The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Emma Grede On Building Her Empire, Uplifting Female Entrepreneurs, New Podcast + More

Episode Date: May 9, 2025

Today on The Breakfast Club, Emma Grede On Building Her Empire, Uplifting Female Entrepreneurs, New Podcast. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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No one understands how it's... I'm not just a TV show. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, Connie Britton is here. I think you should encourage your friend to go ahead and not be holding out for any man to have her babies. She could be waiting another 10 years before she finds the right guy.

Connie didn't meet her right guy until you were what, 50 Connie? 52, 52. 52. I kept thinking, oh, I'm gonna meet the guy, I'm gonna meet the guy, I'm gonna meet the guy. I finally was like, what am I waiting for? And I did it.

And I'm just so glad that I did. Listen to Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake that ass up. It's early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning everybody, it's DJ Envy Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy, we are the Breakfast Club.

We got a special guest in the building. Yes indeed. We have Emma Greedy, welcome. Thank you, I'm so happy to breakfast club. We got a special guest in the building. Yes, indeed. We have Emma Greedy. Welcome. Thank you. I'm so happy to be here. Good morning. All of you. How are you? I'm really good actually. Very good today.

Now you are the CEO and co-founder of the denim company, Good American. I am indeed. Founding partner of Skims, co-founder of Safely. And you have a new podcast coming out, Aspire with Emma Greedy. I do, I do indeed. So now tell us how this all came about.

Everything from the beginning. Google your network. All those things. What are you doing there? Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well, honestly, I'm so excited about the podcast.

That's my newest, latest venture. And you know, I've spent my entire career building businesses. And so the idea around the podcast was really me thinking about how I can scale mentorship because wherever I go all over this country, if I'm doing a talk or if I'm walking down the street, people are constantly asking me questions like, how do I start a business? How do I get a pay rise? How do I become the best version of myself? How do I negotiate better?

And you know, I can answer a lot of DMs, but there's only so much you can do. And so I'm really taking all of my knowledge, everything I've done, all of my network and trying to bring it to people in a digestible way. And I think that when you think about podcasting, it's a very, very broad medium, but there's a very narrow business viewpoint, very, very narrow viewpoint. And especially when you get to business podcasting, it's all men. And so I'm bringing like a perspective of myself, of somebody who is self-made, someone who's a self-starter and has, you know,

come from where I come from with very little education. And I wanna bring something to people that is tangible and that they can essentially take out. I want you to have something that's actionable. When you leave this podcast, that you can take that back into where you work or back into your small business and do something with it. Speaking of, where are you from?

Where do you come from? Where do I come from? I come from East London in England, which is a bit like, you know, I always think about it as, you know, similar to Brooklyn or something like that. It's the most impoverished part of London, but I would say probably the best part of London. You said it like you're from Brooklyn. East London. East London.

East London. Okay. But, all right, you have a net worth of $320 million. Something like that. And you're from East London. I think that was last year's figures, but yeah, we'll go on that. Talk that talk. Damn.

Talk that talk. Same, babe. We're growing out here. But you did come from an impoverished area. I do. And you said you're self-made. Yes, indeed. So how did you get to that point?

What was the first thing that got you in the mix to get on that road to having the network you have? I mean, I've had a job since I was 12 years old. I delivered the papers. I worked in a deli. I worked in clothes shops. I did all the things. But my interest was really in fashion.

That's where my passion was. But I didn't know anyone who had a business when I was old. I didn't even know the term entrepreneur. If you were an entrepreneur in where I come from, you were probably doing something very wrong. So that wasn't really a an idea that I had growing up. Excuse me, gonna clear my throat. But so for me, I started out like many people, I did a lot of work experience, I tried to get into the fashion business, I assisted everybody, I worked in a lot of stores, and eventually I found myself in a fashion show production company. And so that was me creating the shows,

like building the shows, the catwalks, the backdrops, and it was a very unfulfilling job, but you met everybody. So I did that for about four years, and then I fell into this kind of weird space of sponsorships, because no designers ever have money to do their shows, and so they needed brand partnerships. And I just happened to be like a hustler. You know, I understand how to put people together

and make things happen. So I started doing these brand partnerships, became the girl in London. If you, you know, if you were running a show or you had a party to do, you come to me for the sponsorship. I would find you the sponsorship. And after a while, I started my own company doing that

when I was 24 years old. And it kind of grew from there. I did one company, I did another, I started my own company doing that when I was 24 years old. And it kind of grew from there. I did one company, I did another, I sold a couple companies. Fast forward to when I'm about 32, I managed to exit that business. So I spent nearly 10 years building that first company, had my first serious, meaningful exit, meaning that I made some money for myself and so I was financially secure. What company was it? That was called ITB. Okay.

