Leyla Gulen On Truth, Crisis Comms, And Community

Want to see what credibility looks like under pressure? We sit down with broadcaster and FEMA reservist Leyla Gulen to unpack the real work behind “overnight” stories, the human stakes of crisis communications, and why attention without accuracy is a losing game. Layla traces her arc from ballet hopeful to radio grinder to TV anchor in Los Angeles and San Francisco, revealing the invisible disciplines that build trust: relentless fact-checking, writing to match an anchor’s voice, and delivering clarity on impossible timelines. When she moved to Charleston, those habits met a city where reputation travels fast and relationships carry weight, reshaping how tough truths are told without turning personal.

We dive into the influencer era and draw a sharp line between virality and veracity. As a co-founder of Tide Point PR, Layla favors senior, crisis-tested strategy over churn. She explains how to steer clients away from performative stunts and toward messages that survive scrutiny. Then the conversation heads straight into the field, where Layla’s FEMA deployments bring communications into disaster zones. She breaks down common myths about FEMA, the life-safety work that starts immediately, and the application steps that trip people up—plus how disaster recovery centers and hotlines actually help. The throughline is empathy: respect for place, patience with process, and thick skin when public narratives get loud and loose with facts.

Amid AI’s rise and shrinking attention spans, Leyla's north star stays steady: human connection and the craft of a story told well. If you care about journalism, public relations, emergency response, or simply want a better filter for what to believe online, this conversation offers practical guardrails and grounded inspiration. Listen, share it with someone who cares about credible communication, and leave a review with your take: what makes you trust a message?

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Charleston Marketing Podcast, powered by the Charleston American Marketing Association. We're coming to you from the Charleston Media Solutions studio. Massive thanks to them for supporting Cama and the show. We've also got to thank our sponsor, as always, South Carolina Research Authority, for the annual sponsorship, plus King and Columbus for jumping on with us for Q1. And shout out, as always, to Jerry Feels Good for the beats at the top of the show. I'm Tom Kepler, founder of Obsidian Comms Content Coaching, chooseObsidian.com, and one of your co-hosts today for the show. Our guest today is Layla Gulin, who is a fantastic comms professional and a TV news personality. Before we get to Layla, I'd like to introduce my co-host, Kelly Morse. Kelly, share a few words about yourself.

SPEAKER_04 1:14

Thank you, Tom. I'm Kelly Morse. I'm the director of digital communications at our local Trident United Way. And I am usually behind the scenes and behind the camera, but today on the mic.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 1:28

And we'll go ahead and we'll get started with your introduction, Layla, if you don't mind.

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:34

Dive right in.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

Oh, so I do that. Oh, I didn't know.

SPEAKER_04 1:37

You can read your bio, actually. We'll go right to that. Okay. So Layla is an award-winning journalist with nearly two decades of experience in broadcast news, having worked in two of the nation's top five markets, Los Angeles and San Francisco. From writing and producing to anchoring, reporting, hosting, and team building, she's worn every hat in the newsroom, and passion for storytelling still drives her forward every day. Today she's a proud co-founder of Tide Point PR, a strategic public relations consortium, where she applies that same journalistic curiosity and credibility to help organizations shape meaningful, mission-driven narratives. She also serves as a FEMA reservist where she supports disaster response across the country as a media relations specialist and congressional affairs liaison. In this role, she helps to bridge communication between emergency operations, elected officials, and the public during some of the nation's most critical moments. With her finger always on the pulse of what's happening locally, nationally, and globally, she thrives on connecting the dots and turning information into action. And when she's not digging into stories or shaping strategy, you'll find her smashing shots on the pickleball court or plotting the next big idea over coffee.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

We are thrilled to have you, Layla. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Thank you for that. I appreciate it. You bet.

Layla’s Path From Ballet To News

SPEAKER_00 3:03

We'd love to get to know you uh a little bit better. You uh tell us about your origin story and how you wound up in Charleston. You you you started off in California, is that right?

