Emma Greed is a serial entrepreneur who started her career in the media business and has gone on to launch multiple companies, including Good American Skims, and she is about to launch a brand new venture called off Season. She is a recurring shark on Shark Tank, I Love You on that show, and she co hosts Roku's hit series Side Hustlers. Emma and I share a passion for entrepreneurialism and I am so pleased to talk to her today. Welcome to my podcast, Emma.
Oh my goodness, thank you for having me. Well, I'm dying right now.
It should just be said. I'll get it out of the way. I've done the fangirling thing. You've signed my cookworks. I really am having a bit of a moment.
So you've just launched a new business venture, your fourth venture as a co founder. Tell us about off Season.
Well, you know, I have to say it's probably I would say maybe my business venture if you count everything that was in media prior to me starting the you know, apparel businesses. But this is a really special one because I'm a huge, huge sports fan, and I think that there's this unbelievable opportunity as sports becomes such a hit in culture to do something where you're putting quality at the forefront.
I mean, for too long we've been wearing.
Sports gear that's just about a logo slap on a pretty cheap garment. And what I do is really, you know, specializing where the culture meets some kind of quality.
And so I'm excited to do this.
Well, I I'm a fan girl of Kristen from day one.
Day one you came to my dinner. She was like, so excited to meet you.
CHRISTI hu check. How do you say your last name?
Check?
Use check?
Really, I've learned because I'm very dyslexic, and just seeing it written, it doesn't say use check.
So used check.
Well.
She is the wife of a San Francisco forty nine ers. I met her the first time last year after already commented many times on her Instagram. I met her lest year at the Super Bowl and I applaud her entrepreneurialism because she was the first person private person to get a license from the NFL to use their logos on clothing.
I mean, honestly, she is a force to be reckoned with, and she hunted. She gorgeous, first, beautiful and so talented. This is a girl that taught herself to sew, has no fashion background whatsoever.
Absolutely went through so many people.
To find me and she said, I want you as my business partner, and here's the opportunity. And for someone like me who kind of you know, I used to be that person trying to knock on all the doors and get people to work with me.
I've never been more impressed by someone.
Well, as you launched this business, how are you defining your audience and marketing to them?
Well, you know, I think what's so interesting is the sports has such a built in fan group. But coming up in England, you know I went to soccer every single week being in La. I have you know, season tickets at the Lakers. But you know, when I started going to football, to American football, you just look around
and you see everyone wants to support their team. And I think that we're at this point in culture where everybody is really they really, really really want to wear these clothes outside of supporting their team.
And so I think it's a built in audience.
To get back to your question, but you know, it's really about being where the fans are at and thinking not just about marketing but about distribution.
But what about the other manufacturers of all the NFL licensed goods, What do they say about your high fashion?
I mean, I don't know what they're going to say.
It's going to be it's very competitive.
It is competitive, But I think any business that's worth being in, as you well know, is competitive. And rather than worrying about competition, I always worry about what's my point of difference? What am I doing so uniquely that's
not out there? You've got to focus on quality. And I honestly believe that people want to be they want to feel different, they want to feel differentiated, And we're going to bring a real unique design proposition and give you something that you want to wear on any day, not just on game day.
Well, you're and the clothing that Kristen makes is charming, isn't it. Yeah, it's a little true. I can't wear so many bare midress.
You'll be at me neither. Okay, those days are over for me too, for children.
But I must say it is incredible how how artistic she is, yes, and how clever with the logos and the colors and the banners and everything else she puts on those things.
And that's the point of differentiation, right, We're going to do something that you can't just find in any old team shop and make it really special.
So we are you selling it?
We will sell it on our own sites good and then we'll be in some of the team shops and distribution will grow from there.
But we have I see, I see a shop in every city.
Don't you Just thank you?
But you out there, you have to have a couple dressing rooms just to try and mine for ladies.
And we want to do things that are cute and you feel good in. You know, we don't want some schleppy t shirt.
