Emma Grede

“To say that I’m not constantly busy or inundated with work would just be to tell a lie. For me, it’s really important to try to dispel some of the myths and try to make people aware of what it takes.”

SKIMS. Good American. Safely.

You probably know at least one of those brands, if not all of them.

But do you know the woman who started them?

Emma Grede.

One of the most powerful women in fashion and consumer goods today.

A high school dropout who was running her own fashion marketing agency in London by age 25.

Emma grew up in East London, raised by a single mother with four daughters in a world where ambition was a luxury.

Diagnosed with dyslexia, she struggled in school... and chose to walk away.

Instead, she broke into fashion through backstage jobs and production gigs, learned fast, and launched ITB Worldwide.

A talent and marketing agency that matched designers with brands.

One of her first big moves? Securing Natalie Portman’s deal with Dior.

A decade later, she sold that company to Rogers & Cowan, and started building her empire.

In 2015, she pitched Kris Jenner a radical idea: a size-inclusive denim brand that actually served the majority of women.

Not aspirational. Not exclusive. Just real.

The result? Good American.

It launched in 2016 with Khloé Kardashian and made $1M on day one.

Then came SKIMS, co-founded with Kim Kardashian.

Emma led product.

Her husband Jens led operations.

Together, they built a shapewear juggernaut now worth $4B.

Next came Safely, a non-toxic home care brand created during the pandemic with Kris Jenner and Chrissy Teigen.

And most recently: Off Season, a fashion line born from an NFL partnership.

Oh and she also launched Aspire, a podcast for people who want real, actionable business advice.

But here’s the part the press rarely covers: Emma doesn’t pretend to do it all.

She’s a mother of four. She has help. She sets boundaries.

She’s loud about sacrifice about how hard this is, how many trade-offs it takes.

She’s also the first Black woman to guest star on Shark Tank. And the chair of the Fifteen Percent Pledge.

“I always look to the future and think: ‘What is going to make me happy when I’m 45? Where do I want to be?’ And then once I figure that out, I map it out.”