August 15, 2024 • 30 mins
Emma Grede and Ashley Graham are no strangers to starting a business. Emma is the CEO and co-founder of Good American with Khloe Kardashian and a founding partner of Skims with Kim Kardashian. Ashley is a world renowned model, body positivity advocate, and entrepreneur. Together they host Hello Sunshine’s docu-series “Side Hustlers,” where they both invest their own money and offer guidance and mentorship to help shape successful women-led ventures. Emma and Ashley join The Bright Side to share the importance of investing in women’s business ideas.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello Sunshine, Hey bright Side besties Today on the show.
If you've ever dreamed of starting your own business, this
is the episode for you. We are joined by fashion icons,
entrepreneurs and co hosts of the Hello Sunshine reality show
Side Hustlers. We have Emma Greed and Ashley Graham with
us today. It's Thursday, August fifteenth. I'm Simone Boyce.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright Side from
Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we come together to
share women's stories, to laugh, learn and brighten your day. Simone,
we're talking small business and business in general today, Yes
we are. And I feel like this show has a
special place in both of our hearts because we've both
(00:48):
taken leaps to go out on our own in the
last few years. Amen, I became a small business owner
for the very first time in twenty twenty two. I
never thought that would be a hat that I wore.
I always thought of myself as a reporter, a host,
a journalist, and I had an idea on my heart
and I had to get it out into the world.
(01:10):
And it was a deck of cards for conversation because
I think oftentimes we forget to ask the people closest
to us big questions, We ask little ones like how
is your day or how was school? And we're not
actually getting the most out of somebody else's presence or
their depth. And so I put together a list of
(01:32):
probably a thousand questions and whittled it down to fifty
two of them. Some are light and fun, like do
plants thrive or die in your care? And then which
personality trait has gotten you in the most trouble? And
then some are more thoughtful and reflective, like what's an
experience that shaped who you are that very few people
(01:54):
know about? And there were card games out on the market,
but I felt like nobody had been asking the quot
questions to really get the most out of people and conversations.
So put it together, tested it with a ton of
different people.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I tested it on a bachelorette party with my.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Parents with friends, with Larry King at one point, because
in many ways it was an ode to him too.
I always called him the King of Questions. And then
started the manufacturing and design process.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
So what was the first step that you took in
order to execute this idea? It was very difficult.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
I found a graphic designer, I found a friend of
a friend who manufactured things in China, and for one
thousand dollars, we manufactured the card game. I wait six weeks,
I get it back. It's hideous, It's nothing that I wanted.
It didn't look the way I wanted. It was flimsy,
the material was awful, and I was so defeated. I
(02:55):
thought like, is this how things get made? Because this
is this is garbage.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Initial investment of one thousand dollars that was like a
waste because you weren't happy with what you got back.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Right, totally gone.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
So then I went back to the drawing board and
I started looking at other card games that I liked,
and I tried to hunt down their manufacturers. I figured
the manufacturer could try and connect me with a graphic
designer that I liked. So I find a manufacturer in
(03:26):
New York, which I loved because I really wanted the
product to be made in America.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
That was important to me.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
And I ordered two hundred card games and a friend
of mine said, you better order a thousand, and I
was terrified because each card game was really expensive. I
initially put sixteen thousand dollars into it, which was a
lot for me at the time, and that was you know,
design and creative and manufacturing, and I was like, I
can only afford to do two hundred of them. What
(03:55):
if nobody buys them? So I created an ad launched
and it was so interesting. The first people that bought
the game were not my mom, not my friends, not
anybody that I was very close with. The first people
that bought the game because I'm on Shopify so you
(04:16):
can see all the orders come through female entrepreneurs because
they knew how hard it was at every turn to
make something even as small as a card game. There
were so many roadblocks, and they were there to support me.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I told you this the first time we met, Danielle.
I think what you've built with your brand pretty Smart
is so impressive. And the fact that you did it
without a mentor without any previous experience that is huge.
It's huge, and I think this. I think some of
the mistakes that you're talking about, or the lack of
knowledge in certain areas, these are some of the things
(04:53):
that keep us out of business, and sometimes we just
need a resource, a friend who's walked through it before,
who can give us some guidance.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
First of all, thank you Simone, that means a lot
coming from you. And second of all, you're so right.
