234. Emma Grede: From high school dropout to entrepreneurial powerhouse, a masterclass in the hustle, heart, and high standards behind Good American, Skims & beyond!
Trading Secrets
Audioboom Studios
5 • 5.5K Ratings
🗓️ 12 May 2025
⏱️ 77 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
As Co-Founder and CEO of Good American and Founding Partner of SKIMS, to becoming the first black woman to guest star as a shark on Shark Tank. With a keen eye for opportunity, a passion for equality, and a voice that resonates far beyond the boardrooms, Emma is redefining what it means to lead, especially as a woman and a woman of color.Â
In this episode, Emma shares how she recognized her entrepreneurial spirit early on—watching her mom budget, understanding the cost of everything, and forming a deep emotional connection to money. She opens up about raising capital for Good American, growing from a modest client base to working with some of the biggest names, and the hard lessons learned after failing in LA and starting from scratch. Emma talks about building a full-service reputation, earning trust, and key insights from investor Andrew Rosen. She explains how directly asking women what they need has informed her investment and product strategies, the top three traits she looks for when deciding where to invest, and how she keeps up with fast-moving trends. Plus, she breaks down her rules for hiring, firing, and promoting, shares the inspiration behind her new podcast Aspire with Emma Grede, and talks about her recent collaboration with Off Season and designer Kristin Juszczyk.
Emma reveals all this and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss!
Host: Jason Tartick
Co-Host: David Arduin
Audio: John Gurney
Guest: Emma Grede
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Today we are honored to spotlight a powerhouse who's not just building brands, but shaping the future of entrepreneurship, Emma |
| 0:22.4 | greed from co-founding the inclusive fashion juggernauts, good American and skims to becoming |
| 0:28.2 | the first black woman to guest star as a shark on shark tank. Emma is a force in the world of |
| 0:33.6 | business. With a keen eye for opportunity, a passion for equity, a voice that resonates |
| 0:38.7 | far beyond the boardrooms, Emma is redefining what it means to lead, especially as a woman and as a |
| 0:45.0 | woman of color. Today, we are going to explore her journey, the hustle, the heart, and the high |
| 0:49.8 | standards that drive her and how she is lifting the next generation of female entrepreneurs along the |
| 0:56.2 | way. Emma, thank you so much for being on Trading Secrets. What a lovely intro. Yeah, well, you know what? |
| 1:01.1 | You deserve, I told you this before, but I went through your resume. I'm like, I need you for 10 hours, |
| 1:06.5 | not for 50 minutes. How do we talk about everything you've accomplished in this short period of time? |
| 1:11.1 | I love that. It's unbelievable. So nice of you to say. Yes. Well, I mean, I'm going to start out with |
| 1:15.5 | this. Like, you know, from a high school dropout to Forbes, recognizing you as one of the richest |
| 1:21.1 | self-made women in America reshaping the thought process and the thought leadership of women in entrepreneurship. When you |
| 1:29.9 | were that high school girl, did you ever expect that your life would be where it is today when |
| 1:34.7 | you think about your career direction and things you've accomplished? |
| 1:37.4 | It's such a difficult thing to say yes. Yes. You know, in a way, it's so interesting. |
| 1:43.5 | You know, I've said this before. |
| 1:44.8 | We don't have yearbooks in England like you do here, which is such a lovely tradition. |
| 1:48.9 | I love it for my own kids. |
| 1:50.0 | But I kind of feel like I would have been most likely to succeed. |
| 1:53.1 | You know, I was a hustler of a kid that was just, I was born that way. |
| 1:58.6 | You know, I was always selling something. |
... |
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