This is the furthest from Schleppie. Absolutely, So your retail ventures started with Good American. But let's go back. You attend in the London College of Fashion, which is a fantastic school. It is what did you learn there and why did you leave before graduating? Yeah?
I ain't that the case?
So actually I did business there, and I mean what happened for me is I just I didn't have the financial means to keep it going. You know, I was coming, you know, an hour on the train to college. The tic train ticket was so expensive. I was trying to work three days a week and go to college the other four days of the week.
And I just couldn't make it work.
And what happens when you're working in the middle of London you meet a lot of people. I met stylists and I met, you know, people that were working in fashion shows. And I just decided that it would be better in fashion to just get in and start doing the work and have the work experience then have a qualification, and so I just had to go.
Well, like most entrepreneurs, you started working very early as a new when you were thirteen.
I've had the most jobs after there.
You know.
Actually, I think that's what kind of gave birth to my lava food, one of my like I still think of it as one of my favorite jobs. I worked in a deli when I was fourteen, and so, you know, and I probably I made the best sandwiches. I learned to slice the meat so perfectly, the name of every cheese, every olive, and I always took pride in any of those jobs. So I have been working for a long time, but I'm a person that can take something from any situation.
And I learned how to deal with customers. I learned how to please people I learned how to present things beautifully, and so I feel like there's so much of that that's come into the work that I do today. And so I feel like all of those jobs were, you know, part of making me who I am.
So you started a talent agency at twenty six and what made you do that? Where did you find all this talent that you.
You know, A fin on the ground, I have to say I was making up half the time. I feel like the pattern in my career is that I've leveraged everything that I've done.
In Ted Lasso, Oh I never.
Watched Ted last night, everyone told me I should have watched.
So there's a young woman and she's crazy, little blonde girl who becomes like the talent Asians.
You know.
For me, what I specialized in was really the commercial partnerships. So my job was actually representing brands and partnering them. There you go, maybe they've got maybe they've got big, somebody call them, oh my royalties.
Well what did you learn about the power of celebrity? I mean you must have learned a lot right away, you know, I really did.
I understood the power of leveraging a talent's name, image, likeness. I also learned about the acceleration and what that can mean for a brand.
And I think in a.
Very crowded marketplace, and if we go back fifteen years, they weren't the deals that you see now right, They were very very different, namely people putting their names to fragrances and fashion brands doing a day photo shoot and off they go. There really wasn't the integrated marketing that we see now with levels and levels of different things. And I learned social media didn't exist at all then.
But what it actually taught me is how powerful you know the idea of being able to get a message out to popular culture and how if you think about and I say this about you all the time, like you are the original person that was able to take all of your skills and everything that you stood for and leverage that into a business. And so I think that I've done a good job of taking that understanding and figuring out how I.
Can do it many times, which is incredible for a woman of your age. I mean, you've done a tremendous amount. And when you approached Christ Janner, is this your first big partnership with a celebrity family.
Well, you know, I had done a lot of individual one off deals. So I built my agency from the ground up by myself. Right, I was the first employee, meaning I wrote the proposals, that call, did the new business calls, I sent the invoices, and I performed all the work. And after about six or seven years, you get a reputation for yourself if you are any good,
and so I had an impeccable reputation. I would come to Hollywood meet the agents, the managers, the publicist, and at that time, going back all of those years, Chris was one of those people that I would come and meet.
How much of a business plan for your genom company, good American did you really have in mind at that time?
So this was actually going this is twenty sixteen, just for the timeline's sake. I had a good chunk of it. And I really understood, having done so many different campaigns for fashion brands, how so many women are overlooked in the fashion space. Right, if you don't look a certain way and you're not of a certain size, it's like you're cast a side. The same from an age point of view, the same from.
Around You were one of the pioneers, Well, we were the originators in sizing for everyone.