We do and I think you know to your point,
it's a mindset.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
It absolutely is a mindset.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
I also quit a dream job and went out on
my own a few years ago started my own company.
One of the reasons why I did it is because
of a conversation that I had with my best friend
years ago. I was stuck in a job that I
was just not happy with and she said, Simone, you're
stuck in an employee mindset. And she was someone who
(05:34):
was self employed, and I just loved the freedom and
flexibility that she had and something about the way that
she phrased that like an employee mindset meaning you are
trapped in this idea that I have to work for
someone else, that I have to execute their mission and
vision as opposed to creating and living out my own.
And that mindset shift was a huge reframe for me.
(05:57):
That's been hugely beneficial.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
In switching your mindset and going out on your own.
How do you feel, I feel liberated. I feel so
much happier.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I for me at this stage of my life when
I have two little boys, they are my priority and
being able to have the autonomy and the agency to
decide that, Yeah, I'm going to go pick up my
kids from school every single day if I can, or
I'm gonna I'm gonna take a summer Friday, you know,
and I'm gonna enjoy AfterAll sports with my husband.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Just being able to live life.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, now it sounds like you have your life back.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
I have my life back and I love it. I
love my life.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Well, we're not alone.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
There's been a lot of momentum with women own business
in the last few years.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
It's so true, and we actually saw tremendous growth for
female entrepreneurs when you least expect it. During the pandemic.
That's when women owned businesses contributed nearly two million jobs
and almost five hundred and eighty billion dollars in revenue
to the economy. So, if you've been sitting on a
million dollar or even billion dollar idea, our guests today
are exactly who you need to hear from. Emma Greed
(07:07):
and Ashley Graham are champions of female entrepreneurs and mentors
for female business owners in their show side Hustlers. Here's
a little bit about them. So Emma Greed started her
first business at the age of twenty four. She's now
the CEO and co founder of the denim company Good
American with Chloe Kardashian and a founding partner of Skims
with Kim Kardashian, so you know she knows a thing
(07:29):
or two about running multimillion dollar businesses. Ashley Graham is
a world renowned model, body positivity advocate, truly one of
the pioneers of that narrative, and she's also an entrepreneur herself.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Together, Emma and Ashley are the co hosts of Side Hustlers,
a Hello Sunshine docu series where they invest their own
money in women's business ideas. They also offer guidance and
mentorship to help shape successful ventures. We got a sneak
peek of the new season and I even pre ordered
one of the products.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
So after the break, we're talking all this and more
with Emma Greed and Ashley Graham. Stay with us.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Emma and Ashley, Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Thanks for having us, Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
We're lucky to be part of the Hello Sunshine family.
So we got a little bit of a sneak peek
of season two of Side Hustlers.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I binged it. It was so fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Congratulations on a second season, whether it's be so happy
you two are.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
So fun to watch on the show.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
I like the entrepreneurs, but I'm honestly tuning in for you,
if I'm being honest.
Speaker 6 (08:42):
All right, fine, fine, fun together. We actually had a
lot of fun filming it.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Did you know each other before this?
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Yes I did.
Speaker 7 (08:52):
I like we now have blossomed into like friends. We
knew each other like more as colleagues before we first
knew each other, yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yea.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
So let me tell you my Ashley Graham story. So
when I first started Good American, Ashley was like the girl, right,
she was like the model, the one you want need
just to say. It's a startup, so I can't afford
Ashley Graham, but she was in my vision boards, like
I was like, one day I'll be best friends with
this girl. And then I think we'd see each other
like a bit of Paris Fashion Week, a bit in
New York Fashion Week, and I had suggested to Ashley
(09:25):
that perhaps there was one day we could work together
for Good American. We ended up doing a little project
together around our open casting, and then this show came
up and I was like.
Speaker 8 (09:35):
Oh my god, Ashley Graham, I'm gonna call it and
literally I have Emma to think for being on the show,
because she's the one who apparently pushed for me to
be her sidekick, and I said yes Immediately, I was like,
I don't even know what the show is really about,
but if it's agreed.
