She turned hustle into a $4 billion brand, Emma Grede breaks down how she built Kardashian fashion empires
Emma Grede is the founding partner behind the globally successful brands SKIMS, Good American, and Safely, all launched with the Kardashian family. She is also Chairwoman of The Fifteen Percent Pledge, is a board member at Baby2Baby, and was named one of Forbes ‘Richest Self-Made Women in America’.
She explains:
-
Growing up in East London, raised by a single mother, and how early hardship forged her fierce independence.
-
Taking on a maternal role from childhood, learning to lead through responsibility, empathy, and survival.
-
Turning rejection, dyslexia, and a lack of qualifications into fuel for building billion-dollar fashion brands.
-
Balancing ambition and motherhood, and the personal toll of leadership, hustle, and hard decisions.
-
Building SKIMS and Good American without fashion training, and the mindset that made it all possible.
00:00 Intro
02:17 Becoming Emma Grede
03:58 Acting as the Mum and Raising My Siblings
06:49 Lacking a Father Figure Growing Up
08:25 Anger Management Tools I Learned
11:06 My Dream Was Always Fashion
12:20 Understanding Money Attachment Styles
14:32 Emma's Recipe to Achieve Anything
17:55 Customer Feedback
19:30 The Importance of Reliable Decision Partners & Mentality Shifts
21:38 Do People Need Mentors to Succeed?
24:06 The One Skill That Made Me an Entrepreneur
26:09 The Three Most Important Words for Career Advancement
27:25 Does Working in an Office Make Employees More Successful?
31:11 Traits of Future Successful People
33:32 Interview Red Flags & Work-Life Balance
39:32 Can You Be Successful and Have Work-Life Balance?
40:58 You Can't Be a Leader and a People Pleaser
43:51 Being Cancelled as a Leader and Public Figure
46:29 Racism and Sexism in the Business Industry
50:56 Dealing With Business Struggles and Crises
53:33 Top 3 Valuable Practices for Founders
55:58 Don't Get Stuck—Keep Fresh Eyes
57:15 Brands Copying Other Brands
01:00:42 Advice for People With Unsupportive Partners
01:02:10 Scheduling Date Night
01:05:45 Meeting Kris Jenner
01:12:05 Pitching to Khloé Kardashian
01:12:43 Turning an Idea Into a Business
01:14:23 Strategies Deployed in Business
01:16:24 Building a Brand Strategy in 2025
01:21:11 First Principles of Business
01:25:59 How to Become the Best Salesperson
01:33:01 Learning How to Fire People
01:37:17 Attracting Top Talent to Your Company
01:39:37 What a Founder Shouldn't Do in Business
01:41:33 Hiring Exceptional People
01:45:42 Prejudices in the Workplace
01:49:09 Why Prejudices Shouldn’t Limit Anyone
01:50:39 How to Stop Giving a F***
01:54:16 When Do Successful Women Have Children?
01:56:01 My IVF Journey and Miscarriages
02:00:30 The Taboo Around Surrogacy, Freezing Eggs & Pregnancy
02:04:51 Emma Grede's New Podcast ‘Aspire’
Follow Emma:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/emmagrede/?hl=en
Good American - https://www.goodamerican.com/
SKIMS - http://skims.com/
Safely - https://getsafely.com/
Aspire With Emma Grede Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aspire-with-emma-grede/id1811878340
The 1% Diary is back - limited time only:
https://thediary.com/products/one-percent-diary
The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards (Second Edition):
https://thediary.com/products/the-conversation-cards-2nd-edition
Get email updates: https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt
Think like a CEO - join the 100 CEOs newsletter: https://bit.ly/100-ceos-newsletter
Follow Steven: https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb
Sponsors:
Vanta - https://vanta.com/steven
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett 