Emma Grede on Juggling Career and Family, Mentorship and Making Money
Emma Grede, cofounder and chief executive officer of Good American and founding partner of Skims, and chairwoman of the Fifteen Percent Pledge, doesn’t believe in balance.
Speaking at Fashion Tech Forum’s sixth annual conference in Manhattan on Tuesday, Grede said, “I’m very easy on myself.” She said she doesn’t feel guilty when she has an evening work event and knows she won’t be home to spend time with her four children. “I’m teaching my kids that the idea of self-fulfillment and you being happy as an individual is part of what makes me a great mother… I’m not looking for balance.”
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Grede served up many pieces of advice in a conversation with Samira Nasr, editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar. FTF was cofounded in 2014 by Karen Harvey, CEO of The Karen Harvey Cos. and Maia Wojcik, chief brand officer of KHC. The conference’s theme was “Building Brands and Teams in a World Emerging from Chaos.”
The 40-year-old Grede explained to the audience her journey to success.
“I started my career really wanting to be in fashion,” said Grede, who grew up in East London and had a paper route at 14. While she didn’t consider herself an especially creative person, she was good at working with creative people, and she had a lot of companies and a lot of failures.
“The most important thing I learned is I have a ton of resilience,” she said. While she had ideas she couldn’t get off the ground, she moved to L.A. six years ago for Good American, and that was the first time she smelled or touched success. “I had zero aspiration to be in L.A.,” said Grede, thinking that no one actually worked out there and everyone was in entertainment. She thought she’d give it three years, “and lo and behold, it worked out pretty well,” she said.
Raised by a single mother and one of four girls, Grede said she had a lot of confidence and self-assurance, but lacked a formal education. “I came out wanting to be successful and I was unashamedly forthright about it. I need to make a lot of money,” said Grede.
When Nasr asked her how she navigates the world as a successful Black woman, Grede said she’s English, and there’s a different culture, and you never speak about those things there. No one asked her about being a Black woman in business when she was in Britain. “I never thought that was something I needed to confront until I came to America,” said Grede. Now she’s asked about that all the time.
As chairwoman of the Fifteen Percent Pledge, she said she uses her contacts and resources to effect change. She noted that Black people make up 15 percent of the U.S., and retailers should allocate 15 percent of their spend to Black-owned businesses. In a little over three years, it’s become the fastest growing nonprofit in the country and has created a $14 billion pipeline of opportunity for Black-owned businesses so far. There are now 700 brands on the shelves of retailers that have taken the pledge that weren’t there before they started. The retailers make a contractual agreement.
She said Good American was established as a size-inclusive brand. The brand started having open casting calls to find models because it couldn’t afford to book a model like Ashley Graham in the beginning and had to think outside the box. It’s the sixth year of doing open casting calls and 75,000 women entered this year. “It’s fantastic in terms of customer acquisition. More importantly, it brought people into the brand. It was a really positive thing. We get amazing content out of it…and people turn into advocates for the brand,” she said.
As for where she finds her inspiration, Grede said she finds it everywhere. “I kind of find my husband quite inspiring… I get it from everywhere…I’m a naturally curious person. I find everyone interesting.”
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