Speaker 7 (09:51):
She went, I'm agreed, I want to do it and
literally showed up on SAT and I was like, so.
Speaker 9 (09:55):
What are we doing?
Speaker 1 (09:58):
True?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I love that up the sidekick though, Ashley, you two
are very much partners in this show.
Speaker 9 (10:04):
No, what's going nobody's sidekicks?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Say one?
Speaker 9 (10:08):
She said, So I think you should be like this.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
I mean, we weren't producing it together.
Speaker 9 (10:13):
Emmam right.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
So, Ashley, you were a fangirl of Emma before the
show came about. What was your awareness of her?
Speaker 5 (10:21):
I say that anything Emma touches turns to gold.
Speaker 7 (10:24):
So I want to be a part of the gold
empire that Emma is touching.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
And if this is my entry, then like, so be it.
Speaker 6 (10:31):
Well.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Part of what's fun besides your rapport is that you
two really are entrepreneurs.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
You know what you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
So I want to dive into a statistic that I
heard haunts you. Women own businesses receive less than two
percent of total venture capitalist investments in any given year.
That's actually lower than what I had heard. Two percent
is nearly nothing. When you're investing in a business, is
it a feeling or is it data driven?
Speaker 7 (10:58):
That's an interesting question because I think in my twenties
a lot of it was more feeling than it was
data because I was like new to investing and I
just was like excited to be a part of this
whole like investing world. And then as I've gotten into
my thirties and I started like seeing like successes and fails,
I realized this has to be data driven, and it
(11:19):
also has.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
To come from the gut.
Speaker 7 (11:21):
The two have to kind of blend because you may
not be able to see the numbers right away when
you're investing in something.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
It may be something that takes years.
Speaker 7 (11:29):
But if you know in your gut that this is
something that's going to be successful, then you should invest
in it, even if they haven't made a dollar or
they don't even have the projections for it.
Speaker 6 (11:38):
Right for me, first of all, let's just rewind to
the stack again, because I think that there's one thing
when you're talking about women, is another thing when you
start to talk about black women or minority founders, the
stats get even more shocking, like would make you cry
type shocking. And so, as somebody that's done pretty well,
it's not just about my need or want to be investor.
(12:00):
This is an absolute must. It's a requirement of anybody
that's done pretty well. You've got to put your money
where your mouth is and get behind the people that
need it most. And as a woman, and especially as
a Black woman, you're in a pretty unique position because
you understand the needs of that community more than perhaps
you know, like a white guy would. But to answer
your question, I think I'm super founder focused at this point.
(12:23):
I've seen amazing businesses with banging numbers.
Speaker 9 (12:26):
Out the gate go down.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
I've seen businesses where it was just something that I
felt like because I might use the product not work out.
And so right now I'm really focused on the founders
that I believe in. Because whether or not you have
experience really doesn't say anything about whether or not you'll
be successful in business. If you have passion, perseverance, I
if you have great if you want to make something work,
(12:50):
and you see a gap in the market, Like I've
seen founders do incredible things with very little means, and
so I'm really focused on the individual, on what I
think about them and their ability to take something from
like an idea in their head and bring it to fruition.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
So here's something that haunted me actually from the show.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
You two at the beginning are sort of doing these
initial meetings, and you're sitting down and the women come
through and talk about their businesses. It's not even a
pitch yet, it's just like an initial hello. And Emma,
you said you kind of whispered to Ashley like as
an aside, and you said, so many of these women
don't need our money, they need our mentorship. And I
(13:30):
got chills. Can you break that down for me?
Speaker 6 (13:34):
You know, it's really funny because I have a bit
of a bee in my bonnet about mentorship as it is, right,
I never had a mentor, and I think that a
lot of people ask me about finding a mentor, and
it's a pretty difficult thing to do because the reality
is that mentalship usually comes out of like a pre
existing relationship. And so I really think that for women
(13:56):
in business. What you ought to be doing is not
trying your hardest to find out mentor. That's like trying
to find a man.
Speaker 9 (14:01):
It's hard.