Absolutely, and I think that I saw that body tape everybody type and also really just thinking about women, right, it doesn't matter how old you are or you know what your size is. Everybody knows that when you look good, you feel good, you standtle, you operate differently. And so I really took what I knew about being a woman and thought, how do you create a brand that really is for everybody that's not paying lip service saying maybe i'll have something that fits you in this part of
the collection. It was like doing all the sizes all the time and having this around fit And I think the Good American really was revolutionary when we when we launched that business, I couldn't have been more proud, and I'm very happy to say that eight years later, we're still thriving. We have hundreds and hundreds of retailers all over.
This hundred million dollars businesses it And as with Chloe, Kardashian.
Absolutely cries my partner, So, how did.
The idea for Skims come about? And this is Kim Kardashian's business.
Absolutely with Emma, so Kim, this was all her idea. Kim had the idea to do skims, and I think what I.
Have learned from I have an idea.
Well, you know the name.
The name is an interesting story because it wasn't skims from the beginning.
And we did what we do best. We listened to the audience.
And you know, when you get things wrong, which you inevitably do in business. And I say this all the time, it's not plain sailing. My job is dealing with a series of problems every single day. And my life might look glamorous, but the reality of my day is that it's not. People never come to me and go like everything's amazing and you know, having a great day. It's like, this is an issue, this is on fire, here's a problem. And so that was one of many things that we
had to deal with. But I'm again very proud of that business because I think it's a business that is a gender setting.
We do things on our own terms.
We've built this beautiful business and it's exactly what kim envisited it to be. And I'm a person that's obsessed with products, and so I do what I know how to do, which is to create the best product at the best price and make sure that we can give customers exactly what they want.
So it's Skims Skims. I am sure you've heard of it. I went and looked at the entire line the other day.
Oh yes, and they have a huge almost the whole floor were every Nordstrom door, Yes you are.
And then Sacks. I have not gone into the shop at sax store is beauty. Yes, I saw it as I was passing through one day. Did enough time to stop. But now you're going to have your own store on Fifth Avenue.
It's wild. I mean we've opened stores.
We're now in Austin, and we've got a store opening in La We have a or in Miami. It's really really exciting. But this, I mean Fifth Avenue next door to Cardia.
My mind is like, so, what were your original executions for Skims, which is a line of sort of color coordinated, well fitting undergarments for women of all sizes.
That is Martha said beautifully.
You know what we when we think about this brand, it really is about creating solutions for all women. Right. The brand was very much rooted in this idea of shapewear and underwear and has gone on to really expand. And Kim's idea was that she wanted to do something to meet all of her needs right whether she's on the school run or if she is going to a red carpet event. And again, I think that that brand has done such a phenomenal job of really changing the conversation.
You know, Skims is a brand that's in the news all the time or.
Whatever it does.
She puts it on women. She puts it on women of every color and every size, and it's always I always look at every single ad.
I study those ads. I mean, everybody loves that ad. It's we have a really amazing thing. But I would say that Kim is really pivotal in the marketing.
I mean, she's an ideas machine.
She's like, you know, it's a text, every multiple text is every single day. And she is an incredible business woman that really is. They're constantly pushing the agenda and some of the best ideas that are in that business company.
So is there a demographic or is it?
No? I think our customers are like from ten to seventy, you know, they really they really are every woman yeah.
And man now, which is exciting, very we get the guys.
Yeah, the idea of buying underwear and bras online would have been unthinkable ten years ago. You just couldn't do that. You would be returning everything. How did Skims overcome that challenge?
Well, you know, I think it's really interesting because when I look at director consumer and you think about some of the things that we do really uniquely good American was right at the start of showing you product on different sizes. Right, if you're a size sixteen looking at how a pair of genes looks on a size zero, it's kind of useless because it's going to look like you,
you know that on you. And so I think that we've done some pretty unique things by making sure that as a customer, you can come in and understand what is that product doing for me?