And it was amazing. It was like an entertainment marketing agency. So I worked with all the great brands and I would put talent in their campaigns. And I built a big company. We had offices in London, in Paris, in New York, in LA. I shut down in LA because I made a lot of mistakes. But it gave me the foundational knowledge to really get to where I am now. And then of course, I decided after all that time and creating a lot of value for other

people and other brands that I would do something for myself. And that's when I started Good American. And Good American, Skims is under that and what else? No, it's not. They're totally separate companies, separate companies, separate entities, separate shareholdings, separate. Thatings, separate. That's the thing, and I was reading this and I saw that you have like,

you have a certain percentage in Skims, you have a certain percentage in Good American, you have a certain percentage in Safely, and the reason I thought that was so dope is because we live in this era where people feel like you have to have 100% of something to be an owner, to be a boss, but the reality is 100% of nothing is nothing. And listen, here's the thing,

I've done a very, very good job because I divest my shareholdings. You don't wanna hold a lot of money of a company. I've taken money off the table. I'm not looking to be rich when I'm 75 years old. I want the money now. And so I think that when you get valuations, like a $4 billion valuation,

you take some money off the table. That's the sensible thing to do, to divest your interests. And that's what I've done all along. And so I'm very happy with the shareholdings I have right now because I have cash in the bank and that's what counts. How did the Skims company start? You know, people would know Skims because they're so huge. It's on it. It's sponsored by the NBA. So how did that company? We sponsor the NBA, even the other way around, even better. How did that company come about? So honestly, I think it came about from the relationship that I have with the family and You know your idea. No, it wasn't my idea. It was Kim's idea

She wanted to create a shapewear company or an underwear company and you know I had a business with with the family and so we decided to do it together and the rest they say is history It was a you know The right thing at the right time. And I think with any company, the stars have to align. We launched that company in a magical, magical time, and it hit the kind of zeitgeist. It was the right company for the culture at the moment. And so I think it was just a series of amazing things that happened and put it on the map and here we are. That's amazing because Even Good American is Chloe's company, right?

It's a partnership between me and Chloe. Yes, work well with the family. She said check, check, check. I love that. And there's so many of them. So many checks. I love that. You ever look at Skims and Good American blowing up and think to yourself, damn, we really made the Kardashians culturally relevant again. No, I never think about it like that.

No, they've been culturally relevant again. No, I never think, I never think about it like that. No, they've, you know, they've been culturally relevant. I think that what I do is what I do, which is I'm a very, very good product person. I understand how to bring product to market. And my background, you know, 10 years of working, forging celebrity partnerships makes me really good at understanding how talent are used to accelerate a brand. And so what I bring is an intrinsic knowledge of that space, right? And it's not so easy because otherwise every famous person

we know would have a big brand that does hundreds of millions of dollars and they don't. So there's more to it, right? You really have to be somebody that understands product, that understands the customer, that understands how to run a business. And that's what I bring to those partnerships and skims is Redefined shape where like what was the biggest risk you took early on that paid off?

you know, I think that Kim had a very clear idea of what she wanted to do and a Very differentiated idea and I think that that's what it's all about in business anytime, right? You have to have something that is unique and a unique point of difference to whatever's out there. And when I think about anything that we've done, whether we're talking about size inclusivity or whether we're talking about the range from like a kind of nude color range, we're always trying to do something that doesn't exist in the market. And I think when you're solving problems, when you're creating solutions for people,

that's when you get that kind of breakthrough. That's when you get something that customers really go, oh, like, I need that. I have that problem. And you guys are solving for it. What do you realize when it's time to sell a company? When do you say, OK, this is when we have to exit? You know, I think that that is different for every company. And I've been in agency businesses and I've been in brand businesses I think that what is often true is like your first off the your first offer is often your best offer and you shouldn't always