Speaker 6 (14:02):
Like. What you need to do is ask the right
questions and find the right people to ask the right
questions for that one of the things that are going
to unlock your business. And where do I get those
questions asked? What I meant in that show was that
the women need guidance, They need their plans fed it,
they need strategy, and they need someone to bounce things
off of. Because again, and it was similar for me
(14:23):
in the start of my own business journey, I just
didn't know anyone that owned a business, so I had
no way of going right, Am I onto something?
Speaker 9 (14:30):
Is this right?
Speaker 7 (14:31):
Like?
Speaker 6 (14:31):
Would you spend this on this? Or would you do
that first? And that's what those women needed. They needed
to be given confidence in the assumptions that they were
making so that they could just get on with it
and go do it.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Yeah, em when you mentioned that you didn't have a
mentor when you were coming up in the industry, do
you see yourselves in these entrepreneurs that you're mentoring, Ashley,
I want to hear from you too. Why do you
both love doing this.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
One of the things that I obsess about is who
has the right to be in business, who gets the opportunity.
And I don't think I'm the smartest, the cleverest, the
one with the best idea, Like a few magical things
happened and.
Speaker 9 (15:08):
I made it work.
Speaker 6 (15:09):
And so if you're obsessed about that idea, then you
play your part in doing what you can do to
give other people the opportunity. And sometimes it's money, sometimes
it's time, sometimes it's just advice. And so I really
honestly think that what I can do at this stage
of my career is introduce somebody to the person at
JP Morgan or Goldman Sachs that I'm dealing with, Introduce
(15:32):
somebody to a retailer. It's like, why would you not?
There's no scarcity mentality with me. I'm like more is more,
and the more women that we have in business, the
more women that we have in positions of power, the
better off this world.
Speaker 9 (15:44):
And I'm talking like the world will literally.
Speaker 7 (15:47):
Be I'm also like Emma, and I didn't have any
business mentors, even modeling mentors growing up, and I had
to literally figure it out myself and a lot of
it was speaking it till I made it, making decisions
on my own with just out of prayer and gut feeling.
And I think that something that Emma and I always
talk about is when you feel it, do it. And
(16:10):
I think a lot of people second guess themselves because
they're living in fear, or they're not confident enough, or
they think that they need somebody to give them validation
that is maybe somebody that they're striving to be like.
But if you keep that mindset, you can be successful.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Talk to me more about second guessing yourself. It's something
that is so innate, but I imagine it's also like a
muscle because you two you have to train yourselves as
investors to choose your choice, to make your decision work.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
How do you train yourself to not second guess yourself?
Speaker 6 (16:46):
That's such a lovely question, and I think one that
especially for women, is really prevalent.
Speaker 8 (16:51):
Right.
Speaker 6 (16:52):
I think, just like more generally in life, like forget business, like,
you are training yourself to be the person that you
want to be every single day. And so if you
want to be somebody that doesn't second guess themselves, you
have to practice. And if you're sitting around thinking that
somebody else always knows better you. Like, guys, everyone is
(17:13):
making it up as they go along. If there's one
thing that I've learned, it's like, no one knows more
than you do. Especially when you're in a disruptive business,
you're in a new space. It's like, we'll making it
up as we go along. So I don't kick myself
into thinking that I'm the greatest, but equally do I.
I never think like that person knows more than I do.
It's like, just get on with.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
It, Emma.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
It feels like you exploded onto the scene with Good American.
You're just everywhere, and it's so exciting to see all
the work that you're doing in the various verticals that
you've got going on.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
But you were not this overnight success.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
I mean, you had been working so hard and so long,
doing corporate partnerships, pairing brands with talent and inside the hustlers.
You're not just asking these entrepreneurs to take your investment.
You're asking them to accept an invitation which could change
their life. What was your life changing yes? What did
(18:08):
you say yes to that changed the course of your life?
Speaker 6 (18:11):
You're absolutely right to say I am no overnight success.
I've had a job since I was twelve. I worked
a paper around, I worked in a daily I went
and worked in designer clothes shops. I assisted at the shows,
I worked in production. It's like I've done all the things,
and at some point I had to say to myself, well,
what do I really want and what am I trying
to get and for me at the time, and I
(18:31):
say it unashamedly. You know, I often get in trouble
because a lot of women say you talk about money
too much.
