Louise Pay, PhD
@louisepay.bsky.social
Crisis Management & Communications Advisor
What is going on with Brene Brown? I did the sentiment breakdown so you don’t have to… and provide some advice on what you might do if you end up in a similar situation:
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
What Did Brené Brown Do?
For the past couple of days, every time I have glanced at the Threads app, my feed has been entirely consumed with posts about Brené Brown. I’m somewhat familiar with Brown, having read Dare to Lead a...
open.substack.com
January 24, 2026 at 1:55 PM
What is going on with Brene Brown? I did the sentiment breakdown so you don’t have to… and provide some advice on what you might do if you end up in a similar situation:
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
One thing we can all learn from this is that anything we say in writing can be used against us…
#taylorswift #blakelively #justinbaldoni
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
#taylorswift #blakelively #justinbaldoni
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
Revisiting Taylor Swift’s “No Intent” Defense
I previously posted a commentary on Taylor Swift and Blake Lively’s texts.
open.substack.com
January 23, 2026 at 11:54 AM
One thing we can all learn from this is that anything we say in writing can be used against us…
#taylorswift #blakelively #justinbaldoni
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
#taylorswift #blakelively #justinbaldoni
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
Despite fresh unsealed court documents fueling endless online speculation... does the evidence actually show that Taylor Swift and her team lied about her involvement in the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni controversy? #blakelively #justinbaldoni #taylorswift
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
Do the newly unsealed Lively/Baldoni documents indicate that Taylor Swift and her team lied?
TL;DR: No
open.substack.com
January 21, 2026 at 1:21 PM
Despite fresh unsealed court documents fueling endless online speculation... does the evidence actually show that Taylor Swift and her team lied about her involvement in the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni controversy? #blakelively #justinbaldoni #taylorswift
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
What’s the biggest mistake you can make if you’re accused of plagiarism? Saying you’ve NEVER plagiarized. Here’s why:
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
If you've written a lot, you might have plagiarized a little
One thing to NEVER say in response to plagiarism accusations
open.substack.com
January 20, 2026 at 1:05 AM
What’s the biggest mistake you can make if you’re accused of plagiarism? Saying you’ve NEVER plagiarized. Here’s why:
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
An AI company is paying grad students to fake stories about their supervisors stealing their work. This marketing tactic is unethical and puts the students' academic careers at risk...
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
My supervisor stole my research
AI software company Anara strikes again with unethical advertising practices.
open.substack.com
December 12, 2025 at 10:36 PM
An AI company is paying grad students to fake stories about their supervisors stealing their work. This marketing tactic is unethical and puts the students' academic careers at risk...
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
What’s a good indicator of whether to trust someone? Well… if you’ve got someone telling you all the ways they’ve screwed others over in the past & they’re sharing this from a position of accomplishment, not “shouldn’t have done that”…
You’re not a trusted confidant of this person.
You’re next.
You’re not a trusted confidant of this person.
You’re next.
December 8, 2025 at 5:38 PM
What’s a good indicator of whether to trust someone? Well… if you’ve got someone telling you all the ways they’ve screwed others over in the past & they’re sharing this from a position of accomplishment, not “shouldn’t have done that”…
You’re not a trusted confidant of this person.
You’re next.
You’re not a trusted confidant of this person.
You’re next.
"Our journal isn't a fit for your research, but here's one we think might be" OK, sure... my framework for defending academic freedom against coordinated political attacks ABSOLUTELY fits in <checks notes>
December 7, 2025 at 10:54 PM
"Our journal isn't a fit for your research, but here's one we think might be" OK, sure... my framework for defending academic freedom against coordinated political attacks ABSOLUTELY fits in <checks notes>
What to do when you fail at the one thing you're an expert in
Hint: It's NOT the statement that SHRM (the “world's largest HR group") put out when they somehow LOST an employee discrimination case...
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
Hint: It's NOT the statement that SHRM (the “world's largest HR group") put out when they somehow LOST an employee discrimination case...
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
What to do when you fail at the one thing you're an expert in
Hint: It's NOT the statement that SHRM (the "world's largest HR group") put out when they somehow LOST an employee discrimination case...
open.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 4:30 AM
What to do when you fail at the one thing you're an expert in
Hint: It's NOT the statement that SHRM (the “world's largest HR group") put out when they somehow LOST an employee discrimination case...
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
Hint: It's NOT the statement that SHRM (the “world's largest HR group") put out when they somehow LOST an employee discrimination case...
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
“When an organization targeting university employees defines the narrative on social media and subsequently in right-wing news outlets, university administrations have already lost control…”
Read more in my article in AAUP’s Academe Blog ⬇️
academeblog.org/2025/12/05/a...
Read more in my article in AAUP’s Academe Blog ⬇️
academeblog.org/2025/12/05/a...
