Well Said

Cuore Collective
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Marketing
  • Updated 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. 4d ago

    How This Journalist Uncovers and Communicates the Story Nobody Else Is Telling with Sam Sanders

    Sam Sanders has spent two decades learning that the best conversations aren't the polished ones. After years at NPR cutting five seconds off a segment because "the clock doesn't play," the host of The Sam Sanders Show now does the opposite: improvised, imperfect, unfinished talk that he insists is "just vibes." On Well Said, Pia and Kelly get him to trace that philosophy all the way back to a pawnshop saxophone in a small-town Texas church, where he learned to play by ear and started hearing every conversation as a song. They go from how he prepped for months of Trump rallies (and why the voters there were often kinder than he expected) to the question he says ends any argument: do you want to be right, or do you want to win? It's a conversation about how to actually talk to people again, how we’re all yearning for community, when to go slow, and why letting things stay unfinished might be the most freeing thing you can do. In this episode:- Why Sam treats every conversation as music, and what playing saxophone by ear taught him about communication - How a decorated journalist made peace with being "background noise," and why that set him free from perfectionism - What months of covering Trump rallies taught him about listening to people you disagree with - The reframe he uses to defuse any argument: "Do you want to be right, or do you want to win?" - His practical, non-emotional system for breaking phone addiction (it starts with the back seat of his car) - The "be a duck" thesis for living in a world that moves too fast - Why he'd teach every American classroom how credit works New episodes of Well Said drop weekly. Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts so you never miss a conversation.

    38 min

  2. Jun 30

    What Witnessing Thousands of Deaths Taught This Hospice CEO About Living a Good Life | Amy Sweet

    Most advice about communication is about control: managing a room, softening bad news, performing under pressure. Amy Sweet works where all of that falls away. As the founder and CEO of Halcyon Home, she has spent more than a decade at the bedside of people in their final days, and she has learned that the clearest, most honest communication of a person's whole life often happens in their last week. Amy grew up in a strict Seventh Day Adventist household and then fell into the orbit of her aunt, an Oscar-nominated actress who said whatever she wanted, however it landed. Six months before she died, her aunt wrote: "I demand my death be joyful." That sentence became the foundation of everything Amy built, from a company she started by stapling flyers around Austin to one of the largest woman-owned businesses in Texas. This conversation strips communication down to what survives when performance is impossible: saying what you actually want, asking what someone actually loves, and naming the thing you keep postponing. In this episode: - Why Amy says we should plan for death the way we plan for birth - The single question that can create the most meaningful day of someone's life - What her aunt taught her about saying the hard thing without fear - How honesty, not hope, gave one couple their trip to Costa Rica - Why "I don't want to be a burden" is the wrong place to start - How she trains nearly 1,000 caregivers to connect, not just to care - The Montessori school she's building next to elder care, and why Follow Well Said for more conversations about connection as a human skill. Listen on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

    56 min

  3. Jun 23

    Why Attention is the ONLY Currency That Matters (and How to Capture It)

    For twenty years, Pia Arthur and Kelly Cheeseman watched the single megaphone of mass media shatter into a million independent microphones. In this solo episode of Well Said, the Cuore co-founders and former Amazon PR executives make the case that the comms job flipped with it: you no longer control the narrative from the inside out, you manage a fragmented set of realities from the outside in. They trace the shift from the Oprah-era town square to a world where a Dairy Queen employee's TikTok is worth more than a press release, journalists are leaving mastheads to build their own audiences, and the people you trust most are curators you've never met. The throughline is a warning for any founder or exec still running the old "company to PR firm to journalist to audience" pipeline: that pipeline already broke. It's a candid, road-tested look at what two decades in the room taught them about the next two, and the one move every company should make now. In this episode: - Why attention is becoming the ultimate currency, and why people are paying to escape it - How "inside-out" narrative control gave way to "outside-in" reality management - Why your best brand ambassador might be an hourly employee with a phone - What the journalist-to-Substack migration means for who you should actually pitch - How fragmented realities (see: Tylenol) make crisis comms about belief, not facts - The new PR job: mapping the micro-trust ecosystems that can make or break you - Why old-school tactics like the press release are quietly making a comeback Follow Well Said for honest conversations on communications, reputation, and trust. Tune in on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.