Speaker 9 (18:36):
Well, I'm sorry.
Speaker 6 (18:37):
I was poor and I was trying to make some
money and without saying it and putting it out there,
it's very unlikely to happen.
Speaker 9 (18:44):
But it really was. I would say I had to say.
Speaker 6 (18:48):
Yes to fear and put myself in a position where
I could fail. And so I would say that the
move from my agency ITB to actually starting Good American
was the best yes I ever said, But it wasn't
without making lots of mistakes and really getting heartbroken in
the process of it all.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
Ashley, what was your life changing?
Speaker 7 (19:09):
Yes, mine was getting over procrastination, the moment that I
said this is the thing that's going to hinder me,
and it's going to hinder my lifelong journey of being
a businesswoman is procrastination. My mind changed, my business changed,
the people around me changed, and it was something that
(19:30):
I'm forever grateful that I always go back to that moment.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
So, speaking of fear, a fear of mine was that
I don't have kids yet, and I thought having kids
would mean that I had to put my career on hold.
And a mentor of mine said to me, no, no, no.
If you want something done, give it to a working mother.
There is nobody more efficient. You two are moms. We
have a lot of.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Moms that listen to the show.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
For anybody who is a mother and has a business
or a project something on their hear art that they
want to get out into the world, but may feel
like they don't have the time or the business savvy
to follow that passion.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
What do you say?
Speaker 7 (20:09):
My first piece of advice would be to delegate your time,
because there is enough time in the day. It's just
a matter of when are you going to wake up
and when are you going to go to bed, and
when there is that time in the middle of the day,
are you going to be able to tune in right away,
And if not, how can you what's going to drive
you to start focusing on that thing, that tasking you
need to get done for the day, and being really
(20:31):
organized with what your musts are and what your goal
is and writing it down, putting it all over your office,
in your bedroom, in your bathroom, on your kitchen, on
your fridge, whatever you have to do to stay motivated.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
I get asked this question a lot, and I never
ever want to belittle it, because I think that it
is one of the things, along with mum gil really
truly plagues women. And so my answer is like, really
pretty simple. I think that we've got to have a
level of honesty with one another about what it actually
takes to be a successful working mother. And so I
(21:07):
make a point of like figuring out, well, what's going.
Speaker 9 (21:09):
To give, Like where are my boundaries?
Speaker 7 (21:11):
Right?
Speaker 6 (21:11):
If my kid is in a play, I'm not missing
the play that they've worked hard on. But by the
same token, if I need to be in New York
promoting my show that I've spent months working on and
I'm really really proud of, then I need to be
here and I can't do the school run this morning.
So it really is about being honest with yourself and
figuring out, like where am I willing to give something?
Where is something going to go? And then how do
(21:33):
I patch in for that. It's like I have a
lot of childcare, like a lot of child care, so
I don't do all the things, but I.
Speaker 9 (21:40):
Choose like what's important to me.
Speaker 6 (21:43):
Like, I just feel like we're in this time of
like such perfectionist energy.
Speaker 9 (21:47):
It's like, oh, now I am not that, Like that
is just not me.
Speaker 6 (21:50):
You're not going to open my cupboards and find everything
beautifully labeled. I've got other stuff to do. And so
I think that we just have to figure off like
where am I willing to let go?
Speaker 5 (22:00):
I'm glad we're not in my cupboards? Oh my god.
Speaker 9 (22:03):
But do you know what I mean?
Speaker 6 (22:04):
We shouldn't we shouldn't all be sitting here saying to
each other like and having this kind of like perfection
is trade off because that's just not reality. What we
need to do is have honesty with each other and
talk about what gives. And So there are a lot
of things in my life that I would like to do.
I would probably like to see my friends more. I
would probably like to take my children to I'm from
(22:27):
school every day, but I don't that's not the reality
of my life.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I also think that we need to shift the narrative
around working motherhood and stop talking so much about the
inadequacies that motherhood may or may not provide in the
eyes of some in our society, and start talking about
the strengths, the transferable skills that we learn from motherhood
and parenting that can apply to business in the office.
