Emma Grede

And that was just how I was raised.

You were polite to your elders.

That was just like, you called everybody Mrs. Such and Such.

You said that please and thank you.

That was like you were representing your family.

You were going out into the world and there was just a way to behave and a way to be.

And I actually think that

is a foundation for my success in business because people need to be able to rely on you.

They need you to walk into a room and say you're going to do something and then you need to deliver on it.

And I learned when I came up in my corporate career as, you know, working in partnerships, it's like you went to an agency, you had to deliver the thing that you said you were going to deliver.

You had to best endeavour to do the stuff that you said you were going to do.

And all the talk in the world, which I'm very good at, was not going to get you out of like this thing

someone is paying for, someone has an expectation and you need to do the thing.

And so I actually credit East London with so much of like who I am and my personality.

But by the same token, I was like, I don't want to stay here.

I imagined like a big life for myself.

I imagined like traveling and seeing different things and meeting different people.

And I was like, I don't want to have to stay this small, but I knew it was down to me.

No one was coming to like lift me up and go,

There you go, princess.