    31 min

  4. Jun 16

    How to Build Relationships in PR (So AI Will Never Replace You) with Elaine Garza @ Giant Noise

    Elaine Garza spent 12 years in New York running PR for Spin, Vibe, and Outside before she put a baby in the backseat, drove to Austin, and started a PR agency out of her garage with a Blackberry and one client. Twenty years later, Giant Noise is roughly 80 people across four Texas cities. And her competitive edge is the same thing it was on day one: she doesn't pitch The New York Times. She calls a friend who works there. AI can write the press release, build the media list, and draft the pitch faster than any junior staffer. Elaine's argument is that none of it touches the part that actually moves the needle: the relationship you built years before you ever needed anything. In this conversation with Pia and Kelly, she makes the case for the human in the loop, and gets honest about what it costs to keep betting on it. Inside the episode: - Why Elaine pitches stories she gets nothing from and why that's the strategy - How she rebuilt the entire agency when earned media alone wouldn't survive ten years - The instinct-over-spreadsheets philosophy behind never writing a business plan - What an account coordinator's quiet Slack post taught her about leading younger staff - The day a breaking war killed a client's Wall Street Journal story and what she told them - Her one rule she'll break on purpose: going off the record for a journalist she trusts - The morning-reading habit she says is non-negotiable in communications If you build things on relationships (in any field), this one will land. New episodes of Well Said drop weekly. Follow on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

    49 min

  5. Jun 9

    The James Beard-Winning Chef Who Says Your Price Is Your Most Powerful Communication Tool | JJ Johnson

    Chef JJ Johnson built a fast-casual rice bowl restaurant on an idea most investors called crazy: that a single grain of rice could carry the story of the entire African diaspora. He priced it at $10 using the same Carolina gold rice that fine dining charges $40 for, because the story of Black and Brown food shouldn't cost more just because a white chef wasn't cooking it. He's a James Beard Award winner, a six-season TV host, and a founder who donated 220,000 free meals during a pandemic. He calls himself the Rice God. But before all of that, JJ was cooking French and Italian cuisine… the food he was told to cook. Then a trip to Ghana changed everything. In this episode, JJ joins Pia and Kelly to unpack what happens when someone stops asking "what should I say?" and starts asking "what do I actually stand for?" and then builds an entire business from that answer. Highlights: - The three questions JJ asks before anything goes on a menu and why most brands skip all three - The pricing move that became a cultural statement: charging $10 for the same rice that fine dining charges $40 for - What Trader Joe's understands about representation that most corporate institutions still don't - The specific meal in Ghana that gave JJ what he calls "his marching orders" as a chef - Why JJ believes food media's storytelling blind spots reflect a much bigger cultural double standard - What 220,000 free meals actually communicates and why JJ says it was never about PR - What it means to own the table, not just a seat at it Follow Well Said on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

    48 min

  6. Jun 2

    What 40 Years as a Celebrity Trainer Taught Him About Honest Communication | David Kirsch

    David Kirsch passed the bar exam. Then he called his parents and told them he was going to be a fitness trainer. Dead silence. That call (and the 40 years that followed) are what this episode is really about. David trained J.Lo, Heidi Klum, Kate Upton, Gigi Hadid, and Naomi Campbell. Not by telling them what they wanted to hear, but by being the one person in the room who wouldn't. He's spent decades watching people fail to change and finally figured out why: the conversation in their head never shifted. Now the fitness director at The Core Club in New York, his philosophy is the same as it's always been: sound mind first, sound body second. The physical work is almost secondary. In this episode, David sits down with Pia and Kelly to talk about what it actually takes to communicate with someone who has made themselves completely vulnerable and why the trainers, leaders, and caregivers who do it best have always been in the people business, not the fitness business. Highlights: - Why David quit law and how his parents reacted - The moment a client burst into tears mid-ab work and what it changed about how he trains - Why 40 years of expertise is something AI cannot replicate, and what it actually feels like to be truly seen by a professional - How a conversation with Kate Upton helped his teenage daughter through body dysmorphia - His honest take on GLP-1s: when they work, when they don't, and the one thing people on Ozempic need to be doing more of - Why longevity has nothing to do with supplement stacks or biohacks (and the three things that actually matter) - What it means to be a single dad by choice and how nearly dying in 2006 clarified everythingIf you want to catch all future episodes, subscribe to Well Said by Cuore on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