SPEAKER_03 3:13

Yes. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, um, only child, and I actually set out to become a professional ballerina. That was actually my first dream. I wanted to do that. And that took me um all over the place. I did summers away, but then when I was 16, I moved to New York where I studied at the School of American Ballet. And if anybody knows the a dancer's career length, you know, some can dance for many, many years, others of us. We retire a little bit on the young side. And I had an injury which sidelined me, and so I decided to pursue my education and uh left New York, came back home, um, got my journalism degree. And really, I I thought I was going to be a newspaper reporter. I really wanted to write for magazines and newspapers. Yeah. And there there's something for that skill of being able to craft words and and put it into a story and really flesh out something, you know, put it in the printed form. But as soon as I enrolled in college, all the newspapers were folding. So it was just a bad time, which you learn to pivot, right? So so you learn to to change course. And so I dove right into radio. And radio was one of the best foundations for me as a journalist, I think. Um even if I were to pursue print, radio just it's quick, it's immediate, um, but you still have to tell a full story. Uh, and like everything I always say, I was always born like a generation too late because radio was going through so many changes with satellite and that whole landscape was shifting. So then I jumped into television. And by the grace of God, I got my first job at KCBS in Los Angeles as a traffic reporter.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

What a place to start.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

Holy smokes. Yeah. Well, I I I was, you know, I I had lived away for for many years, and so I needed to stay home at the time, and they gave they gave me a chance. I don't know why, but they did, and that just sort of set the path for what my career is today. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Thank you. So what what drove you to Charleston ultimately? Because you were in San Francisco in between, somewhere along the line there. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 5:36

That's right. That's right. So I I got my start in LA, and then I joined KGO, which is the ABC of O and O in San Francisco. Uh worked there for a few years. But I I was ready to leave California. Um, my mother and I, we had come to Charleston on a vacation and just fell in love with it. And serendipitously, after my return, I get a phone call saying that the Fox affiliate here was merging with the ABC affiliate. They're going to become sister stations, and Fox needed an anchor, would I be interested? So it it it was a prayerful decision. I had to consult with my family, and ultimately I said yes and moved here and haven't regretted it. That was 10 years ago. Wow, we're glad you did. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_04 6:26

What really delighted you about Charleston when you came here?

Big-Market Lessons In Accuracy

SPEAKER_03 6:29

I mean, what was there not to love? Um, I think for for me, Charleston, even ten years ago, it's grown exponentially, as I'm sure we could all agree in the last decade. Uh but even at the time it was dynamic, but small enough that you could really wrap your arms around it. There was, of course, there's the the southern charm and all of that stuff. I feel like it's a term that's so overused, but I think that there's such a sense of community here. And really, everyone's here that I've witnessed to lift each other up. You know, it doesn't matter what socioeconomic demographic you fit into, I think everybody here really truly loves one another. And with the influx of more people moving here, I should only hope that that is never lost. Yeah. You know, that's what I fell in love with.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Yeah, pr sort of preserving that spirit of Charleston. Yeah, the heart of it. Absolutely. Yeah, that's great. What did what did working in in TV news and such big markets teach you about storytelling and what really uh grabs people's attention?

SPEAKER_03 7:41

Well, especially at that time, we're talking, let's see, when I first entered television, the world of television, that was in 2010. A lot has changed in 15 years, 16 years now. Um there's no room for mistake. Uh the stakes are very, very high. Uh especially then.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Um and attention spans have only gotten shorter.

SPEAKER_03 8:06

They've gotten shorter, they've gotten shorter. Uh I always shudder when I hear when a news organization failed to cross-reference something, make that one more phone call to double check a fact. But back then the bar was set so high and the stakes were so high, and in a media market where you're serving millions of people, it's failure is not really an option. Um not if you want to keep your job.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Right.

SPEAKER_03 8:37

You know, and I think it just it raised my own standards to continually pursue perfection, even though there is no such thing as perfection, but I think you're always in the pursuit of and uh you always try to outdo yourself. You know, there's no resting on your laurels, there's no um letting grass grow under your feet when you're given an assignment or when you need to cover a story, but you gotta give it your all. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Yeah. And how how does that either translate to this market or were there any things that you needed to unlearn to adapt to Charleston from from such a much larger two much larger markets?

