CanvasRebel Feature: Meet Jennifer Ringler
March 24, 2026
Article originally published on CanvasRebel.
Q: Jennifer , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later?
A: I think about this a lot, and honestly, I started my business at exactly the right time.
Before launching ReadHealthy Communications, I spent nearly a decade working at life sciences PR and marketing agencies; some small “mom and pop” shops and some large, corporate firms with hundreds of employees. I had worked my way up to the VP level. I had seen agencies run exceptionally well, and I had seen them run very poorly. I had strong managers who shaped me and a few who taught me what not to do. I had visibility into budgets, staffing, client management, and the real mechanics of running a firm.
Then I was laid off from what I believed would be my long-term professional home. It was painful. I had assumed I would stay there for the next 20 years. But in hindsight, that layoff was the final stepping stone I needed.
If I had started sooner, I wouldn’t have had the behind-the-scenes operational knowledge or the leadership maturity to run my own agency well. If I had started later, I might never have done it at all. I was just shy of 40, at a moment where I had enough experience, enough perspective, and just enough disruption to push me into taking the leap.
It was two weeks after the layoff, after some ice cream, wine, and wallowing, that I built a website and decided to bet on myself.
Looking back, every job I thought was a detour was actually preparation. Every disappointment was a stepping stone. I don’t believe in fate, but I do believe that when you turn around and look at your career, you can see how each chapter was building you for the next one. For me, the timing was exactly right.
Q: Jennifer , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
A: I’m the founder and CEO of ReadHealthy Communications, a boutique marketing and PR agency that serves pharmaceutical, biotech, medtech, diagnostics, and healthcare services companies.
But I didn’t start in PR. I started as a journalist.
Around 2010, I was working as a reporter and editor for Pharmaceutical Executive magazine. I didn’t set out to specialize in life sciences; that industry found me. My editor at the time told me, “You’ve taught yourself other industries before. I think you can teach yourself pharmaceuticals.” He was right. I fell in love with it.
I loved interviewing CEOs, scientists, and physicians. I loved learning about the therapies they were developing and the patients they were trying to help. That passion led me to earn a Master of Science in Health Communication from Boston University, where I combined marketing and PR coursework with hard science classes like epidemiology and biology of disease. That blend — journalism plus science — shaped my entire career.
At ReadHealthy, we help life sciences companies identify, solidify, and amplify their stories.
Many of our clients have exceptional science. What they often lack is narrative clarity. Their investor decks are filled with data, their websites are heavy with technical language, and their leadership teams are passionate, but the story isn’t structured in a way that resonates with investors, partners, or patients.
We take the science and wrap it in a compelling narrative. We help companies articulate who they are, why they matter, how they’re different, and what impact they will have. Then we amplify that story through decks, fact sheets, media coverage, bylines, websites, white papers, and social media.
What sets us apart is that we start with storytelling, not tactics.
Press hits and LinkedIn posts are outputs. Narrative is the foundation. Because of my journalism background, I naturally ask deeper questions. I want to understand not just what a company is building, but why. I want to understand the human motivation behind the molecule.
As for what I’m most proud of, it’s the fact that three years ago I started from zero — no clients, no safety net — and built a thriving agency that now serves clients across the U.S., Europe, and Israel. We partner with specialty pharmacies, biobanks, biotech startups, CROs, CDMOs, and diagnostics companies. Other agencies white-label our services because they trust our expertise.
But more than growth, I’m proud that I built the agency the way I wanted it to feel: high-caliber work, deep industry expertise, and leadership that prioritizes respect, safety, and integrity. I’ve had bad managers. I know how that shapes people. I am deeply committed to being the opposite of that.
Q: We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
A: The lesson I had to unlearn was self-doubt.
For most of my career, I struggled with imposter syndrome; especially working with C-suite executives, scientists, and physicians who have decades of expertise in their fields. There’s a voice that says, “Who are you to advise them?”
When I was laid off and had to decide whether to start my own agency, that voice was loud. Starting a business requires you to bet on yourself without guarantees. You have to believe that your experience has value.
I had to unlearn the belief that I wasn’t qualified enough, smart enough, or established enough to lead.
I also had to unlearn the corporate mindset that security equals safety. I had spent years trying to climb through the ranks, prove myself, navigate office politics, and earn promotions, only to discover that loyalty in corporate environments is often transactional.
At some point, I realized that the safer bet wasn’t another job. The safer bet was building something I controlled.
Self-doubt doesn’t disappear entirely. I think many women leaders wrestle with it quietly. But I’ve learned that confidence isn’t the absence of doubt; it’s moving forward anyway.
Q: We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
A: Resilience has been a through-line in my life, whether I wanted it to be or not.
I was born with a rare congenital condition called optic nerve hypoplasia. I am completely blind in my left eye and have limited vision in my right, which is correctable with glasses. Growing up, that meant learning early how to be different, and how to be okay with that.
There was childhood bullying. There were classrooms where I was the only disabled person. There were moments in college and job interviews where I had to disclose my visual impairment and advocate for accommodations. Learning to self-advocate — calmly, clearly, and without apology — shaped me profoundly.
Then there was my career.
I’ve been fired. I’ve been laid off more than once. I’ve left roles that were toxic. I’ve started over repeatedly. Each time, I had to walk into a new environment, explain my needs again, learn new systems, build credibility from scratch, and not internalize setbacks as a reflection of my worth.
By the time I was laid off from my final corporate job, I felt defeated. I wondered if I would ever find a professional home.
Starting my own agency was the ultimate act of resilience. It was choosing not to interpret disruption as failure. It was refusing to let circumstance dictate my confidence. It was saying, “Maybe the fit I’ve been looking for is something I build myself.”
Resilience isn’t dramatic. It’s repetitive. It’s getting up again and again. I didn’t build ReadHealthy Communications because everything was easy. I built it because everything wasn’t — and I kept going anyway.