I mean, I think about how efficient I've become since
(22:53):
becoming a mom, you know, in terms of like I
think about how I've become a better communicator, I've become
more into sun with other people's emotions, talking about like
relational equity. I just think let's talk about the strengths.
Let's talk about the skills well.
Speaker 6 (23:06):
Also, and let's talk about what your kids get from
seeing you doing all of that. Because I sit here
and I think my kids see me go out to
work every day. There's a direct correlation between what we
have in our lives and the fact that Mummy goes
out to work. And I can't hide behind those things.
So I think it's really positive for kids to understand,
like the lights come on because of these reasons, right,
(23:29):
let's be really honest. And so I think that that
is a piece of it that's really really important. And
so I do also just kind of think we just
need to relax a little bit because parenting is just
like the idea of parenting has gone bananas. When I
watch these people making their pack lunches, I'm like, oh.
Speaker 9 (23:45):
Stop it.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
That sandwich does not need to be in that shape.
Like I'm doing sandwich ora garmi the thing, and I.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
See those they get me.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
So in sandwich or gami is a metaphor for so much.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
This is such a great conversation, but we have to
take a quick break. We'll be right back with more
from the hosts of Side Hustlers, Emmagreed and Ashley Graham.
Stay with us, and we're back with Emmagreed and Ashley Graham.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
So after watching the show, I was trying to think
about what makes you two so fun to watch, and
I brought it to one word. Okay, individually and as partners,
you two have so much grit. You are by any
means necessary people and as of by any means necessary person.
I respect it so much, Ashley, even with something as
(24:39):
small as launching your podcast, no one in your space
was launching a podcast and you said, yeah, I'm gonna
do it, and it was so successful. You've launched businesses
from being a model, which is so rare.
Speaker 9 (24:50):
Emma.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
You just mentioned how you were a poor kid from
England who dropped out of school and moved to America
and said, yeah, I'm gonna make millions of dollars and
I'm going.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
To be the boss.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
So if you could this is a tough question, but
if each of you could point to one part of
your childhood or one defining moment that turned you into
a boss.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
What made you this way?
Speaker 7 (25:13):
Oh, it's two things for me, okay, because I've done
enough therapy to figure this out.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
If we love it involved queen, Yes.
Speaker 5 (25:23):
Yes, here she is.
Speaker 7 (25:25):
I'll start with the positive and I'll go with the negative.
So the positive one is that my mom grew up
on a farm and she instilled the hardest working ethics
in me and my sister. And she would take us
to the farm in the summer and we would haul pipe,
we would lay the pipe, we would move irrigation.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
This is hard, This is not an easy job.
Speaker 7 (25:43):
My uncles are they're still on working farms and it
is tough, and having that perseverance was very important. Also
having an incredibly this is the negative, but this is
good because it turned into a positive. Having an incredibly
negative father and having someone look at the dyslexia I
was diagnosed with and add in the same year in
(26:04):
fourth grade and look at it as the worst thing
that could have happened in my life, and him reminding
me daily how not smart I was, and how things
that I should have cared about more I didn't, and
how our relationship was very just terrible, that's the easiest
way to put it. But I thanked him, actually not
to his face, in a letter that I never sent him,
(26:25):
because that's therapy for being so hard on me, because
it gave me that ambition that I needed to go
out and prove him wrong. And I'm really thankful for
both sides of the spectrum, for my parents, because it
made me who I am today. And that grit that
you're talking about that comes from both of them, and
you can turn the good and the bad into something
(26:46):
very good for you.
Speaker 9 (26:48):
You know, it's so interesting.
Speaker 6 (26:50):
I think that I came out like leaning in okay,
like I'm predisposed to.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Like you know, wait, that's a bar right there. That's
a bar I came out leaning in you.
Speaker 9 (27:00):
It's really the truth. I am that girl, you know.
Speaker 6 (27:02):
But I do think that I come from a long
line of women that really really made so many sacrifices
and put everyone before them.
Speaker 9 (27:12):
You know.
Speaker 6 (27:12):
It's like a little bit I'm obsessed with Chris Rock
And there's this skit that Chris had like years ago
that like, dads always get the big.