SPEAKER_03 9:23

Yeah, well, you know, the the pressure was tremendous in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Um if you blinked wrong, you know, you you'd hear about it. It's a little bit of an exaggeration, but not really. Um here, there's a little bit more grace, but there's so much more of a community feel and the connection to people is so much more personal here. So when you go out to cover a story, not only are you meeting with people that you've now developed a more intimate relationship with, you know, on an intellectual and professional basis, um, but even the people that you meet along the way, in many cases you've seen them before. So you just you kind of go into a story already having um I think kind of the onus of the respect that people deserve because they're that much closer to you personally. If that makes sense, reputation really matters.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

It's hard to be anonymous here. Yeah. You cannot. Yeah, you cannot. Somebody knows every Blake around here.

SPEAKER_03 10:35

They say six degrees of separation, it's literally like one degree here.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

I mean maybe two or three.

Adapting To Charleston’s Community Fabric

SPEAKER_03 10:40

Indeed, yeah. And in Los Angeles, you're you're s a little bit removed, you know, even though you still gotta get it right, but there isn't that uh re like you say, reputation, I think, of of making sure that you know, the person that you're covering the story, that their relative that you may know, or you know, there's so many other connections there that here in Charleston um you you have to take everything into account. Sure. You really do.

SPEAKER_04 11:15

And really here, I feel like everyone looks out for everyone too. So we no matter who your neighbor is or who your friend, like you you want the whole community to really have like a good light shining on it and really take care and pride of um you know how we talk about each other.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

Well, it's true. And if if the story is negative in any way, well, we you owe it to the public to tell the truth, you know. So it's not a smear campaign, at least that's not how I operate. I'm only speaking for myself, but this is what I've witnessed in a lot of my colleagues. You don't smear people's names, but you do have to tell the truth still. So there's there's kind of a fine line of how you do it. And it's gonna be a challenge. It is a little bit, it is a little bit. But challenge is good, you know, and I think to be a good journalist, you have to, you know, take all of those things uh into account every time you come to work.

SPEAKER_05 12:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:12

You've worn a lot of different hats, as we learned earlier, um, you know, in the newsroom as producer and anchor and host, um, and you've had a few here. Which role along the way do you think has had the greatest impact in how you are telling these stories?

SPEAKER_03 12:27

Ooh, that's a great question. Um I would say as a producer, as a producer, editor, writer, sometimes they're you're all three things at once. And whenever I had to deliver a story to my anchor, well, first of all, working in Los Angeles, for instance, I'm working under people who have been in the business for decades at the highest level. So their careers in LA span a minimum of 30 years. Wow. So if I'm editing or producing or writing for them, I better have my information right and completely fleshed out because once I hand it to this person who's established their reputation, um, you you can't let them down. And that's always stuck in my head. And I think you can't undo that. Yeah. You really can't undo it, no matter what size market you're in. You know, Charleston's grown as far as market size, but it's still relatively small compared to, you know, some of the top five, obviously. Um, but boy, when they're counting on you to be just as uh serious and accurate in your reporting um as they are, that also really raises the bar. So I would I would say that that I have taken that with me my whole entire career.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Another invisible aspect of that that that comes to mind that you probably did automatically and and some of our listeners might not might might not be aware of is that invisible skill of matching someone's voice, right? Spe writing on behalf of a seasoned anchor uh in their own voice. So not just getting the story right, but getting the voice right. And that's got to help you hone and understand and and and put in place your own voice, if that makes sense.