Think that there's something amazing coming around the corner You have to sell things when they're on the up because it peaks right and then then you've only got the downside to sell And so when you've got that momentum when you've got the forward forward swing, when you're in growth mode, as they say, that's when you need to think about selling, or at least taking some money off the table. Do people in fashion really care about diversity? Or is it just good PR until the next training? I mean, you could ask yourself,

does anyone really care about diversity? Right, I don't think it's just about fashion. I think there's definitely a certain amount of performative action out there, right, for marketing purposes. And actually, Good American, and the reason I started that company was a reaction to that, because I worked in the fashion business and I saw all these companies doing perform, you know, like hiring one black girl in the campaign, and yet no one in the entire company was black. And I saw people like performatively

putting a plus size person in a campaign when they didn't even make the clothes for that person. The girls that clothes will be cut up the back because she couldn't even fit in the jeans. And so when we started Good American, the idea about it was to say, okay, let's make a company that actually has these values where the office and the people that run the business and the people that make the decisions and the people in the C-suite are actually a reflection of the customer base. And I think that's what made Good American so successful that it was actually walking the walk

and not just talking the talk. If you were a size 20 and you needed a pair of jeans, you have a tiny waist and a big butt, like you came to Good American and you could feel the difference in that product and people knew we were for real real. That's like how you said that, a tiny waist and a big butt? You know. And they knew that we were for real real. That's like how you said that, a tiny waist and a big bod. You know.

And a little bit of real real. That's what we were working with. That's what we were working with. Was something you ref- Okay. I was gonna say, now you're also on Shark Tank. I am, I'm a guest shark. You have been on many episodes.

Yes, absolutely. What do you look for when somebody's on Shark Tank and they're pitching something to you? You know, for me, it's always about the founder. It's always, I, you know, even when I think about hiring and investing, I'm like attitude over experience because that's my experience.

I'm not someone who comes from a place where you'd be like, I'm gonna bet on her. And so I really want that person that is so passionate about their ideas, so crazy about it. They know everything about the competition. They know everything about what they're doing and they are deep and they are into it.

So I'm going for someone who feels it intrinsically. I was going to ask, what was your most successful investment on Shark Tank? Do you know, it was this incredible, it's so funny that you asked that because when I got onto that show, you do a few investments and I remember saying to Mark one day, when I ever make any money out of any of this stuff and he said, you know what Emma, there'll be one and one of them will make you a bunch of money. And for me, that know what, Emma, there'll be one and one of them will make you a bunch of money. And for me, that was cakes body, these incredible two women that make like a silicone nipple cover. And of course, the minute I saw them, I was like, I know that business.

I understand this space. Like, I know I need that in my in my kit, in my wardrobe. And they were doing just under a million dollars when I met them. And a year later, one hundred and twenty million dollars. Jesus. Killed. Killed, killed. And just a couple of like regular girls that left their jobs and decided I'm gonna do something for myself. You have such a very confident demeanor.

What got you to that place? Or did you always have that level of security? You know, I was raised by a single mom. I'm one of four girls. And I think that my mom did an amazing job of instilling that confidence in us. You know, she taught me like, Emma, you're not better than anyone else, but nor is anyone better than you. And I really grew up believing that I really felt like if I work hard enough, anything is possible. And in East London, I was surrounded by people

that were really hustlers, but they were trying their hardest. They were doing whatever they could to make a buck. And that's just in my spirit. You know, for me, I'm a trier. I'm going to keep doing, I'm going to keep learning. And so much of what this podcast is about, you know, I think of myself as a lifelong learner. I'm always in learning mode, right? It's like, the more you learn, the more you earn. And I really, really feel like if you can help people broaden their horizons, if you can earn. And I really, really feel like if you can help people broaden their horizons, if you can bring new ideas to people, there's nothing more valuable than that.

And so I feel like in my life, that's just who I am. It's just in me. I got four girls, what are you for? I'm number one. Oh, you're the oldest? Yeah, I'm the eldest. Number one, as I like to say, my sisters will be like, she ain't number one.

And then, but yeah, I'm the eldest of four girls. Did your sisters work with you? No, thank God they don't work with me. Jesus. No, God. Do you know what, I'm not about that. I already worked with my husband. That's enough.

That's enough. No, my sisters, two of them live in England. One lives in Los Angeles. We're very, very close. Talk every day on the like sister chat. But you don't wanna work with them? No, I don't wanna work with them. I don't wanna work with them. How often, don't wanna work with them. I don't wanna work with them.

How often, cause you're in these billion dollar rooms, right, as a woman of color, right? Yes, my dad's black, mom's white, I'm mixed race. Got you. How often do you still feel underestimated? Every day. I mean, cause I am underestimated every day, right? Even after all the success?

Well, I mean, listen, now it's a little bit different. Now I can walk into any room and people will bet on me and people would want to invest in me. But I do think that you still, you know, I still think you're proving, I'm proving myself every day. I never take anything for granted, right? You're only as good as the last thing you did.

