Well Said

Cuore Collective
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Marketing
  • Weekly

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.

  1. 5d ago

    How to Communicate Like a National Champion: 6 Rules From UCLA’s Coach Cori Close

    Cori Close is the head coach of UCLA women's basketball. In her 15th season, she led the Bruins to their first NCAA national championship with a 37-1 record, and six of her players are now in the WNBA. She learned how to lead from legendary UCLA coach John Wooden, and she still runs her program on his reminder that a coach is shaping people's hearts before their jump shots. What makes Cori such a natural fit for Well Said: she leads almost entirely through language. From the words her team picks to define a season to knowing when to stay quiet and let her players talk, nearly everything she does in a locker room carries over to a boardroom, a press briefing, or a crisis call. In this episode: • Why her players pick seven key indicators they can control at the start of every season • How Amazon's working backwards press release lines up with the way she builds a team's identity • Why winning is a byproduct, and the John Vallely story that shaped her mission • Why she skipped the big Ted Lasso speech and let her players talk first • Truth tellers, balcony people, and building psychological safety on a staff • "Talent is the floor and character is the ceiling": recruiting, the transfer portal, and a reload year • Her go-to team-building exercise: hero, highlight, hardship, hope Make sure you subscribe to Well Said everywhere you get your podcasts, so you never miss another episode. Thanks for listening! CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro 01:19 Welcome Coach Cori Close 02:13 Mindset work and seven "I am" statements 04:19 Amazon's working backwards press release 07:01 Why winning is a byproduct 10:49 The John Vallely story and Coach Wooden 14:57 Knowing when to be quiet 19:51 Truth tellers and balcony people 22:48 Clarity is kind: recruiting for character 25:24 Failing forward in the transfer portal era 28:18 Why women need to celebrate each other 39:05 Her dad on the greatest honor in life 40:47 Rapid fire 46:23 Hero, highlight, hardship, hope

  2. Oct 20

    How to Get an A on Your Next Crisis Statement

    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

  3. Oct 13

    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

  4. Oct 6

    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

  5. Sep 29

    How to Talk to People Who Disagree With You | Professor Dr. Melina Abdullah

    Dr. Melina Abdullah grew up in Oakland, where her mother's front porch doubled as a classroom for the neighborhood. She's been organizing ever since, and she teaches, writes a weekly column, hosts a radio show and has spent two decades studying how people actually lead. She sits down with Kelly Cheeseman and Pia Arthur on the difference between leaderless and leader-full, why she quotes Ella Baker's line that strong people don't need strong leaders, and what she calls womanist leadership, which she wrote her dissertation on. Then the conversation goes somewhere else. What AI can't do, why she thinks spirit, love and art are the things that make us human, why she stopped being quiet about the voice that guides her work, and what she learned from her mother about talking to your kids for three hours at a time. In this episode: • Group-centered leadership instead of leader-centered groups, and where the idea comes from • Alice Walker's purple and lavender line, and why one image does more than a paragraph • Why she asks what her intention is before she agrees to speak to a hostile room • The oppositional student who emailed her four years after graduating • What she does when the work gets heavy, including the dominoes in her bag • How a story travels now, and why independent media and social changed who gets covered • Bullhorn, microphone or keyboard, and which one she'd pick New episodes of Well Said. Watch on YouTube, listen wherever you get your podcasts. Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:54 The front porch classroom in East Oakland 02:34 Gary, Indiana and who gets news coverage 05:09 Ella Baker and group-centered leadership 06:17 Womanist leadership 08:27 Running for vice president with Dr. Cornel West 10:05 What the campaign showed her about the two-party system 12:48 What Dolly Parton meant to her 16:18 What AI can't do 18:16 Why she stopped hiding the voice that guides her 23:34 Staying grounded on planes and in airports 27:04 Parenting by talking to your kids 31:29 Love at the center of the work 37:23 The three things everyone can give 40:08 Rapid fire and speaking to a hostile room 44:12 Bullhorn, microphone or keyboard

  6. Sep 22

    The Emmy-Winning Composer Who Says All Sound Is Music | Amanda Jones

    A speech and a film score are built the same way. You hook early, you earn the emotional moment before you spend it, you let the silent parts stay silent, and you get one crescendo. Composer Amanda Jones spends her career making those decisions in sound, and this conversation is about what writers, speakers and communicators can take from the way she does it. There's also the problem she solves before writing a single note: figuring out what a director hears in their head. She gets one creative call, sometimes with months of silence after it, so she's built a method for getting inside someone's imagination fast. Jones is an Emmy-winning composer and the first African American woman nominated in the Primetime Emmy score category. Her recent work includes Apple TV+'s Murderbot, National Geographic's Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, and Tyler Perry's The Gospel of Christmas. She sits down with Pia and Kelly to break down how she reads a story, builds a sound from scratch, and knows when to get out of the way. In this episode: • The question she asks every director to find their "cultural focal point" • Why she chose a temperamental 1970s synthesizer to play a sentient robot • How she scored Hurricane Katrina survivor interviews without crowding them • The easiest emotion to write music for, and the one that's actually hardest What temp music does to a composer's work, and why it's a trap • The organizational system she learned working under Hans Zimmer and John Powell • Her advice for composers coming up, including why perceived proximity decides who gets hired Subscribe to Well Said for conversations with the people shaping how stories get told. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or watch on YouTube. Find Amanda at amandajonescomposer.com and on Instagram @amandajonescomposer. Episode Timestamps 1:09 Scoring a script before anything has been filmed 2:40 The questions she asks a director to find their taste 4:14 "All sound is music," and why she doesn't get writer's block 5:09 How much of a movie is actually score 6:30 Temp music and the placeholder trap 8:28 Murderbot: building a sound for a sentient robot 10:11 Why a temperamental 1970s synth plays the machine 15:14 The movie that made her fall in love with score 18:40 The easiest emotion to write, and the hardest 20:03 Hurricane Katrina and the discipline of restraint 33:22 The organization system she learned in Hans Zimmer's world 35:05 Rapid fire 41:29 Advice for composers coming up 44:10 Where to find Amanda

