it really seasonal? Is it just always a constantly flowing? What's the ebb and flow?

Jordan Hunter Rice:

I would say? I would say both. It depends. It depends on the year, right. If it's an election year, you're never stopping and especially on the House side, when it's elections every two years. You're you're constantly campaigning, and you know, a lot of a campaign has to do with the way you're communicating. And the way you're you're really getting your your member out there. So it's definitely seasonal. Like right now we're in we were last week we were in try not to shut down the government mode. So things are definitely seasonal, but some of it is it's just constant because of the 24 hour news cycle. Because of what's going on around the world. Right now. I think it's you always, particularly for PR folks, you have to be on all the time. So yes, seasonal, but really, it's like, you got to be ready.

Veronica Sopher:

You gotta be ready all the time. Right, which is so true. And so tell us a little bit about some of the things that young people going into this space might be thinking about. We've all watched those movies and those shows of the press secretary briefing. And, you know, it seems so glamorous and hopping on planes and going on junkets what's, what's the what's the T says on with that life?

Jordan Hunter Rice:

Certainly not as glamorous as movies or TV. It's definitely fun. And I think being the kind of person who is willing to learn anything ready to jump in on anything. I always tell people when they're first starting, is to say yes to everything. And obviously there's there's boundaries there. But say yes to learning anything new, whether it's under your umbrella, or potentially under someone else's umbrella. I think it's so important to just like really get to know yourself and what you like by saying yes to some some tasks that may not have been under your purview. And then also asking questions, I think people love to, frankly, they love talking about themselves. Right. So asking questions, asking advice, I think it's the quickest way to to earn someone's trust, and especially if you're looking for a mentor mentee relationship. I think asking any questions, right is, is a good way to do that. I will say working in the government is a 24 hour a day job, which is great. It's fast pace. But I think knowing that before you go into it and knowing that side of things. One quick anecdote is that we were working on the National Defense Authorization Act. And it went we are marking it up. So it went until 6am. And my boss and I had a 9am flight out of the city. So just went home freshened up, my bag was luckily already packed and then hopped back on a plane with with my boss. So it is like you said it's it's not as glamorous as it always seems. But I mean, it's it's fun. It was a great experience. I would never, never take that back again learn how to put on a million different hats and in the Agile when it comes to communicating. So I think I think it's a great experience. I would certainly recommend anyone work on the Hill for a couple of years if it can.

Veronica Sopher:

Yeah, for sure. I actually interned at the Department of Energy. Years and years ago when we still had fax machines, mind you.

Jordan Hunter Rice:

It was still working with fax machines, so

Veronica Sopher:

that I don't feel too dated. But let me ask you this, what and speaking of technology, what are some of the things technology wise that have really shifted that type of work? To your point? Government, usually the last one to adapt to some of these newer technologies where we've got, you know, even in the Austin area, you've got high tech companies really operating with different types of platform technologies at a different speed. What are the things that you think we need to be thinking about today to help us improve if we're looking at a position in the government space even if it's with a with a contractor? What are some of the challenges technology wise eyes.

Jordan Hunter Rice:

Yeah, I mean, the government, like you said, is always really behind when it comes to technology. For example, I was at the White House during COVID. And we couldn't, we couldn't be on Zoom, we had to be off camera for everything because of certain rules and regulations. And that may have changed now, but we were so behind, you know, trying to connect with people around the world to help some of these problems that we're facing, because of COVID. But we couldn't be face to face, you know. So that's one thing that was really behind. But I would say, coming in with ideas and understanding of and not to, I'm sure everyone thinks the same thing, but having an understanding of AI, how that can affect your your boss, or your company, or the the agency, maybe that you're working for whether you get to use AI in the government or not. Yeah, I think having an understanding of it is so important because in, especially in the PR space, it is scary what people can do sometimes with AI or, or we've seen deep fakes of, of politicians and government officials, that can be scary and knowing how to address those, I would say head on, because it is a form of crisis communications, if someone looks like you're your boss, or someone from your company, speaking on camera, and they and your boss may have never said that. So really having an understanding of what people can do, and how you would address something like that, again, especially working for someone who who's a government official, who can be copy their face in their voice, it's wild. So just knowing how to address those things. And I would also say is, knowing how to talk about technology and emerging technology and innovations is really important, because it's tough, right? There brand new products, sometimes you you may not have a science or tech or engineering background, but knowing how to not only talk about that technology, but know how to speak to people to anyone from any background to learn from them about how to speak about it, the people who are producing these technologies. And I think that's really important and something that science and tech can always use the help of PR people their product. Yeah, kind of work with those people, right, and learning how to speak about something that's so complicated.

Veronica Sopher:

Yeah, no, I think you're absolutely right. And there's definitely some challenges and of course, some security issues and all kinds of privacy issues that a lot of us in the corporate space don't have to deal with on the government space. So it's just such a great reminder. We're Jordan, it has been wonderful chatting with you. I loved getting to know you a little bit better. How can other members connect with you? We're always trying to grow our chapter. And the point of prsa is for members to get to know each other. So how can people connect with you?

Jordan Hunter Rice:

Yeah, absolutely. I actually tried to go to his main prsa Houston chapter event. So if you see me there, please come up to me. I would love to talk if you're interested in government, or, or whatever, it may be comms wise. But you can also find me on LinkedIn, feel free to message me I'm pretty responsive most of the time. You can find me at Jordan Hunter rice on LinkedIn. But yeah, shoot me a message. happy to chat.

Veronica Sopher:

That would be awesome. All right. Well, we look forward to connecting for sure. We love that our members are are very excited about learning more about each other. So I'm sure that we will be seeing each other soon in person. Yes, yeah.

Jordan Hunter Rice:

Maybe it's a holiday party.

Veronica Sopher:

That sounds great. I'll be there. All right, Jordan, thank you so much. Have a great one.

Jordan Hunter Rice:

Thank you, as well.

Veronica Sopher:

All right, that wraps up this episode of piarsaigh. Please connect with Jordan cheese. Jordan, Hunter Reiss on LinkedIn. All the links will be in the show notes, great insight, great similarities that we talked about and the different spaces that we're in at the end of the day as strategic communicators. We are all about networking and making sure that we are providing amazing communication, media support events, support for our clients. So thank you to Jordan, for sharing her insights. With that, I'm gonna wrap up this episode. Make sure you hit subscribe on your podcast platform. We don't want you to miss any episodes of piarsaigh If you are watching on Facebook or YouTube, drop us some comments because we want to say hello especially if you're catching the replay. So just hashtag replay. And with that, we'll end this episode until we see