And I'm constantly pushing myself into spaces. It's like, I might be sitting here with, you know, a bunch of great companies behind me, but I don't know, I'm not a good podcaster. You know, I'm just getting started. And so I don't take anything for granted. And that's why I always think that, you know, you've got to be humble. You got to go into something with the spirit of, you know, trying your hardest and trying to be good.

And I never let that leave me. I don't walk into anything, expecting anything. I think you got to work for it every day. Is that why you want to do the podcast? Because you want to help people? Because you got so many different jobs and you have girls, you have kids, you have a husband, you have a lot of ish going on. I don't have a lot of ish going on. No, you know, it really is because I think at a certain point, right, you get to a place where you are financially comfortable. And also I proved to myself all the things I wanted to prove to myself. And now I think that the sign of success for me is how many people can come along that are like me,

that can come along and you can open the door for and that could actually have this sense of changing their life and building the life of their dreams because of something that I did. And I know that people are looking to me and I feel like it's honestly a responsibility. I don't want that to sound you know trite or like something that feels disingenuous is I feel very very responsible for all the women that get in touch with me all the time because there is so much there

are so many barriers and there's so much out there that tells you that it's an impossibility that there's not room for people, that your opinion doesn't matter. And I really think that leaning into my differences, really knowing and understanding where I come from and what is different and important about that, that's what's actually given me space in these rooms. That's why people look to me and say, what is your opinion about this because of where I've come from? And so I actually think it's a superpower. What would you tell somebody that is an entrepreneur, maybe a woman, and trying to get into this

space has an idea, but it just hasn't taken off as of yet. They can't get on Shark Tank and they just want some type of advice to say, how would you do it? How would you approach it? What would you tell that person? Well, listen, the first thing is to start, because what you'll find is a lot of people talk about a lot of stuff and they haven't actually done it. And there's this idea that there's some perfect time, perfect set of circumstances, it's never perfect. And also this idea, we're in this culture right now

where everyone thinks they have to raise a load of money. Like don't, don't raise any money, just do something. Get out of the gate. We live in a world where social media and Shopify has enabled us to start things very cheaply and you can start small. Not everything needs to be a billion dollar business, maybe you're trying to transform your circumstances and leave your corporate job and actually a little bit of money, a little bit of revenue will be transformative for you. So I would say don't benchmark and measure yourself by some standard that actually isn't part of your existence. It's like do something,

get out of the gate, start it, and then you test and you learn into it because nothing works immediately. If I think about the business that I started with Good American, three skews of skinny denim and what it is today, the two things don't even look the same. They don't look the same. We changed the size, we changed everything. The only thing you can't change in business is the reason that you started, right? It's like the very essence of what you do and your purpose has to remain the same.

You iterate everything else, transform on the way up. And so I think that that's a really important thing. It's like you just have to get out of the gate and start. I agree with you. You know, I think comparison to the thief and joy though. Yes it is. So people will start something but then they'll be looking at you but they don't realize all the time you've already put in, all the experience you've got that got you to this point. But they feel like if they're not doing what Emma's doing right now, they're not successful. Totally and I think that that is just again,

it's so much about the culture that we sit in right now. It gives you this idea that, you know, there's such a thing as overnight success. And I don't know any overnight success. Yo, Kpop fans, it's your boy, BOMHAN, and I'm bringing you something epic. Introducing the K Factor. The podcast that takes you straight into the heart of K-pop. We're talking music reviews, exclusive interviews, and deep dives into the industry like never before. From producers and choreographers to idols and trainees, we're bringing you the real stories

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podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly. I am talking to a felon right now and I cannot decide if I like him or not. Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take real phone calls from anonymous strangers all over the world as a fake gecko therapist and try to dig into their brains and learn a little bit about their lives.

I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's pretty interesting if you give it a shot. Matter of fact, here's a few more examples of the kinds of calls we get on this show. I live with my boyfriend, and I found his piss jar in our apartment. I collect my roommates' toenails and fingernails. I have very overbearing parents.

Even at the age of 29, they won't let me move out of their house. So if you want an excuse to get out of your own head and see what's going on in someone else's head, search for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the one with the green guy on it. This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, Connie Britton is here.

I think you should encourage your friend to go ahead and not be holding out for any man to have her babies. If she is passionate about becoming a mother and she has her eggs frozen and she has her life together, go for it. She could be waiting another 10 years before she finds the right guy. Connie didn't meet her right guy until you were what, 50, Connie?