Producing, Voice Matching, And Standards

SPEAKER_03 14:26

Is that accurate? Absolutely. Oh gosh, you know, like in radio, for instance, I would I would take every shift that that was offered to me um when I was freelancing, and I would have the overnight shift versus the morning shift versus the mid-afternoon drive shift, you know, and each anchor or set of anchors do have their own unique voice. And it's like water filling a glass, you know, you become the shape that you're serving. And so I would know that the way that I wrote for the overnight anchor would not be the same one as the mid-afternoon anchor, because the mid-afternoons got to keep people who are in their cars going, you know, have a little uh jovialness to them or whatever the case may be. And and so you you just you learn that and you just learn to kind of shape shift and um all while keeping that foundation really, really sturdy and strong that you've got the other things. Yeah, you know, the the correct copy, the the fact check, the calls that you made to double check, triple check, all those things. Yeah, and then you've got that next layer of of kind of walking in that person's shoes before you hand them the scripts. And we did hand people scripts. We actually printed things out on paper once upon a time, which I don't know if that's even done that much anymore. I insist on having things on paper still.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. It harkens back to my newsroom. Right? Yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 15:56

I know. So much has changed, you know. It's just it's a different world that we live in.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 16:03

What are some common misconceptions that people might have of producing the news when you talk about you know having to write in um for different anchors and researching? What are what might be something that you could dispel?

SPEAKER_03 16:17

The first thing that comes to my mind is the one or two minutes that you hear a story, you don't know the hours of preparation that went into it before that. Um and I think there's a little bit of an erosion of trust these days because when something is wrong, when someone gets it wrong, people do take notice and they take umbrage. And you know, personally, in my own heart, I never want to disappoint anyone. Now, you can have different there's a little bit of room in what I do on on my daily show here on Fox 24, uh, a little editorializing to a degree. I don't like taking any one particular position on things. I like people to make up their own mind, but sometimes that is perceived differently by certain people. Um so so again, I have to be very, very careful there. But I would say that with the erosion of trust these days, people don't understand that it really well, it should have taken, you know, 12 hours to deliver that two-minute uh story in some cases. Um I'm now understanding that there's some shortcuts that are being taken, and that's why things are getting wrong and they're broadcast that way, and and you lose people's trust.

The Hidden Labor Behind A Two-Minute Story

SPEAKER_04 17:51

Aaron Powell I can imagine with a lot of the AI that's coming out and the chats and stuff that, you know, unfortunately that can become a part of it, and then you also hear a lot about how misinformation comes from a lot of these. So it's it, you know, is that impacting the work right now within the newsrooms?

SPEAKER_03 18:08

Aaron Powell You know, AI is a great tool. I will say when I entered into this industry, I had Google. You know, uh the the people I was working for never did. They had telephones, they had Thomas Guides. Do you remember Thomas Guides? For sure. How to get to a story, had to find the coordinates on a map and get there. Um they had libraries, uh places with records where you had to physically go and check something out to look up information. Um so yeah, I had the benefit of actually having Google at my fingertips, which has only gotten better, you know, over the years. But now we've got AI, which in the right hands is a great tool. In the wrong hands, it's extremely dangerous. And I would just pray that our younger generations, while they have AI now, um, you can type anything into it, it'll give you information, but don't always trust that information to be accurate. You have to cross-reference, always cross-reference. I think anybody who's not even in journalism should always cross-reference information. You know, we should always be curious beings as humans. Um, but I fear a little bit that that AI people will get so complacent and and just solely depend upon AI and what it generates that they will lose that curiosity and discernment uh in in seeking information.

SPEAKER_04 19:41

That's a great, you know, a couple of things that we don't always think about. You know, it moves so quickly, it can do all these things for you, but you think about what you're losing is that curiosity, the critical thinking, some of the problem solving, the discernment of really being able to do that research yourself and and look through things.

AI’s Promise And Peril In Newsrooms

SPEAKER_03 19:57

Yeah, yeah, it's true. And uh we are in such a churn and burn world now. Everything has to be so fast, but this is where uh immediacy or virality will always give way to trust and uh yeah, I mean, I I I would say trust and and diligence, you know, dilig you have to do your due diligence.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

Yeah. You know, you've uh oftentimes people will go on the pathway from journalism to PR. You do both concurrently, correct? Which is really interesting to me. How do you how do you sort of firewall those things from one another? What uh commonalities does one discipline have versus the other? And and what do you have to what hat do you have to sort of take off when you put on your PR hat?

