If You Only Watch One Video Today, Make It This One

From East London to Entrepreneurial Success

Emma Grede's early life was marked by hardship and responsibility. Raised in a tough neighborhood in East London by a loving single mother, Emma was the eldest of four girls and took on significant parental duties from a very young age. Despite the challenges and a difficult school experience—she was severely dyslexic and struggled academically—she developed a resolute sense of responsibility and grit. She learned to anticipate and overcome obstacles early, fueling her ambition to escape her circumstances and build a life driven by purpose and passion, particularly in fashion.

Emma's journey was anything but linear or glamorous. After dropping out of college at 17 due to financial struggles, she worked a variety of low-level jobs—from making sandwiches in a deli to folding clothes in a PR agency—with an unwavering commitment to excellence. Her mantra, "how you do anything is how you do everything," isn't just a phrase but a practical philosophy that helped her cultivate a magnetic professionalism regardless of the role. Every step, even the ones she hated, contributed critical lessons and skills—whether it was customer service, organization, negotiation, or how to show up with a smile despite adversity.

Owning Your Path with Responsibility

Throughout the episode, Emma emphasizes a powerful duality that changed her life: taking full responsibility for herself and carefully choosing her thoughts. She reveals how shifting her internal narrative allowed her to break free from the victim mentality often perpetuated by blaming others or circumstances. Emma acknowledges the validity of anger and unfairness in life but highlights the necessity of asking herself, "Is this serving me?" and making the conscious decision to let go of unproductive emotions in order to keep moving forward.

She also touches on the fear many face around abandoning or leaving behind their roots, especially when coming from difficult places. Emma reassures listeners that leaving a physical space doesn't mean losing your identity or the essence of who you are. She still carries her East London roots within her and believes that honoring where you come from enriches your journey rather than conflicts with it.

The Power of Excellence Over Perfectionism

One of the most enlightening distinctions Emma makes is between excellence and perfectionism. While perfectionism is externally focused and tied to others' judgments, excellence is internally driven and rooted in one's own standards and pride in effort. This difference allowed Emma to stop chasing an unattainable ideal and instead focus on consistent, genuine effort that energized her and drew people in. Excellence, as she describes, starts with how you treat yourself mentally and emotionally—your internal dialogue and self-compassion are critical foundations. She advocates for treating yourself like you would a dear friend: with kindness, understanding, and encouragement.

This mindset extends into the practicalities of career and life, where the daily choices of showing up well, preparing with care, and embracing the "small stuff" can generate an invisible but powerful pull that opens doors and builds momentum.

Building a Career

Emma's story is a testament to the value of tenacity in the face of rejection. She shares that getting started required relentless effort, from hand-delivering letters to securing unpaid work placements just to be close to the fashion industry. Despite numerous setbacks and working "crappy jobs," she never took failures personally. Instead, she adopted the mindset that every failure was a step closer to her goal and maintained a long-term view of success.

Her confidence, rooted in her mother's teaching—"You're not better than anyone else, and no one is better than you"—helped her enter rooms where she didn't yet "belong." Recognizing her unique value, she learned that the network that truly matters often exists behind the scenes in unexpected places, such as vendors, financiers, and retail partners, rather than the glamorous or obvious contacts. Emma encourages action over waiting for invitations, emphasizing the importance of simply starting, asking questions, and showing what you've done regardless of how small.

The Birth of Good American

After years in entertainment marketing and brand partnerships, Emma conceived Good American, a denim and apparel brand created to serve a vastly underserved group: women above size 16, who made up over two-thirds of the American population but had limited options in the fashion market. This concept was born from Emma's deep industry knowledge and personal observations about gaps in the marketplace.

The launch of Good American was both triumphant and chaotic. The brand sold out of all inventory on day one, a problem Emma had not anticipated because she was unfamiliar with the logistics of apparel production and retail calendars. This led to tremendous customer service challenges and a steep learning curve about the realities of manufacturing, backing orders, and cash flow management. She reveals that real success meant mastering the "unsexy" behind-the-scenes relationships, like banking and retailer partnerships, which ultimately sustain and scale a business.

Good American's breakthrough was not just about sales but the emotional connection Emma created with her customers, making them feel seen and represented. That connection, she believes, transformed the brand from a product to a movement.

Skiims, AI, and the Future of Work

Emma's involvement with Skiims, Kim Kardashian's shapewear brand, highlights the importance of collaboration and recognizing when to invest energy in ideas that resonate deeply with you. She applauds Skiims for solving a genuine problem and seamlessly aligning with culture and consumer needs.

When discussing the evolving landscape of technology and work, Emma candidly urges everyone—notably women—to embrace AI as a transformative tool rather than resist it. She sees AI as an accelerator that will disrupt industries and boost efficiency for those who learn to wield it. Emma encourages listeners to integrate AI meaningfully into their daily work and personal growth, positioning it as a critical skill for the future.

Conclusion

Emma's parting advice is simple yet profound: get out of your own head, stop letting fear paralyze you, and put your ideas into action immediately. She admits to having many ideas that never left her desktop, but the ones that did—that became real projects—changed everything. Her story makes a compelling case for trying, failing, learning, pivoting, and keeping the long view in mind.

She cautions that entrepreneurship is not for everyone and requires a willingness to embrace risk, uncertainty, and sustained effort over many years. However, whether you start a business or pursue a different kind of career, the central tenet remains: take responsibility, seek excellence, and be persistent.