How long have you guys been together? Yeah, no, 52. 52. 52. I adopted my son as a single mom because I kept thinking, oh, I'm going to meet the guy, I'm going kept thinking, oh, I'm going to meet the guy, I'm going to meet the guy, I'm going to meet the guy. I finally was like, what am I waiting for?

And I did it. And I'm just so glad that I did. I want to change the narrative about single parents and also help to create a community for single parents so that they can not feel alone in it. One of the big things is it's so hard, especially for women to ask for help. Listen to Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is, you know, again, I have been working since I was 12, and all of those experiences, you know, are so formative and they're so in me. And it's like every single thing you get leverage, right? And when I talk about leverage, I don't just mean taking something that you've been given. It's like, what do you have? Well, I have my reputation, right?

And that reputation for delivering great business when I was in the agency business allowed me to go and raise money. I didn't know what private equity was. I would never have known how to go and raise funds. I went to a client that I'd consistently delivered good business for in my agency. And I said, Hey, do you want to invest $3 million in my business? And he was like, No, girl, I'll give you I'll give you less than that.

But I'll invest in you. And so, so I've been doing a lot of talking this week. I'm like, very horse. But you know, I think that that is the thing, you know, you got to be creative and you got to work with what you've got And I think so often we focus on what we don't have and where our lack is and actually there is just that that is Not worth your energy. You've got to figure out like where are you? What do you have and how do you leverage from that point? So you said you work with your husband. How is that because when it's so personal, that's your husband That's my husband sleep with us when you wake up with what like how is that because when it's so personal, that's your husband. That's who you sleep with, that's who you wake up with. What, like, how is that?

How are you guys able to separate? Well, we're not. Let me be honest with that. There's very little separation. The truth is that my husband was actually like one of my first investors. So I worked in a company where I set up a joint venture with them.

And eventually, years later and down the line, I ended up marrying one of those guys. That's just great job security. Best ROI he ever had in his goddamn life. Exactly. Job security. We ain't gonna lie. I have returned that investment.

But I think that what's important about that is that we had a professional relationship before we ever had our personal relationship. My husband's Swedish. And in Swedish culture, culture is a very matriarchal culture. They really have so much respect for women, but they also really meet women halfway. Like even to the point, like in Sweden, when you take maternity leave, it's given to the couple. So if the woman wants to, you know, you get a year.

And if the woman wants to take six months and the husband takes six months, that's how you do it. But it's very usual in society that that happens. But what that means is that I've got someone who meets me. He respects my ambition and he respects the fact that we have four kids, we have four kids together and we do that together. So there's no expectation that I'm gonna take

some leading role and nor do I quite honestly. You, oh man, I just forgot what I'm going to ask. Oh no. Where did you learn financial literacy? You know, that's a really good question. I think when you come from scarcity, you have a really good appreciation for money because we didn't have any. And so I knew the price of everything, right? Because it's like, I knew what we didn't have. And my mom would budget,

like she'd sit at the table and she'd be like, this is what we have for groceries. This is what we've got to keep the lights on. So I knew what money was and I used to see her back in those days you know you'd write checks and so I'd see her do the checkbook and I'd be on the calculator and so money was just like a thing that I understood at a very young age and also it was cash then right so you'd like count the cash and that gave me a relationship with it. I'm dyslexic. And so I had a very hard time when I started my business

understanding how the money would link together, like between the margins and the profit and the EBITDA, to me it was like scrambled eggs. And then again, when I got into EECOM, everything is acronyms, you know, you're talking about AOV and the UPP and the LOV and I would be like, I don't get this. But I think the thing for me is that I'm naturally curious

and so I would just ask a lot of questions. And I learned by just asking, like just that I'm never scared to be the dumbest person in the room. I'm like, what does that mean? How does that work? How does that go together? And so I just like learned on the fly.

And I think that being naturally cautious about money meant that even when I got investors, I spent their money like it was my own, meaning that I'm frugal. Like I am tight. I'm just holding all the money all the time. And I never like flashy with the cash. Even now, when I am a bit flashy with the cash, it's like, I know the cost of everything. No one can buy anything in my house and me not be like, what was that? Because there's a special price for everything in Bel Air. My toilet breaks, they're like, oh, hi. It's the Bel Air price. And I'm like, no, this is what we're paying.

So I'm very aware of everything. How much power do you have in these partnerships? Well, I don't really think about it in terms of power. We're partners, and we do different things. And so I have, at Good American, I'm the CEO. So I make all the decisions as a CEO would in any company. In Skims, it's very, very different

and Kim plays a very, very hands-on role. My role is across everything product related. So design, merchandising, production, planning, that's a part of the company I run. And I see my role as really like making Kim's vision come true. She's like, this is really what I wanna see. I wanna make a nipple bra.