SPEAKER_03 20:54

I don't know if you really necessarily have to take off your hat, a hat to to do PR for me, because I think what makes me suitable for the PR world is because of my experience. So so Tide Point PR, I started with two other partners, uh Mayor Will Haney of Mount Pleasant and Wayne Caps, who all respectively have had years upon years of experience working in in the PR world, um, but they also have their own disciplines. Of course, Mayor Haney in local government, Wayne Caps, he's um, if I got this right, he's an Air Force, a retired Air Force reservist lieutenant colonel.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

Wow.

Straddling Journalism And PR

SPEAKER_03 21:40

Yeah, it's quite the title. Yes. Um but but he has also done broadcasts. In fact, I think the only American broadcast from Cuban soil he he accomplished that in his career. I know it's really, yeah. To this day, I think that that's true. Um so we kind of of have these varying disciplines, but then we also have a lot of similar disciplines, and I think that's what really makes us a strong team. You know, as a a a PR firm or consortium, um I think we we appro we like to approach things from a mission of um what am I trying to say here? Uh you know, crisis management. So so crisis management is kind of in our wheelhouse. Sure. And having worked in FEMA for myself, I've seen it firsthand what crisis management is like. Will and Wayne, they both have worked um in similar capacities. And so I think, you know, our mission is is to represent a client in the event that, you know, if the sky is falling, you know, where do we go? How do we make sure that the public understands what what the truth is behind whatever, you know, the issue might be. So I'm speaking in very abstract terms right now, but that's ultimately what we want to accomplish as a PR firm. And you know I I think different PR firms do it differently. We like to come from more of a senior expertise point of view rather than a novice churn approach. You know, we want to really know who our clients are, we want to know how you know we can best present them and have it coming from a TV broadcast standpoint. Well I have to believe them. If they're gonna be in front of a camera talking about whatever they're talking about, I need to believe it. So I don't really put that hat down because I gotta still sit in my seat to know that it's coming across and asking the questions that any journalist would want to ask them. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So that's a very long uh convoluted way of answering your question but if there's something that I missed let me know.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

That's that's okay. Uh but what what's what's the role of traditional PR these days? Now that we're in the influencer era where everyone's a spokesperson, everyone's got a got a voice everyone's got a got a an iPhone or a Samsung phone that they can create short-term content on short form content on and it can go viral overnight. What role does traditional PR play in today's world?

SPEAKER_03 24:31

It's always it's always trust trust based uh there's such a distinct difference between PR true PR and influencers. You know influencers they want the virality they want the clicks they want you know people to lose their minds over whatever it is they they want to sensationalize a lot of things. We're based on truth you know and if you lose that then you lose everything and it may not be as shiny or exciting as some of this other stuff but really the other stuff is is so fake. And I you know I see it in my own feed. And now if I wasn't discerning before basically everything that I see in my feed these days I question. I always question everything anyways is this real? Now I I really question and I look for any little you know detail that shows fingers on hand that's my number of arms exactly absolutely absolutely you can't you can't trust anything now and they can make it look so very real but if you are a true PR agent you know it it is your agency to to know the truth to share the truth um there's there's just no room for for making stuff up you know you you just you can't do that. In a world where there's so much confusion you have to stay the course. Yeah yeah I agree.

Crisis Communications And Senior Expertise

SPEAKER_04 26:05

And what happens when you have those clients who maybe want to do one of those viral moments or really you know want to hone in on that popularity on social media how do you kind of work with them to understand that it's more important to be out getting the truth out there rather than doing some performative content.

SPEAKER_03 26:22

Yeah yeah performative is is a great word and I think that there's a place for performative I think but you have to have something to back it up you know there's a way of putting forth something that's entertaining but that's also truthful. Uh now people let so much slide that it's more entertaining than it is anything else and that's where I'm constantly doubting what I see.

SPEAKER_05 26:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:51

So what do you tell clients when they're what I tell clients um well you know A is it true?

SPEAKER_03 26:59

If it's true, okay. Um you know is any of this subject to scrutiny you know is there any part of it that would plant a seed of doubt because you don't want to become a company where you know people are now doubting what could go viral one moment could put you out of business the next because now if it's proven that it's wrong, no one's going to trust you. And that's not how you build business. It's I've said it over and over again, I'm a broken record, but trust in the truth is paramount.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Let's switch gears. Let's talk about FEMA. Yeah. How'd you get involved with with FEMA? You've got a a really interesting role we'd love to hear about it. But how how did you get involved with them to begin with?

