The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
The Woman That Makes Millionaires: They're Lying About Work Life Balance! I Built SKIMS Without Fashion Knowledge!
05 May 2025
Chapter 1: How did Emma Grede's childhood shape her?
Work-life balance is your problem. It isn't the employer's responsibility. Look, I have four kids and I had to figure out how I would think about my own ambition balanced with my parenting. That's true. And we have to have a level of honesty about what it takes to be really successful.
But is it possible to be number one but still have all of my evenings and weekends?
No, no, no. If it's possible, tell me who she is and I'll show you a liar.
Emma Green has rewritten the fashion business rulebook. As the co-founder of multi-billion dollar brands like Good American and Skims with the Kardashians. She's now revealing the secrets behind her unstoppable success. You know this Emma here?
Where did you get these photos?
15. And how do you feel about her?
I feel like this person was like dying to escape her circumstances. I was raised by a single mom, one of four girls, and I had a very big hand in raising them to help my mom keep our family afloat. But I thank God every day for the type of upbringing that I had because it was hammered into me that nothing is going to come easy. And that made me who I am. Gritty.
Fast forward, and I'm an apparel CEO, someone who goes out and raises hundreds of millions of dollars, somebody who starts an agency in multiple countries. I have zero qualifications to do any of that. Like, I didn't have talent as a designer, but I will just make it happen.
There's a lot of things I want to go into there. What are the three most important things in being successful in business? Do you think it's possible for someone to make themselves gritty? How do we not give so many... My speciality. And then...
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Chapter 2: What drove Emma Grede to succeed in fashion?
It's not honest and it's not, it wouldn't connect with what I see and what my experience are of most people that are truly successful.
Why do some people hate what you just said?
I think because it hits them in a place of like, I just don't want to do that. I want all the benefits, but I don't want to do the bit in the middle. And I get that. It's not for everyone. Then don't do it.
But is it possible to have the success to be number one, to be on the magazines, to be Emma? And is there like not a way where I can have my evenings and weekends but still get like... I have some evenings and weekends. But like I want all of my evenings and weekends.
No, no, no. If it's possible, tell me who she is and I'll tell you, I'll show you a liar. You know? I don't think so. And honestly, Stephen, what are we talking about? Because I think that most people want a... you know, they don't want everything, right? It's like most people don't and not sitting here being like, I need to be in all the magazines. I want this. I want that.
It's like most people want to have security of a well-paying job. They want to, you know, be able to afford their rent or their mortgage and have a nice car and live well and go on a few holidays and And that's like a good life. Should you be able to do that? Absolutely. Should you be able to do that without working evenings and weekends and putting all of the hours in?
Yeah, I really think that you should. But if you are leading an extraordinary life, to think that extraordinary effort wouldn't be coupled to that somehow is crazy.
It's interesting post-pandemic how it feels like leaders got gaslit a little bit. Founders got gaslit by platforms.
You know, like if you go on LinkedIn, you've got all these people telling you how to run a business and that what you're doing wrong and work-life balance and you've got to be more like this and you've got to be this kind of leader and you have to be this empathy and do this and that and the other. And if you're a young founder growing up in this world where everyone is telling founders what to do,
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