I'm not gonna make the best nipple bra with the best margin and we're gonna make hundreds of thousands of them. So that is what I do. What's harder convincing investors to back inclusive brands or convincing consumers is not just a gimmick. You know, I never think about it as, I never think about inclusivity

as what the brand is about, right? Because I think about at the end of the day, what you're selling to customers is like the overarching dream of what a brand is. And there's so much more to that. Inclusivity is one piece of what we do, providing a great product at a great price and getting it to consumers really quickly. Like that's what the brand is. And then there's all of these different parts that are additive to it. So I think that whenever you're pitching something, first of all, you've got to know your audience,

but you've got to understand what the true mechanics are of anything and what the important parts of anything are. And inclusivity is one of many, many things that we do. So I never think about it as something that is like, that is the main selling point. Because nobody's like, at the end of the day, no one's buying inclusivity. If you're a size 16, you're here for the size 16,

you ain't here for the size 24 and the size eight. So that's just what we do. Like giving the right thing to do is, and the right business decision to make is to serve as many customers as you can. If I make 19 sizes, I'm gonna do better business than if I sold six. Just good business. My wife loves skims, you know what I mean?

And I remember asking her why and she just likes the way they... It fits. It's comfortable. Simple as that. It fits. But what would you say to the black women who feel like skims isn't made for them even if it looks like it is? It is made for them.

Who are they? What are their sizes? We have everything. Just know what it is. What are you... I'm like, no. No. It is made for them. Who are they? What are their sizes? We have everything. Just what are you? What are you? I'm like, no, no. It's made for everyone. We have the most unbelievable customer base

and you don't have that level of sales if it's not for certain people. Question, what's your podcast? Are you gonna have guests on the podcast? I am. Who's coming on the podcast? We've got so many amazing guests on the podcast. So we launched yesterday with Gwyneth Paltrow

and Melody Hobson and Melody is my business idol. So I really wanted to make sure that we could come out of the gate with someone that I've learned from and also someone that I believe is, you know, Melody is a one of one. She is not just one of the best black business women in the country, she's just one of the best business people in the country, former chair of Starbucks. the country, she's just one of the best business people in the country,

former chair of Starbucks. I mean, she is just so incredible. And she spent her entire career at one place, 30 years in one company. And I think that there's some really amazing learnings for that. She went in as an intern, born on the South side of Chicago, you know, one of five kids,

five kids, right? She's one of five. And she is just single mom again. The most incredible woman went into this company as an intern and now she owns a very, very meaningful part of a $14 billion, you know, private equity business. And so I look at that and like my mind is blown. And then again, Gwyneth, I felt so interesting

because for so many women, they're starting businesses from something that they're passionate about. And also they're trying to do a pivot. And if you are, you know, working your corporate job and you want to just change completely and do something different, I thought she would be a really interesting benchmark to look at. How do you just completely rip it up and say, I'm going to start something new. So I was really, um, I was really happy to have those first, first people.

But I also think that women have a lot to learn from men, right, in business. And so I'm really going to be focused on a lot of different men coming through. And so we have Michael Rubin, I've got Mark Cuban. I have the wonderful you and some fine Charlotte Maynes coming on and I'll be so happy. So I've just got like a bunch of really incredible guests and it's really about people that I know, I respect and those that I aspire to. Love that. He asked you if you haven't guessed

because you can talk. You're a good talker. You're a good talker. One is hoping, yeah. How do you evaluate celebrity influence versus product quality when you're trying to build brand trust? How do I evaluate it?

I mean, it's an interesting question actually. To me, I don't even think about, listen, influence will only take you so far, right? You can drive a customer to product once. So I could love you Charlemagne and you could be trying to sell me something and because of the strength of how much I love you, I'll go and buy your product. If your product doesn't perform for me, I'm not buying it again. And the strength of a business is the strength of the lifetime value of that customer. How many times are they coming back to you over and over again? And that's how you build affinity with customers. And so after a while, the influence is useless if the product is not good. So the two only work in terms of the acceleration of the talent

can only work for the product if the product is good. Because customers are too smart. Like no one's going to buy things that are not good. Absolutely. What's your approach to like global expansion? Like is Skims different in Paris than it would be in like Atlanta? You know, that's one of the things that I learned really early in my career.