A Call for Proactive University Communication Strategies
BY LOUISE PAY Understanding the strategy behind ideological attacks on university employees is the only way to counter them effectively. It’s easy to dismiss cases like the recent incident at the U…
academeblog.org
December 5, 2025 at 7:39 PM
“When an organization targeting university employees defines the narrative on social media and subsequently in right-wing news outlets, university administrations have already lost control…”
Read more in my article in AAUP’s Academe Blog ⬇️
academeblog.org/2025/12/05/a...
Read more in my article in AAUP’s Academe Blog ⬇️
academeblog.org/2025/12/05/a...
The Fulnecky/University of Oklahoma/Turning Point USA situation from a crisis comms perspective… and why universities *must* stand firm and defend academic freedom open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
Universities at the intersection of truth and politics
Examining the Fulnecky/University of Oklahoma crisis: A call to action for academic integrity
open.substack.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:14 PM
The Fulnecky/University of Oklahoma/Turning Point USA situation from a crisis comms perspective… and why universities *must* stand firm and defend academic freedom open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
My crisis comms book is specifically for academics and will help you if you’re targeted like the graduate student instructor in the Samantha Fulnecky case.
I’m trying to secure a publishing contract and keep being told the same thing: highly publishable concept, target audience is too small.
I’m trying to secure a publishing contract and keep being told the same thing: highly publishable concept, target audience is too small.
December 4, 2025 at 2:12 PM
My crisis comms book is specifically for academics and will help you if you’re targeted like the graduate student instructor in the Samantha Fulnecky case.
I’m trying to secure a publishing contract and keep being told the same thing: highly publishable concept, target audience is too small.
I’m trying to secure a publishing contract and keep being told the same thing: highly publishable concept, target audience is too small.
Something I’ve noticed about advice that I tend to put in the ‘toxic positivity’ category like “you can’t control what happens but you can control your response” and (don’t come after me) the ‘Let Them’ theory is…
December 3, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Something I’ve noticed about advice that I tend to put in the ‘toxic positivity’ category like “you can’t control what happens but you can control your response” and (don’t come after me) the ‘Let Them’ theory is…
How did THIS get published in Scientific Reports, a Nature Portfolio journal?
November 29, 2025 at 5:24 PM
How did THIS get published in Scientific Reports, a Nature Portfolio journal?
Asked ChatGPT why publishers might not want to buy my non-academic book targeted at academics and it said it's because they “can't imagine academics as humans" and see them as "BRAINS ON STICKS".
On sticks?
What is this?!
We can’t even be in a vat anymore?
On sticks?
What is this?!
We can’t even be in a vat anymore?
November 22, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Asked ChatGPT why publishers might not want to buy my non-academic book targeted at academics and it said it's because they “can't imagine academics as humans" and see them as "BRAINS ON STICKS".
On sticks?
What is this?!
We can’t even be in a vat anymore?
On sticks?
What is this?!
We can’t even be in a vat anymore?
“The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression.” (Sir John Harvey Jones)
November 17, 2025 at 5:25 PM
“The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression.” (Sir John Harvey Jones)
Epstein typed like he was writing on a Nokia 3330 without looking at the screen and if you think that wasn’t intentional…
November 14, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Epstein typed like he was writing on a Nokia 3330 without looking at the screen and if you think that wasn’t intentional…
Being an effective communicator in a crisis or conflict starts *outside* of your present situation. It’s our approach to conflict/disagreement in general that shapes our underlying attitudes when it unexpectedly appears in our lives.
November 14, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Being an effective communicator in a crisis or conflict starts *outside* of your present situation. It’s our approach to conflict/disagreement in general that shapes our underlying attitudes when it unexpectedly appears in our lives.
University faculty facing harassment, doxxing, retaliation… this is for you.
October 2, 2025 at 7:38 PM
University faculty facing harassment, doxxing, retaliation… this is for you.
So the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a regulatory inquiry into your work. Everything is falling apart…
How will you maintain their trust in you and your credibility?
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
How will you maintain their trust in you and your credibility?
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
Strategic Communication during an NIH Regulatory Inquiry
Hoping it will never happen to you won't help if it does...
open.substack.com
September 20, 2025 at 2:22 PM
So the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a regulatory inquiry into your work. Everything is falling apart…
How will you maintain their trust in you and your credibility?
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
How will you maintain their trust in you and your credibility?
open.substack.com/pub/louisepa...
Tired of tables moving all over the place in your Word document? Try this!
September 8, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Tired of tables moving all over the place in your Word document? Try this!
I recently edited a response to reviewers letter where the reviewers had pulled out a few of the author’s very nicely structured sentences and told them that they needed to change these to… not so nicely structured sentences.
September 5, 2025 at 2:19 AM
I recently edited a response to reviewers letter where the reviewers had pulled out a few of the author’s very nicely structured sentences and told them that they needed to change these to… not so nicely structured sentences.
How to delete all comments from a Microsoft Word document with one click:
August 25, 2025 at 10:38 PM
How to delete all comments from a Microsoft Word document with one click:
Coauthor screwed up your formatting? Here’s a quick fix #microsoftword
August 25, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Coauthor screwed up your formatting? Here’s a quick fix #microsoftword