  7. Sep 15

    Why "The Best PR Is Invisible" Just Stopped Being True, with Pia and Kelly

    The first PR firm Kelly ever worked for had a mantra: the best PR is invisible. Then, Pia and Kelly built a decade at Amazon on it. In this episode, they say it out loud one more time and come to the conclusion: it isn't true anymore. Pia and Kelly are the co-founders of Cuore and spent years as communications executives at Amazon, the people writing the words nobody sees. Now chief comms officers are reporting directly to CEOs, executives are expected to be digitally native, and the frontline employee has become the face of the brand. They walk through what that shift actually costs the people living it, and what it means if you're deciding when to bring a communications partner into your own business. They also answer the questions listeners keep sending them, including the one nobody warned them about: what changes in you when you start putting yourself on camera. In this episode: • When to bring in a comms partner for a crisis, and why "early, early, early" isn't a cliché • Why pulling comms into a product launch too soon can waste everyone's time • The "good judgment police" role Kelly's Amazon teams played, and the cost of playing it too well • What the WSJ's reporting on comms leaders in the C-suite gets right about the last twenty years • Why the Kardashians are a masterclass in being everywhere all at once, and what brands should take from it • The line almost every guest on this show has repeated, in different words • What Pia learned about her own limiting beliefs from a year of filming New episodes of Well Said every other Wednesday. Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:28 Two months into filming, and what they've learned 01:57 The executives who say they want a podcast 03:30 "A human having a human experience" 04:04 What Pia learned about her own limiting beliefs 04:56 When are you actually ready for a comms partner 05:37 Storytelling matters as much as the business plan 06:14 Crisis comms: early, early, early 06:59 When comms gets pulled in too early 07:15 "Go write a release," three weeks out 08:10 The WSJ piece on comms leaders reporting to CEOs 09:41 Digitally native CEOs and selling through social 10:54 The relationship economy and the trust economy 11:58 The good judgment police 13:57 Out of the shadows 14:10 "The best PR is invisible," and where it still holds 15:38 The Kardashians, everywhere all at once 18:22 The frontline employee as the face of the brand 19:02 The Amazon driver who danced to the door

  8. Sep 8

    Clothing Allows You to Communicate Before You Say a Word | Ryan Wood, Apparel Designer

    Ryan Wood spent sixteen years deciding what hangs on the rack at Urban Outfitters and The North Face, and he'll tell you plainly that a lot of it ended up in a landfill. He walked into the Well Said studio wearing a beat-up trucker hat. Ryan is an apparel designer and merchant, most recently the founding head of men's product at Quince, and he's in the early stages of building athletic wear that doesn't look like everyone else's. Kelly and Pia get him into the mechanics of clothing as communication: what a hidden zipper and a cheeky line on a care label actually do for a customer three months after the purchase, why he takes inherited military jackets apart and stitches them into something wearable, and how vintage became his grown-up version of hunting for buried treasure. The hat turns out to be his father's, from his years on the Blue Angels design team. It's one of the few fond memories he has of a complicated relationship, and it's the first of three things he'd grab in a fire. In this episode: - Why clothing is the front line, and what it says before your mouth opens - The Boston Red Sox hat test for anyone who insists they don't care about fashion - What he does with the clothing people inherit and can't wear or throw out - Why individuality disappears the second you walk into a gym - The case against polyester from someone who spent a career selling it - How Urban Outfitters stays relevant forever and why J.Crew couldn't - Where to start if you've never thought of getting dressed as communication New episodes of Well Said every week. Subscribe on YouTube, and follow on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Find Ryan on Instagram @ryyywood Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:16 The clothing people inherit and can’t wear or throw out 02:46 Remaking his mother’s shirt so she could wear it 03:26 What clothing conveys that words can’t 03:51 Clothing is the front line 05:29 What clothes do for connection 06:02 The story behind the hat 07:34 The hidden details nobody asked for 08:48 Designing for everyone and for the one who notices 10:05 Vintage as buried treasure 13:11 Why Urban Outfitters stays relevant and J.Crew didn’t 15:27 Merchandising as storytelling 17:05 Why everyone at the gym looks the same 19:08 Rather be uncomfortable than look like everyone else 19:30 The case against polyester 22:41 What his closet says about him 23:50 Microdosing the us-ness 24:47 Three things he’d grab in a fire 25:55 Where to start if you’ve never thought about it this way 27:51 Rapid fire round

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Cuore Collective
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    30
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Cuore Collective
  • Show Website
    Well Said

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