We’ve Screwed Up Too—That’s Why We Built This Site
Who Runs This Site?
PerfectApology.com is published and managed by Richard Tawfik & Associates Inc., a business development and marketing firm founded in Canada by Richard Tawfik in 2000.
In 2006, the company launched this site as a pet project—part public service, part personal therapy session.
The goal? To help people figure out how to apologize properly when they’ve really messed up.
The idea ultimately came from experience. Between our team and our extended circle of contributors, we’ve had to say sorry for just about everything: missed deadlines, wiped databases, broken promises, awkward emails, ghosting, loud exits, quiet exits, international diplomatic oopsies—you name it.
We're not just guessing here. We've lived this stuff.
Why Did We Create PerfectApology.com?
Because we're human—and being human means messing up. Often.
And when you mess up? You need to fix it. That usually starts with the right apology.
But here’s the thing: most of us never really learn how to apologize. Not properly. Not in a way that feels sincere, specific, and appropriate for the situation. So we wanted to build the kind of resource we wish we had back when we were navigating our own messes.
We studied how apologies work in real life and public life—what lands, what falls flat, and why. From celebrity statements and corporate screwups to heartfelt notes between friends, we found that there really is such a thing as the perfect apology. You just have to figure out what it looks like for your situation.
That’s what this site is all about.
Who Writes Our Content?
Everything you read on the site is created under the direction of Richard Tawfik & Associates, with input from a trusted group of contributing volunteers—friends, colleagues, and consultants who’ve all faced real-life screwups (and learned a thing or two from them).
Our contributors come from all walks of life—professors, coders, consultants, customer service reps, startup founders, and yes, even the occasional policy nerd.
Some have backgrounds in communications and conflict resolution. Others have MBAs or PhDs. A few just know how to apologize really, really well.
No matter where they come from, they’ve all helped shape the content you see here.
The company researches a given topic, gathers all contributions, combines and reviews all relevant information, turns it into articles, and handles all editing to make sure everything you read is clear, accurate, and actually helpful.
We don’t use individual bylines as each article is a group effort and built on years of shared experience and collaboration.
Editorial Standards
Content on PerfectApology.com is created and maintained under the editorial direction of Richard Tawfik & Associates. We aim to provide trustworthy, real-world advice that’s informed by both experience and research. All articles are reviewed for clarity, accuracy, and usefulness before publishing.
No one article is written by one individual. Articles are written by the company and sent out to our pool of volunteer contributors who bring their relevant personal or professional experience to the articles as appropriate. We do not use AI-generated content without human oversight and editing. Feedback from readers is welcome and used to help shape future updates.
If you have a question, suggestion, or correction, please contact us.
How This Site Came Together (Spoiler: Imperfectly)
If you’re wondering how PerfectApology.com got started, let’s just say it involved a lot of arguments, confusion, and—you guessed it—apologies.
When the company decided to turn the idea into a real project, the first step was reaching out to a trusted group of friends, colleagues, and contributors to gauge their interest in the concept—and see who might volunteer their time and expertise.
The goal? Build a site that actually helps people say sorry. The challenge? Getting everyone to agree on how to do it.
We argued over everything. One contributor worked at Yahoo! and made a passionate (and loud) case for using their platform. Someone else jumped the gun and bought a domain name we’ve still never used. And sure, we all claimed we knew how to build a website—but let’s just say reality hit hard.
As for SEO? Half the team hadn’t even heard the term. The other half thought they were experts (spoiler: they weren’t).
Eventually, after apologizing to each other, Richard remembered a business acquaintance that he had met a few years back, an internet guru who developed software that would provide the ultimate solution to our problem, a solution that would easily settle any and all of our disputes and required absolutely no technical knowledge. It handled it all—domains, hosting, SEO, you name it. It even taught you how to turn your site into a business. It was simple, it worked, and we could finally stop arguing.
Almost Two Decades Later...
It's been 19 years since the company first hit "publish," and we’re still here. The site's grown more than we ever expected, we've helped millions of people figure out how to say sorry—and we've even picked up a little media love along the way.
That website tool we used to launch? Still one of the best decisions we made.
If you're thinking of starting your own site and feel completely overwhelmed, this link is well worth the visit. Yup, the pitch is a little cheesy—but trust us, it works.
Thanks for visiting, and if you’re in the middle of an apology-worthy moment—hang in there. You've got this. And we're here to help.
The Perfect Apology Team
