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