But at the end of the day, it's about making exceptional products.
Right.
We are obsessed with fit, with fabrication, with making things understandable and creating almost like a system. So you know, it's like, this is the bra that I like in the fabrication that I like, and I'm going to be able to get that all the time. And so I think what we do best is really think about consistency.
And I think that any brand is obsessed with their customer and we know that our customers are looking for solutions, and oftentimes it's really just about listening because your customers will tell you everything that you need to know, but you've just got to be ready to take that information in and do something with it.
And I think we've been how.
Many skims have No, it seems like you have thousands.
There's quite a few. Yeah, what the very size intensive business? Let's say that, isn't it?
Yeah?
Because we go from a double access to a five X and so that's an enormous amount of sizes. We have sixty four sizes in bras and so there's a lot.
So as Skims sort in popularity, how did the company manage scaling up?
Well, you know, we have an incredible team. My husband is the CEO of that business, and Kim's business partner. And I think just name these name is the ends. Absolutely, it's wonderful.
But I think, just like.
Any business, you know, we built these companies to scale, right. I think that we've been very, very purposeful, and you're only as good as your team. And I know that if I've learned anything as a founder and as a CEO, I spend I'd say twenty five percent of my time looking at talent, and by that I mean interviewing, being speculative, even if I don't need that particular position, if someone's in the market and it's looking for a role, or even sometimes if they're not kind of hated by all
the competition, I'm there. I'm ready to meet and understand because you don't know what's coming next, and so finding the right people that are going to be able to take your business to the next level is so important. And I think as a founder, especially as a first time founder, people get really scared about not doing things themselves, about having to relinquish some control. But you'll never grow with that mentality. And I think I've learned that people
are what make businesses great. Right once you have a product market fit and you figured out how to get some fame, right you figured out the marketing piece. The single biggest thing that will make a difference to your businesses the people. And so I really make sure that I just have teams around me, and I'm pretty clear about what it is that.
I don't know.
I know what I don't know, I know what I'm not good at, I know where my strengths are, and I make sure to bring the right people around me. Where is a good American need all over the world actually, and so in the beginning it was a lot more in America than it is today. And I think that as the business has grown, we've really had to adapt to that. When you're making hundreds of thousands of units. Sadly we're not able to do that in America anymore.
And it's made all over the world a little bit the same.
Yeah. Yeah, the ads and the focus of the companies have a big focus on body positivity, which I love. I think it's such a nice thing and inclusivity region. Yeah, and why is this so important to you?
Well, we want to create a big company, you know. I think Good American was extremely pivotal in the early days of like body positivity, because again, a lot of companies speak that language, but they don't do the work of not just providing the size, but making sure it fits.
And it's not as simple as you think.
You don't take what works in a size small and just scale it up. It's actually an entirely different pattern. It's usually a very different teams most companies. If you're a designer or a pattern maker or a technical designer, you only know one side of the scale. It's very unusual that you get people that can work in both. So you're really thinking about building and mirroring a team on both ends, which is expensive and I think that's
why a lot of companies don't do it. But we've taken the time, we've made the investment to make sure that we can do that, and then it pays back because customers, once you find your fit, once you find the things you like, you come back time and time again. And so we're all about not cutting any corner so that we can make sure that customers are loyal to the brand.
I think for one of your promotions, you partnered with Swarowsky Crystal Oh. I was lucky enough to get one of those long dresses. How beautiful was that d unbelievable? Thousands thousands of crystals somehow affixed to a sheer fabric.
Ohan, isn't that crazy? I wear that dress all the time?
Do I wear it all?
One of my guests who wears the dress? You don't know my thirteen year old granddaughter, but she looks like a dream. Fine, this beautiful entrepreneur sitting across from me is how old I'm forty two. She's forty two and she has four children ages.
They are ten, eight and twenty three year olds.
Wow. Yeah, and so they probably you get they get put in the backpacks, the little ones, and they go off on the trip.