When I had ITB, which was my agency business, I was killing in London. And then I opened an office in New York and it was amazing. And I was like, I'm going to LA, the home of celebrities. And I failed miserably. And when I tell you I failed miserably, I opened a big office, like a gorgeous office, and I hired all these people,

and I had to shut it down less than a year later, about 10 months in. And I was devastated. Because I had an ignorance for the localization of anything. And it kind of comes back to this idea that success, you can't transfer success. And more than anywhere, I feel like LA is one of these places. It's built on such a community, right? And you are either in that and you understand it or you don't.

And I brought all of my kind of like this ignorance of success into a place where they were like, no no honey not here like this that's not going to wash. I've since been successful in LA but I really understood the landscape of the place and so to answer your question I think that you have to really think about localization in certain markets. There's no such thing as Europe right Europe is a is a bunch of different territories and what works in Germany does not work in France which is not works in England. It's very different to if you, you know, the U S which is essentially one market with a little bit of localization.

So you really have to think globally about if your product is going to resonate in that market and how and where and be have specificity around how you come into that market. How long were you in LA before you did become successful because you, you did say like you thought, you know, with the ignorance of the sex that you was going to go to this L.A. Hollywood place and it pop overnight. How long were you? It took me about honestly, like I would say three, four years. And I was lucky because the business was successful in other places.

But I shut down the office, I scaled it down and then I essentially had to restart. And it was really like a bash on my ego, you know, because I was flying high, I was this agency girl, I had a bunch of stuff, and I was like, nothing can touch me. And it was really like eating humble pie. And again, all of that is fine, so long as you take the lessons, you know, and I, I'm not too proud to say I failed. And I knew it at the time. And I was like, okay, well, why? What did I do wrong? And so I just scaled it back. I changed a few of the people around. And again, that's really difficult because for me, I was often bringing, you know, people that I loved, people

that were successful with me in a business and there's nothing worse than having to fire people. But you know, it's like, you can't be a people pleaser and a leader at the same time. You have to make, you know, I always talk about this idea of killing your darlings. You have to like make choices, make tough decisions. And you have to have an enterprise mentality. And so for me, it's about doing the best thing for the business. And at that point, it was about scaling it back

and starting again and doing something with a lot more understanding of where I was and a respect for the place that I was in. I wanna ask you something about skims again. I remember there's a couple of years. You love skims. Yes. You wearing skims? My wife wears them all I wanna ask you something about skims again. I remember there's a couple of years. You love skims. Yes, yes.

You wearing skims? My wife wears them all the time. Do you wear skims? I love the way my wife looks in it. Okay, but are you wearing skims? No, they make them. You know we have men's. They have the men's skims.

Oh, throw away your, like, yes. I'm thick now. Come on, now. Uh-uh. Once again, we have all the sizes. We don't discriminate. You said I'm thick. This guy's crazy.

I'll get you some products. OK. Can you get in some products, please, for this afternoon? I'm going to hold you to that now. Absolutely. I will deliver. But I remember them saying Kanye was a ghost creative director for Skims.

Oh, Lord. You're not going to do that to me today, are you? I don't know. I just remember seeing it. When I come here with my energy and my voice and all my things, I'm here to talk about me. Don't do that to me now, please. Okay.

Please, good Lord. What do you mean? You ain't getting the skims down. I'll put this out there. I'll put this out there. By the way, she handled it the way you should handle it. When you don't wanna answer a question, just don't answer it.

Okay. There's nothing wrong with it. I love it. What do you want your legacy to be? Business mogul, culture shifter, investor, or just something else entirely? You know, I'd really love my legacy to be, I would love to think about, like,

here's a girl that helped 10 million women get to where they could be. Like, I would love that. You know, it's like, I really think about myself, You know, it's like I really think about myself, you know, it's like I'm kind of done for me, you know, it's like I've got to a place where I'm so happy and I'm so content. And of course, I'm very ambitious still for myself. That's not to say like I'm in retirement or anything. But I do really like look at my success now and think my goodness, wouldn't it be amazing if like a million other little Emmys appeared?