PR Versus Influencers: Choosing Truth

SPEAKER_03 27:42

Yeah well um so a friend of mine that we had worked um in the same newsroom together and she was kind of retiring out of broadcast um and then she joined FEMA as a reservist and she came into the studio a few years ago I w was interviewing her on a disaster that was declared for South Carolina and as I was walking her out after our interview I said you know what you do looks really fascinating to me and you're helping so many people how did you do this we went out to lunch you gave me the the whole rundown I applied because they needed um media specialists you know they when they deploy a bunch of reservists they need media specialists to then you know handle all the the media distribution and so I had applied and they accepted me within a couple of weeks I went on my first mission and I think to this date I've been on five which has taken me from Indiana to West Virginia, Illinois, Oklahoma I mean you just get sent all over the place. And so it was through my friend that I joined FEMA but um I learned so much there because now you're representing the federal government. So it's not just a company a private company or a local government this is the federal government that you have to come correct and and they will 86 you the moment you start telling you half truths and and not knowing your information. So that was I would say great preparation for me to join to to start Type PR because I could see from a high stakes advantage that um you know you A you want to help people and you want to be transparent. You have to be as transparent as possible. And and those are two very important components to to the mission. So it was great. I I love doing it I love helping people um just knowing that you know at whatever cost if it's a three hour drive just to do one interview you do it.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Yeah well it sounds like you really thrive in high stakes environments.

SPEAKER_03 30:05

A bit of an adrenaline junction I would never skydive that's for sure I will never skydive but yeah yeah no it's yeah it it it can be high stakes for sure but they train you very well and and you you go in with an altruistic heart um you're there to help people. So what what are you doing exactly you you get deployed you you go to wherever they're sending you you learn what the disaster was about you learn about the state that was the other thing that I really enjoyed about working with um my FEMA supervisors is they put a lot of stock in knowing the region in which you're representing because that's respect for the people who you're serving. So you can't just go in and not know anything about West Virginia. You gotta know and and people have so much pride in where they live and so that also instills within you like yeah they have so much pride so should I you know I'm part of this family now for the next two months it's incumbent upon me to be in their shoes.

SPEAKER_04 31:10

All news is local yeah yeah 100% yeah it originates from that was there a particular moment that's really impacted you professionally or personally that you experienced during your time in FEMA you mean?

Steering Clients Away From Performative Hype

SPEAKER_03 31:21

Yeah oh gosh um it it's all impactful what you see on TV it there's no comparison to seeing it in person. Um when I was in West Virginia there's uh there's a big portion of that state that is living in abject poverty and to lose everything when you had nothing um I was there in the dead of winter and it snowed and it was freezing cold and you were serving people who were living in in very marginal means um and you you just it impacts you. You can't not be impacted by that experience. Going to Oklahoma where tornadoes rip through historic towns and um just seeing the devastation you know just seeing how someone can lose everything in a blink of an eye gives you a whole other perspective that humanity humility and service are extremely important. And then I have to say I've taken that into my broadcast as well um in my in my show I don't look at people the same way. You know not that I didn't have respect for them before but it's a different level because you just don't know what someone's going through when they come into your studio. You do not know. And I would want someone to feel the same way about me you know walking into a room as I would you know have them come to me. That's really impactful.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Yeah another aspect of the the service orientation that you you seem to have I I one thing that tur uh sort of sp spoke to me about your bio was connecting the dots and turning information to action. Love that so what's something you're seeing right now either locally or nationally that people aren't connecting yet and taking action on and what should they be? Without getting too political how do we how do we sort of open people's eyes to something that's that's really happening that people need to pay more attention to yeah well I think I think it's I think people are paying too much attention to the noise.