They go off on all the trips.
I've always traveled with the kids, and I never worry about jet lag. And I'm like, you know what, you just got to fit in with my life. That's how we've tried the kids. And honestly, I think that we're in such a period right now of this idea of you know, really over parenting, and I've never done that. My favorite thing to say, actually to anyone, but especially to my kids is figure it out, you know.
And I really believe in that.
I don't think that kids need you to usher them through life to figure out all of their problems. To you know, constantly, you travel so much, so you have a nanny for each kid. No, I don't have a nanny for each kid, but I do have two nannies, and I have an enormous amount of help. Like I'm not cleaning the toilets, I'm not cleaning the uther So let's be honest.
It takes an army and I'm totally fine with that.
But what I do do is that you know, I'm there for my kids for the things that really matter, and you have to choose your style of mothering. Like I've never wanted to stay home. That wasn't my choice. I think i'd be really bored. I always say to you know, it's like I'm a like two three hour marm, you know, like I'm good for a couple of hours and then I'm like, I'm going I'm going out to I have other things to do and i have other interests.
And I think that my kids are learning from me what it means to be really passionate about something, what it means to go after your your own dreams and to have those you know, ambitions and take them really seriously.
And so I don't make any apologies to eat everything.
Okay, Martha, this is my biggest Bugwere so the older two and this is where you know, like mothering mistakes. The older two are the most unbelievably fussy eaters. Oh really, Oh it's so upsetting for someone who has a real scarcity mentality because when I was younger, I grew up and they just wasn't there and I.
Just showed me her Thanksgiving, which included pork bill. It included a tricky wrapped in bacon. It included all kinds of stuffings. It included a corn bread, It included salads. It was huge. You had beef. Was their beef?
Studied with the clothes, lovely leased hair. I try to do my best month.
So the kids eat everything.
The little ones eat everything. The big ones are nightmares. And I really boys or girls. One boy, one girl. You know, we're working on them. They have other skills.
Send them to me. They'll be eating everything. So back to business. Tell me, what's your strategy for making business decisions?
You know, I am a gut instinct person.
I definitely am someone I'm not shy to ask questions, right so I think, knowing what you don't know, I will phone a lot of people and I will get an opinion and a point of view. But I am someone who leads by their gut. If it doesn't sit well with me, I'd rather make the mistake and own the mistake than go against my beliefs and go against what I'm feeling. And I honestly think that nine times out of ten, I'm not saying I'm right, but I
can live with my decisions. I'm really lucky to be in a position right now where I have access to a lot of people, and I use that access right So I have no problem calling a competitor or some you know, another CEO and saying, how did you navigate this issue? I'm coming up against this, I'm at this stage of the business.
What did you do?
And we're helpful and people people are helping, you know, people like to help, they like to be asked questions. And I think there's a generation of people, you know, I always talk about the two generations of people that I have on my board, like the young, cooler d t C investors, and then I have like the much older group in their sixties and seventies that come with the wisdom and the basics like make profit, don't mess around, where is.
The money and focus on that.
And so I rely on people like Andrew Rosen, for example, who I think is an incredible entrepreneur, an unbelievable kind of supporter and mental but also someone that can go high low right. You can talk to Andrew about you know, LRP three year strategy, and I can say, what's the best shelf to display netwear god, and he will have an opinion about everything. He can go down a rail of clothes and be like that's a hit, that's a hit, that's not, and you're like, oh, get it out the
line immediately. You know, he just has instinct. And so I think I'm really lucky that I've surrounded myself with those type of people. But I'm not scared to ask for help, and I do it all the time. I'd say, on a weekly basis, I'm calling someone and saying, what's your opinion on this.
Whether there are some of the keys to expanding a brand but protecting it as a gross well.
I think my opinion about that is that in a.