You know, a million other girls that like left school when they were 15, really without a lot of hope, became super successful because of something I said, I did, I enabled. And so that's what I'm thinking about right now. And I think it's possible for me to do that. As these DEI initiatives are being rolled back in government and corporations,

have those pressures changed how you approach DEI for your businesses? Absolutely not. In fact, never. And I really lean into that because I know that honestly, it's the diversity in my business is a superpower. It's been a superpower for me. And you guys probably know I'm the chairwoman

of the 15% pledge. And we work with brands all over this country to essentially advocate for them to take 15% of their annual spend and give that to black-owned businesses. And so we've put over $14 billion of opportunity into the hands of black founders and entrepreneurs all over this country. And when I look at that, this is a business proposition. Isn't it nice to have? This isn't a fun to do. This isn't a tick on some charter somewhere. This is about having more relevance with your customer base. And I know that if you walk into Sephora now versus walking into Sephora five years ago, it's not just better for black women or women of color who can find a product. It's better for everyone because everyone can go in there and buy those products.

Black businesses aren't just for black people, nor are Latino businesses, nor are any businesses. So I actually think that when we talk about some of this stuff, we lose sight of what we're actually talking about. We're talking about more choice, better for customers. And that's what winning looks like. So it's like, we really shouldn't, like, I think it's so crazy that people would try to think about these things as like nice to haves. It's like, do you want to make more money or not? I make more sizes and more colors. I have more customers that behave. Hold on, expound on that. Like, do you ever get tired of explaining why diversity isn't a marketing? I get so tired because I'm like, what are we talking about here? It's about numbers, it's about money.

It's pretty simple. It's really simple stuff. It's like, we're trying to be more dynamic. We're trying to be more differentiated. We're trying to bring more people through our doors. Who cares? Who cares who they are? That's right. Right, like I don't understand. Yeah, why limit yourself? Why limit yourself?

Why not widen the customer base? 100%. Yeah. What's your I knew I made it moment? You know, I honestly think that it's so funny because I think so many know, so many people and quite rightly so are down on this country right now, right? We all feel the fatigue.

And I think that moving to America was a game changer for me. And I think that what you have to understand is that the American dream is still alive and kicking. There is nowhere on earth that I could have done the journey that I've done now. And you know, my husband's, he has a very, very wise father, he died. And he used to say, you know, ever, America is the best of everything and the worst of everything. And it's really true to me now that I live here, I really see that so clearly, but I'm living my American dream, you know, in this place and the people and the opportunities that I've had here have been Unbelievable and so I'm really I'm really kind of living proof of something that is still very very special about this country

There you have it. I enjoyed this conversation Now where can they listen to the podcast you can listen to it everywhere you get your podcast, please go You know Apple anywhere YouTube where we're gonna be everywhere and thank you for joining us so much Now where can they listen to the podcast? You can listen to it everywhere you get your podcast. Please go, you know, Apple, anywhere, YouTube. We're gonna be everywhere. And thank you for joining us so much. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Make sure you send them some skims, extra small. I'll send you all some skims.

Okay. Do I look like an extra small to you? Yeah. No, I don't. I don't know about that, babe. I'm easily a large. Definitely not. Probably XL.

We'll get you an XL. XL, right? LXL. We'll figure it out. It's Emma Grady, it's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. We'll get you an XL. XL, right? LXL. We'll figure that out. It's Emma Grady. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Thank you, guys.

Wake that ass up. Early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. My husband has a secret son from a past partner. Hold up, Sam. How do we know? Have we done the DNA test? Well, John, luckily, it's Mother.

May I have a DNA test week on the OK Storytime Podcast, so we'll find out soon. And this wife writes, my husband received a Facebook message from a woman saying that he is the father of a five-year-old. At first, he didn't remember her, but then he realized they had a one-night stand right before we started dating. Wait, but do we have proof he's the dad?

To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime Podcast on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly. I collect my roommates' toenails and fingernails. Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko.

It's a show where I take phone calls from anonymous strangers as a fake gecko therapist and try to learn a little bit about their lives. calls from anonymous strangers as a fake gecko therapist and try to learn a little bit about their lives. I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's very interesting. Check it out for yourself by searching for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, and I'm the host of the On Purpose podcast, and I'm excited for my next episode with Khloe Kardashian. God, I've been through so many things that at this point I would rather not feel than feel because feeling is too much for me to handle. I am Khloe Kardashian. Khloe Kardashian everybody.

Khloe Kardashian. No one understands how it's, I'm not just a TV show. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, Connie Britton is here. I think you should encourage your friend to go ahead and not be holding out for any man to have her babies.

She could be waiting another 10 years before she finds the right guy. Connie didn't meet her right guy until you were what, 50 Connie? 52. 52. 52. I kept thinking, oh, I'm going to meet the guy, I'm going to meet the guy, I'm going to meet the guy.

I finally was like, what am I waiting for? And I did it. And I'm just so glad that I did. Listen to Dear Chelsea on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.