Joining FEMA And Deploying To Disasters

SPEAKER_03 33:38

You know that's really kind of the first thing that I think about um there's a lot of noise out there there's a lot of instigators and you don't want to fall prey to instigators that are trying to cause trouble. So I would just say be be a discerning person um and to connect the dots. You know we've been talking a lot about cross-referencing and stuff well the only way you can connect the dots is if you're handed a piece of information which sounds absolutely wild but you got to look stuff up to see if that actually connects from point A to point B. Now if it doesn't then it's just meaningless but if you're seeing a pattern or if you're seeing where you know something is actually looking like it's the truth then there's something there. Then you go after it you know then you pursue it. But otherwise don't get so caught up in the waves of of noise and and misinformation. I think that that is scary and destructive and I you know don't not to be political or or anything else but I think um it could be designed to erode society if you're not careful.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

Mm-hmm and a lot of that rhetoric has been focused on FEMA. Yeah oh sure it has on both sides of the aisle there there are a lot of misconceptions about FEMA you've seen what what it does and what it stands for on the ground. Absolutely can you dispel some myths for us about what FEMA is and does?

SPEAKER_03 35:10

Well you know it it was a little upsetting to hear some of the rhetoric that was coming out about FEMA because it really was coming from a place of not having all the information. What looks like something um is not necessarily true. You know let's just take North Carolina for instance um what was not realized at the time that certain comments were made is that FEMA immediately deploys emergency responders, especially in the case of North Carolina where you know it was of utmost timely necessity to be boots on the ground and to be helping people with swift water rescue, with you know emergency shelters, with emergency food and all those things there was a deploying of of certain services and goods resources to people that needed it right then and there to say that they weren't there is a slap in the face. And another thing I would say that situation aside when there's a disaster there is a process so you have to fill things out which can be a pain in the foot sometimes but you have to fill things out correctly people will then complain well I didn't get my my uh reimbursement um after I I filed my application I was denied or whatever. And we always constantly just beat this drum over and over again is don't look at it as a final denial there's probably a piece of information that we needed that you hadn't sent us, you know, and that there's always someone to talk to so we set up disaster recovery centers, we have a phone number we have online support you know there's so many different ways and means of which people can get in contact but then you start hearing like the stuff on the news and then they're immediate to go there you know and get angry. When that's where we come in as media uh specialists is we have to come out with that information. No no no this is the process in which you need to follow and if you have any issue you come to us and we'll help work you through that. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

Yeah that's great.

SPEAKER_04 37:36

What do you do in those situations where it's you know it's not necessarily a personal tech but it's hard not to take things personally like that. Like how how do you work through some of that?

Humanity, Humility, And Field Realities

SPEAKER_03 37:46

Yeah what I what I do working with media um I don't take anything personally. I I just I don't you know I've grown a pretty thick skin over the years I'm you have to Yeah you have you have to I'm just I guess I'm kind of built that way anyways. You don't like it when you feel that you're being criticized or something but but I think um where the the ones who I feel for the most are the individual um agents of of FEMA. They're called IA so individual assistants um and those representatives they're the ones that sit down at a table for 12 hours a day and they see one person coming in after another in many cases crying in many cases having lost all hope having to shepherd them through the process of getting all their information making sure they've got their documentation if that doesn't weigh on you I don't know what would and these people they they do this with with an open heart you know um and all good intentions. So again when there's criticism about oh well they don't do this or they don't do that that's that's being very short sighted. You you need to talk to some of these people to know exactly what kind of mile they just walked.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Yeah yeah yeah absolutely another thing that stood out about your uh bio just to get things a little lighter here is is pickleball and working on the next big thing so what what's the next big thing in communications what's what's what's happening next that you're excited about well I should have corrected that because it's coffee before pickleball so if there's coffee sure yeah coffee is always first yeah you gotta get the that energy going yeah where are we going for coffee?

SPEAKER_03 39:46

Yeah exactly I know you go for coffee give a plug to your little rooster will you all right well okay so so locally um oh that's you're putting me on the spot I mean I am kind of a Starbucks kind of a Starbucks girl I'm sorry I'm sorry um I like I like making my own coffee at home so I just enjoy the smell I like the process you know having it brew and sit in my kitchen I don't know there's just something about it so I'm I make more coffee than I think I buy.