Business, it almost everything should change except your principles. Right. It's like the reason that you started that company, you're defining principles should stay the same and then every of the course, but then everything else should transition on the way up. And you have to be willing to kill your darlings the things that you say. Right in the beginning, I was like, we're going to be a director consumer brand. It's like until I needed some whole sound, until I
started opening the stores. And you have to move with what's happening. You have to shift and change and be open minded. And that also includes the people, right, because the people that get you to fifty million or one hundred million are not the same people that necessarily get you to a billion dollars. And so I'm very pragmatic about knowing that things need to change, but also I
need to change. I need to understand where do my expertise start and where do they finish and put my ego to the side and say, well, that's not where I'm good. And so I would say that change is inevitable, you have to go with it.
Well, my business started all in retail, in stores, and then data seeking and Amazon key and disrupted the entire world. And so now what's your philosophy. Do you have to be in both places? Strongly?
Yeah, I feel like you have to be wherever your customer is at and different customers, you know, and again it's not about age, It's really about what experience they find the most useful. You'll have people that want to go into a store, see the sales assistant they've been working with for a long time and take their opinion. And you've got others that are quick and need the convenience and they want to check out. And then you've got people that have an account on a specific site
and they want to check out from that account. So you've got to be everywhere that your customer is and again you have to be willing to adapt. But it's about providing the best customer experience in each of those locations. And so I think what you have to really focus on is what other customer needs at that place and time.
And so that's what we gets a.
New skim story which I cannot wait to see. Do you have a lot of changing rooms?
A lot and beautifully lit.
Changing Okay, so everybody gets to try on.
Are you a tryer on it?
I'm a tryer onor I like to try and thinks if they plan to be because then you have to wear the rate stuff to the store if you do.
You know what I mean? True, your stuff that you have on has to come off easy, that is true.
You know when we go over the head and messing with the hair and makeup, You're right, you've got to be ready for the trial. I you know, I'm a little bit spoiled. I like to do as much as I can at my house. But that's the la way. You know, it gets sent home and then it gets shipped down.
How did you meet your husband, YenS? Well, how long ago was that?
It was seventeen years ago.
I actually met him at work, which would be entirely frowned upon now, but that was, you know, pre any internet dating.
Where is she from? He's Swedish?
Swedish and was living in London, and he was technically my first investor, and we.
Really hit it off, you could say, But you.
Know, it's so interesting because Ens and I had a professional relationship that preceded our you know, personal love relationship, and he's Swedish and so we have a really amazing way of being able to work with one another. I'd say he's probably my biggest supporter, also my biggest critic, and it's good to have someone to keep you, keep you honest.
Well, you've talked about how there is no such thing as balance in a life, a work life, and I totally agree with you.
I've said that ever ever since I started my comfort. I love that you say that, yes, because there isn't. I mean, we can't fake it. You can't fake it, and yet you have to make time for each aspect of your life, which you sound like you do with the kids right in the right time and in the right moment, and I do want to believer it. No, and you have to make sacrifices, right You have to decide, like what is the most important thing today?
Subscription New York.
This is a two three night trip actually, and I was here for two nights last week, so that's pretty unusual for me that I would travel two weeks in a row. But that's what's most important right now. My children are in good hands, and I feel pretty good about it. But I also my kids are used to they know what's important to me, and so we have a very I've made They come into my office, you know, they have a lot of holidays and they'll come in.
They understand what I'm doing. But more than that, they know this is what is important to mommy.
We're really important. But she's also been working for a very long time. You know.
I always think that on social media, you get this idea that everybody's an overnight success.
I've had a job since I was twelve.
I have been working towards these moments where this success level that seemingly looks like it's come out of nowhere would be a reality for my life. And so I think it's really important that once you get to a place where these things are happening to you, that you take full advantage of them. And I'm I think I'm right at the beginning of where my you know, success is going to come.
And cert I would hope, so.
This is incredibly You're building amazing, amazing companies. They're the future. Yeah, they're the future.
I've really you know, I hope so.