    1 hr

  7. May 26

    The Standup Comedian's Guide to Communicating In Any Room with Ben Gleib

    From ages four to twenty-two, Ben Gleib had a stutter and a vocal disfluency so severe that his chords would lock down mid-sentence. He'd sit in class dreading being called on to read aloud, convinced it was a kind of execution. And he wanted, more than anything, to be a comedian and a TV host. He became one. Twenty-five years of standup later, Ben has performed to arenas, hosted an Emmy-nominated game show (Idiotest, 210 episodes across Netflix and Game Show Network), appeared on Chelsea Lately, starred in a Showtime special now on Amazon, and is building the internet's first late night talk show (Goodnight with Ben Gleib) backed by Nikki Glaser and Scott Galloway. He also coaches executives on their TED Talks and wedding speeches. And yes, those are the same skill set. Pia first saw Ben perform at a comedy club in Austin. Pia was front row, not by choice, watching him navigate a guy in a cowboy hat who wouldn't sit down and kept trying to make himself the show. Ben didn't flinch. He made the cowboy the funniest part of the night. Watching it happen, Pia realized this is exactly what crisis communications looks like. This episode is a masterclass in owning a room, staying composed under real pressure, and saying things that actually land. It applies whether you're in a comedy club, a boardroom, a media interview, or an all-hands meeting where your whole team is watching to see how you show up. In this episode: - Why comedians have become the last honest voices in public life and how truth is baked into every real laugh - Crowd work as a communications framework: how Ben reads a room, finds the right people, and knows exactly how far to push - The math that proves speaking to a thousand people is less risky than speaking to one - What a childhood stutter that lasted eighteen years taught Ben about public speaking anxiety - Why silence is the single most underused communication tool in business - The coaching techniques Ben uses with executives on TED Talks and high-stakes presentations - How building a late night show from his house on YouTube became the perfect format for an attention economy that rewards real over polished - The idea-capture habit he shared with Chris Rock and has used for twenty-five years - Why the moments that go most wrong are often the ones that build the most trust If you’re an exec or founder looking to level up your communications skills, this episode is for you. Ben Gleib is launching his new weekly late night show ‘Good Night With Ben Gleib’ on YouTube on Thursday May 28 and every Thursday at 10 pm EST / 7 pm PST. People can join his interactive worldwide virtual audience the night before and every Wednesday by getting a ticket at makeitagoodnight.com. You can follow along on his socials on all platforms @makeitagoodnight. And make sure you subscribe to Well Said on all platforms to get new episodes every Wednesday. TIMESTAMPS 02:12 — Front row in Austin, cliffhanger compliments, and comedians vs. politicians 05:00 — What is crowd work and why it's a masterclass in real-time communication 07:45 — "Stay in the pocket" 10:00 — The math of crowds 13:30 — Self-deprecation + admitting mistakes 17:30 — A childhood stutter 20:00 — The power of silence 24:00 — Coaching executives: timing, motion to stillness, and how to make a moment land 29:40 — "Goodnight with Ben Gleib" 39:30 — When things go wrong: the DJ, the muted audience, and Scott Galloway's mic

    47 min

  8. May 20

    How a Celebrity Hair Stylist Communicates Under Pressure | Alex Pardoe

    What does a celebrity hairstylist know about communication that most executives don't? More than you'd think. Alex Pardoe has done hair for Paris Hilton at 3am, worked red carpets and film sets with some of the most recognizable names in Hollywood, and built his LA career from scratch after leaving a successful salon in Michigan with no clients and a three-month trial period. He's worked with Lindsay Lohan, Camila Cabello, and a roster of A-listers he mostly can't talk about. Five years into his LA chapter, he's one of the most sought-after hairstylists in the industry and the founder of hair extension brand The Anti Co. But the reason we brought Alex on Well Said is because he thrives in high-stakes and fast moving communication environments. He just happens to work with hair. In this conversation, Alex breaks down the philosophy that's driven his entire career: that he's not in the hair business, he's in the relationship business. Everything flows from that. How he asks questions before he ever picks up the scissors. How he reads a room under pressure. How he shows up in one of the most intimate settings imaginable, someone's home, their most vulnerable state, and makes every single person feel like the only person in the room. There's more practical communication wisdom in this episode than in most leadership books we've read. In this episode: - Why the hair industry is really the relationship business, and what that means for anyone whose job involves people - The 50-question consultation method, and why Alex would rather spend 20 minutes asking than five minutes assuming - How to stay grounded and calm when everything around you is chaotic - What it means to walk into a room blind and still show up prepared - How Alex thinks about fame, access, and keeping perspective around people he genuinely admires - The transparency shift happening across beauty and media, and why the industry's dirty little secret is becoming a selling point - What betting on yourself actually looks like when you've left everything behind to do it - Why Alex believes nothing is really that serious, and how that belief makes him better at his job If this episode resonates, please subscribe and leave us a review. And share this one with someone who needs a reminder that communication is always, at its core, about making people feel seen.

    46 min
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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
    2K
  • Episodes
    14
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Cuore Collective
  • Show Website
    Well Said

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