SPEAKER_00 40:17

Okay. Yeah fine we'll accept it yeah but then where do you like to play pickleball?

SPEAKER_03 40:22

Uh there's a couple of courts near my house um I've played out on Kiawa before which is a lot of fun. Here's the thing about me with pickleball pickleball if you know anything about it people take it a little too seriously I've heard it's very competitive. Take it a little too seriously um I just want to get a volley going. It's like ping pong you know I don't care if it's on this side of the line or that just as long as we can keep it going for as many minutes as possible same thing goes with pickleball. I don't care if it's all the way outside the court if I can get it and get it back over to you that's all that matters. But some people's opponent No I don't I don't buy into all those rules I'm not a you know I have no intention of becoming a professional so what do I care? And and the people that I have played with have absolutely no intention of being a professional but they act like it and that's just too much for me.

SPEAKER_00 41:20

I yeah I'm not afraid to say it either for lack of a better term it's a little obnoxious I I lived not far from Crushyard in Mount Pleasant and uh people take it very seriously there that's for sure.

SPEAKER_03 41:34

You know I guess you got to take something seriously in life if it's a sport I'm not sports inclined um so there's that you know I don't care. I don't care what score I have at the end of the day if I had fun and I got my you know blood moving that's all that matters.

Cutting Through Noise And Connecting Dots

SPEAKER_00 41:53

Absolutely yeah good okay back to what's what's what's coming down the pipeline that's good. Okay we've covered pickleball now what what is what is the next thing coming down the pipeline in communications that you're excited about is it's something that I'm excited about.

SPEAKER_03 42:08

Well um I don't know so much if it's uh something that I'm excited about it's a it's a great question and I'm I have a lousy answer for it because uh just the industry is moving at the speed of light. So I don't really know what the future holds. I just know what I'm dealing with today. And my mission as as a talk show host is to help people tell their story. You know and I think that a hundred years ago, a hundred years from now is always going to be the same is to tell people's story and to try to tell it well or to help them facilitate the telling of their story because whatever experience they've had in their life that they want to share could help somebody else and that's really ultimately what you want to do. You just want to help the community and it doesn't always have to be bells and whistles it doesn't always have to be exciting but there could be that nugget of information um that changes someone's life and yeah I mean that's really kind of what I stick to. Awesome. Learn it from you and your show. The power of storytelling we're we're on board you're preaching to the people yeah because you'll you'll notice on my social media I'm not a poster. I I should be I guess I should be better at it um I appreciate when others are stick to it and do it well. I don't really have the patience for it um I don't know I just I like dealing with people more you know I just like seeing more people face to face and um having that intimate connection with them. And I I don't want to see that getting lost. So if we're talking about the future of communication just seems like there's always more and more barriers between people. You know this is wonderful because we're all in the same room together. Yeah it's nice. It is nice it is nice You know, it's an energy thing, it's an eye contact thing. It's like and the moment that you lose that pandemic, for instance, we did everything remotely. And that was tough. You know, technologically speaking, it could be rough, you know, getting people's framed faces framed, you know, just right to upwards of twenty to twenty-five minutes in some cases. Um but there's there's something lost there. And the human connection. The human connection. So I would just hope that humanity is as much a part of communications as it ever was in the past.

SPEAKER_00 44:34

I like that. Well said.

SPEAKER_04 44:35

Thanks.

unknown 44:36

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 44:37

Um so how do people get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_03 44:39

Oh goodness. Well, they can find me. Well, if you want to learn more about Tidepoint PR, it's Tidepoint PR.com at Tidepoint PR across the channels. And if you are interested in coming on my show, if you have a story that you want to share, um, learn more about me there. Foxcharleston.com is our website. Lgoolen at foxcharleston.com is my email, and um at Layla Gulin TV, I think it is, across the channels. So that's great.

SPEAKER_00 45:07

Layla Gulin, thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_04 45:11

Thank you so much. It was lovely connecting with you.

FEMA Myths, Process, And Support

SPEAKER_00 45:14

Killing lovely to co-host with you. Our first time together. This has been uh wonderful fun, and uh thank you all for listening. Appreciate it.