And I I do go back to the balance thing because I believe as a woman, this idea that you're supposed to be all things to all people, that you would have this wonderful relationship with your husband, you'd be the most fabulous wife, and then your home would be in great shape and your kids are only looking to you, and then your company is running so smoothie. It's not true. There's a trade off with any of this stuff. We have to make sacrifices, and I'm picking and choosing every
day and something has to give. That's the reality of my life. Every day there's something I'm not doing.
A question, how do you still maintain personal healthy relationships? That's a stupid question.
Well, you know, I only have friends that are fine if I don't phone them for four months.
If you're not cool with that, it's that we're not friends.
I'm busy. I'm busy. I'll blige. I'll lge you.
Another time, right, Yeah, But that's like like when you have really good relationships and I have very few, but very good relationships, that's fine with those people because they know what your priorities are to who's your best friend. My best friend is a girl called Chanelle Krahl. She'll be with me for the holidays. We have babies at the same time, and we've been friends since we were sixteen.
You know.
She's the organized, pragmatic, can read any map, gets us around in the native language of whichever country we are in. She's just that person. And meanwhile, I'm like, where are we going?
What are we doing?
I'm great in any professional situation. Take me out of there. I'm like, Chanel, this is a store in Japan. I'm looking for find me very good friends, and I really rely on those relationships.
You have to have a I feel like you need a handful of.
People that you would say all the stuff that you say to yourself.
You know, and I really believe in that.
So yeah, and this is also in the fashion industry, Yes, he is. And how has he helped you in your adventures?
You know, I feel like he's been I said earlier that he's been a big critic, and I mean that in the best way, because he has been the person that I think saw my talent like very early and gave me maybe permission to do things that I might not have done as soon as I've done them, and so it's really nice. I really do think about him as my my great.
Cheerleader, and we do. We share a lot of information. We share a lot of which are his dealings.
He has a he's a bunch of different companies, but you might know Frame Denim, which is his company, which is a gorgeous company. And of course he's a partner with Kim and I at Skims too, and then he has a lot of different investments in media and in tech. But he's a brilliant, brilliant entrepreneur. I think he's brilliant.
Everyone else that's very handsome, handsome, Oh my gosh, right out of Mr Bergman movie.
There you go.
I mean that true. In one interview, you mentioned one secret to your success was to think about your failures as much as your accomplishments.
Oh wow, did I say that?
Yeah?
Yeah? How has that helped you improve in business? Well?
I think I'm honest with myself.
You know, my my lovely friend Diane von Furstenberg, she always says to me, the greatest relationship you'll ever have is the relationship you have with yourself. And I think there's no true thing being said, because you I am in constant conversation with myself, like all the time. So you have to learn to be kind to yourself. But you've also got to be critical and honest. And I really pride myself on like just being honest. And so I look at my failures and I try to I'm
a big thinker. I like to dissect everything and understand, like what was it that tripped me up there?
Not.
I don't look at things as having happened to me. I really take responsibility for everything in my life. So I'm like, what could I have done better? What was it inside me that made these things happen or led me into those mistakes? And so I'm fiercely critical, but I think it's really just about learning. I'm like a lifelong learner, and I'm in constant learning mode, and I think the do you read like you wouldn't believe? Like so many books. It's my favorite thing to do. Aside
from are these like self help books. I read a bit of self help. I'm not someone who reads novels. I like the business.
Books and the biography.
Yeah, you know, I how did you make?
Like?
How did you do this?
You know?
And I've I've read everything about you. I've read everything about Oprah.
I you know, all of the tech guys are the guys that I really like, love and admire and think about so much. I'm obsessed with the idea of how people change their circumstances because I do ultimately believe in this idea of self actualization and you're taking responsibility for everything that happens to you.
And I love to look at.
