The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
The Woman That Makes Millionaires: They're Lying About Work Life Balance! I Built SKIMS Without Fashion Knowledge!
Mon, 05 May 2025
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
Chapter 1: How did Emma Grede's childhood shape her?
Work-life balance is your problem. It isn't the employer's responsibility. Look, I have four kids and I had to figure out how I would think about my own ambition balanced with my parenting. That's true. And we have to have a level of honesty about what it takes to be really successful.
But is it possible to be number one but still have all of my evenings and weekends?
No, no, no. If it's possible, tell me who she is and I'll show you a liar.
Emma Green has rewritten the fashion business rulebook.
As the co-founder of multi-billion dollar brands like Good American and Skims with the Kardashians.
She's now revealing the secrets behind her unstoppable success.
You know this Emma here?
Where did you get these photos?
15.
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Chapter 2: What drove Emma Grede to succeed in fashion?
It's not honest and it's not, it wouldn't connect with what I see and what my experience are of most people that are truly successful.
Why do some people hate what you just said?
I think because it hits them in a place of like, I just don't want to do that. I want all the benefits, but I don't want to do the bit in the middle. And I get that. It's not for everyone. Then don't do it.
But is it possible to have the success to be number one, to be on the magazines, to be Emma? And is there like not a way where I can have my evenings and weekends but still get like... I have some evenings and weekends. But like I want all of my evenings and weekends.
No, no, no. If it's possible, tell me who she is and I'll tell you, I'll show you a liar. You know? I don't think so. And honestly, Stephen, what are we talking about? Because I think that most people want a... you know, they don't want everything, right? It's like most people don't and not sitting here being like, I need to be in all the magazines. I want this. I want that.
It's like most people want to have security of a well-paying job. They want to, you know, be able to afford their rent or their mortgage and have a nice car and live well and go on a few holidays and And that's like a good life. Should you be able to do that? Absolutely. Should you be able to do that without working evenings and weekends and putting all of the hours in?
Yeah, I really think that you should. But if you are leading an extraordinary life, to think that extraordinary effort wouldn't be coupled to that somehow is crazy.
It's interesting post-pandemic how it feels like leaders got gaslit a little bit. Founders got gaslit by platforms.
You know, like if you go on LinkedIn, you've got all these people telling you how to run a business and that what you're doing wrong and work-life balance and you've got to be more like this and you've got to be this kind of leader and you have to be this empathy and do this and that and the other. And if you're a young founder growing up in this world where everyone is telling founders what to do,
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