We're Pia and Kelly, co-founders of Cuore. We met at Amazon new-hire orientation 13 years ago, sitting at different tables, and ended up desk neighbors on the communications team. We've spent our careers obsessed with how words change what happens next, in boardrooms, in hallways, in the text you reread three times before sending. Well Said is our podcast about connection as a human skill. We talk to coaches, chefs, journalists, and founders about what actually helps people reach each other when it matters. If you care about trust, communication, and saying things that land, this is for you.
Every brand crisis ends with a statement, and the internet grades it within hours. Pia and Kelly pulled real statements companies put out over the last few months and ranked them on a tier list, from S for supreme all the way down to F.
Pia and Kelly are the co-founders of Cuore and spent years running communications at Amazon. Dollywood earned the only S with five words that sounded exactly like Dolly Parton. Target, Neutrogena, and FIFA landed a lot lower, and for each one they get into what the brand should have written instead, or whether it should have said anything at all.
In this episode:
• Why Dollywood’s “the show must go on” earned the only S on the list
• Target’s costume apology, and why sorry stops working when the same mistake comes back every year
• Neutrogena’s statement after Hayden Panettiere’s death, and why it may have been a no-win from the start
• When saying nothing is the more respectful choice
• What Neutrogena could have said about young people growing up in the spotlight
• FIFA’s answer to the World Cup ticket backlash, and why Pia called it a big middle finger
• The fan stories FIFA could have used to get real people into stadiums
• Why a boring statement beats a bad one
New episodes of Well Said every other Wednesday. Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
Seen a statement you want us to grade? Drop it in the comments.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:01 Dollywood: “The show must go on”
01:42 Target’s costume apology
02:10 Neutrogena and Hayden Panettiere
03:23 What Neutrogena could have said
04:03 When saying nothing is the respectful choice
04:43 FIFA and World Cup ticket prices
05:10 “It’s like a big middle finger”
06:07 The fan stories FIFA missed
06:37 Why a boring statement would have worked
07:04 Send us a statement to grade
13 Oct 2026
Award-Winning Journalist Reveals How To Get Anyone To Open Up | Erick Galindo
At seven years old, Erick Galindo was translating for his parents at the bank, at the hospital, and in front of police and immigration officials. His Spanish wasn't great, so he had to take official language written for highly educated people and break it down into the simplest words he knew.
He's been doing some version of that ever since.
Erick has written for The New York Times, the LA Times and NPR, led L.A. Taco to a James Beard Award as its founding managing editor, and made Ídolo, a podcast that went to No. 1 in Mexico. Today he's the Community, Culture and Arts Editor at The LA Local, where reporters hold coffee hours in neighborhood shops and the newsroom's first question in a crisis is how to help the people living through it.
Pia and Kelly ask him how he earns trust so fast. His answer starts with going first. He once got a guarded celebrity to open up about the time she lived in her car by telling her he'd lived in his car too.
This episode is about trust, plain language, and showing up for people before you need something from them. It applies whether you're running a newsroom, a corporate comms team, or a thousand-person warehouse floor.
In this episode:
• What translating hospital bills and immigration paperwork as a kid taught him about plain language
• The vulnerability move that gets guarded people talking
• How his newsroom covered a toxic warehouse fire: moving beyond sensationalism by helping people first
• Why local news is still the most trusted source, and what's lost as it disappears
• Why "community" is the most overused word in comms right now
• Getting laid off in a room full of people, and the one-on-one call every layoff deserves
• What his dad told him at the kitchen table that became his superpower
• His advice for young communicators in the age of AI: take a beat
If you're an exec or communicator who wants people to actually trust what you say, this episode is for you.
You can support Erick's work at The LA Local and find him on Instagram under his name, Erick Galindo.
And make sure you subscribe to Well Said on all platforms to get new episodes every Wednesday.
TIMESTAMPS
01:30 Welcome Erick Galindo
01:48 Translating for his parents as a kid
04:51 Living in two worlds at once
08:49 Dolly Parton and the coat of many colors
11:23 How a local newsroom covers a crisis
14:48 Know your people before the emergency
16:16 Why local news is the most trusted
19:23 What's lost when local news fades
22:27 Laid off in a room full of people
26:06 The one-on-one call every layoff deserves
29:34 Choosing convenience over being human
31:03 The beauty of a typo
32:15 What his dad told him at the kitchen table
39:03 Owning who you are
44:21 The most overused word in comms
45:14 Go first: the vulnerability move
46:08 The best communicator he knows
48:32 Advice for young communicators: take a beat
52:36 Where to find Erick
6 Oct 2026
PR Pros Call Out the Brand Mistakes Everyone Fell For | Pia Arthur & Kelly Cheeseman
Most mornings, Pia and Kelly catch up over coffee and trade hot takes on whatever brand moment is blowing up online. This episode puts that conversation on camera. Each brought scenarios the other hadn't seen, and they react cold: Disney opening its IP to TikTok creators, the wave of nostalgia menus, a golf collab ad that went sideways, the "sold out in 15 seconds" drop, and Liquid Death asking fans to donate their pee to cool AI data centers.
Pia and Kelly are the co-founders of Cuore and spent years as communications executives at Amazon. Their verdicts keep landing on the same line: the moves that work trust the audience, and the ones that backfire try to manage it. Along the way they get into what they'd actually say to a CEO in the room, and what a better apology would have sounded like.
In this episode:
• Why Disney handing its IP to creators is a lesson in knowing who already loves you
• Nostalgia marketing, and when a throwback turns into a cheap trick
• What Kelly would do if she ran comms for a fast food comeback item
• Target, Delia's, and why a collaboration doubles your exposure and your risk
• The Callaway x Good Good ad, and why "this doesn't reflect our values" fell flat
• Manufactured scarcity, bots, and resellers, and why it erodes trust
• What to say when a CEO wants to make only 500 so they sell out fast
• Liquid Death's "We Want Your Pee" campaign: gross, or genius?
New episodes of Well Said every other Wednesday. Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:50 Disney opens its IP to TikTok creators
04:41 "Hell hath no fury like a Disney adult"
06:53 The lesson: know who already cares about you
09:43 Nostalgia marketing: genius or cheap trick?
13:28 Why Kelly would rather see something new
17:19 How to run comms on a throwback launch
19:17 Target, Delia's, and the power of a collab
20:49 When a brand collaboration goes sideways
24:29 Why "this doesn't reflect our values" fell flat
28:11 The "sold out" drop brands keep pulling
31:30 What to tell a CEO who wants to make only 500
35:32 Liquid Death's "We Want Your Pee"
40:08 Turning a stunt into real action
41:54 Send us the next one to dissect
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
6 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
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