People that have seemingly like had one set of circumstances and have been able to shift and change that. Or your heroes on Martha, I'm going to look like such a wally saying that, like you're one of my heroes. And I've said that a thousand times in a thousand places. So I will tell you to your and you know, I've watched your documentary the other day. I told your team fifty two people I counted all the emails in the texts said to me, did you see the documentary?
And I was like, I'm going to watch it.
I just need a kid.
It was incredible, and I thought about all the things that have happened to you and and how like what an inspiration you've been for so many women in business. I also thought about really what happened to you and how many women would have been put off by Actually.
Part of the documentary is that it hands that women are feeling stronger.
And largely because of how you handled that situation and how we've seen you come back even stronger and then come back even stronger. And I think it's an amazing message for women because life is not smooth sailing when you're in business and when you're doing things that change the culture and you're forging a path, like you're going to get burnt. And I think it was such a beautiful message to just look at what you've done and how successful you've been, but also the fact that you
know you're here and you're still standing. And I was like, yeah, like Martha for the win So heroes also like Oprah.
I'm obsessed. I'm always putting every message.
I've never met Oprah Winfrey and I am she's some fabulous wrong.
Well, I just I just love her.
That would be my little trick like Martha here, And I believe in manifestations, it's going to happen to me at some point.
I think that my mom is one of my heroes.
We have a very tumultuous relationship my mum and I, but she really went through it.
She is incredible. She's in London and she's going to kill me for saying that. But I can't believe you do this here. I mean, no one can see this.
Pretty magical that you get all of this traffic and you see that. But you know, this is going to sound kind of dorky, But I look at heroes as people that are able to make the best of their circumstances, right, And I look at my mom, I look at my nan, I look at some of the people that you know work around me, and and these transformations that they're making going from one place and really pushing into something else. And so and also I do think I'm a little bit of my own hero as well.
Oh you are. I feel rus you are. I just say I love. I love that a girl at your age is doing so many diverse and fabulous things. Thank you and paying attention and helping others at the same time.
Yeah, that's a huge part.
Talk a little bit about your charity.
You know.
I think fifteen years ago, when my job was doing really big commercial partnerships for really rich, famous people, I kind of got to the boy and I was like, Okay, you need to find a little bit of meaning and what you do. And I joined the board of Women for Women International, where they work with women that are living in conflict zones all over the world, in Afghanistan, in the Republic of Congo, in Iraq, and so that was my first foray into nonprofit. Sat on that board
for eight years. I currently sit on the board of Baby to Baby in LA, which is one of the most incredible organizations that works with children all over this country to get them the basic necessities that they need. And I'm the chairwoman of the fifteen Percent Pledge, which again is another incredible nonprofit that was founded by my friend Aurora James, and we're working with brands and retailers all over the country to have them allocate fifteen percent
of their annual spend to black owned businesses. And so, what I think is incredible about the times that we're living in is that you can take a little bit of success and a little bit of you know, for want of a better word, you know, fame or reputation or any of those things, and you can really leverage it to get stuff done. And so I think about it all the time, like what am I doing with
my time? Like how would I help a girl that was like me, that seemingly is a high school dropout that really didn't have much in terms of like an education or business acumen, And say, you can take your life and your circumstances and you can do anything if you're given the right set of circumstances and if you
take that and use those opportunities. And so I think about all of my nonprofit working, you know, thinking I have had so many experiences in my life and so many things that have happened, and people that have been around me that have helped me, And so I talk of responsibility. It's like, why wouldn't I use some of that to help whoever I can well.
It's to be admired and also extolled.
Thank you.
I think we have covered a lot of territory, and you are so effusive and so enthusiastic and so charming. I think that part two maybe next year, after you've launched a couple more of your phenomenal businesses. Thank you so much for joining me today. Let everyone know where they can follow you.
Oh yes, they can follow me on Instagram. What am I? I must be like Emma Greed g r ed e.
That's right, so you have to know how to spell it g r e D. Thank you very much and we look forward to all your forthcoming projects.