Speaker 9 (27:18):
Piece of chicken.
Speaker 6 (27:19):
Yes, And I could never understand my mom, who was
a single mum, like any man who came around, she'd
be giving him the big piece of chicken.
Speaker 9 (27:25):
I'd be like, we you cooked the chicken, we season
the chicken. What does he get the big piece of chicken?
Speaker 6 (27:30):
And like in my head, I'm like, that's just the
opposite of how I am. I was like, I need
the big piece of chicken. And if I need to
go and get that and do it myself and give
it to myself, I'm going to do.
Speaker 9 (27:42):
It, and I'm going to do it without apology.
Speaker 6 (27:43):
And so I feel like my whole life is in
retrospect of like my nan and my mom and all
my mom's sisters and all these women that just put
everyone else first before themselves, and in my head, I
just think that I, from a very young age very
highly of myself and that I was just going to
(28:04):
do things that were important to me, and I was
going to place like my ambition and what I want
like way out ahead of it and kind of be
unapologetic for it. So I don't know if that answers
your question exactly, but I just feel like that has
been you know, that's been my idea of myself for
a very long time.
Speaker 7 (28:24):
But I think also like a boss evolves, there's different
kind of bosses. As you're asking, like when did you
become one? Like that's a constant evolving title.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Well said, yeah, I agree, Yeah it is. I'm also
going to have the imagery of a big piece of
chicken for the.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Rest of the day.
Speaker 9 (28:40):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
It's so true.
Speaker 9 (28:44):
It's really true.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Glenn and Doyle will say, like, be a model, not
a martyr. There's so many different ways to say it,
but it's the big piece of chicken.
Speaker 9 (28:51):
Said, big piece of chicken.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
Yeah, I'm telling you this, and I always get the
big piece of chicken.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Thank you Ball for so much for the wisdom and
the laughter. I love that you are opening the door
and pulling people through behind you.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
It's just inspiring. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
And what's really cool is that I think both of
you get to see the impact that you've had on society,
business and culture through this show, because, like Ashley, you're
getting pitched products that are incorporating the same inclusivity messaging
right that you've been such a staunch supporter of Emma
just being like a business mogul yourself. So many of
these entrepreneurs are inspired by you, and that's why they're there.
(29:31):
It must be a full circle experience to see it
all come together.
Speaker 9 (29:35):
It definitely feels that, I will say for sure.
Speaker 7 (29:37):
I feel like it feels so important that we have
to have season three and four happens.
Speaker 5 (29:40):
Yes, Illo, this is.
Speaker 9 (29:41):
A Moss speak you into existence.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Yes, thank you both so much.
Speaker 9 (29:46):
Thank you, Thank you both. This is lovely. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Sha Ashley Graham and Emma Greed are the hosts, executive producers,
and investors on Side Hustlers. Season two is streaming exclusively
on the Roku channel on August sixteenth. You can watch
it on Roku devices or TVs, and it's also easily
accessible online at the Roku channel. Dot Com iOS and
Android devices, Amazon firetvs, Samsung TVs, and Google TVs.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
That's it for today's show. Listen and follow the bright
Side on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
I'm Simone Boye.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
You can find me at Simone Voice on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
That's ro b A.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Y See you tomorrow, folks. Keep looking on the bright side.
Hello Sunshine, Hey bright Side besties Today on the show.
If you've ever dreamed of starting your own business, this
is the episode for you. We are joined by fashion icons,
entrepreneurs and co hosts of the Hello Sunshine reality show
Side Hustlers. We have Emma Greed and Ashley Graham with
us today. It's Thursday, August fifteenth. I'm Simone Boyce.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright Side from
Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we come together to
share women's stories, to laugh, learn and brighten your day. Simone,
we're talking small business and business in general today, Yes
we are. And I feel like this show has a
special place in both of our hearts because we've both
(00:48):
taken leaps to go out on our own in the
last few years. Amen, I became a small business owner
for the very first time in twenty twenty two. I
never thought that would be a hat that I wore.
I always thought of myself as a reporter, a host,
a journalist, and I had an idea on my heart
and I had to get it out into the world.
(01:10):
And it was a deck of cards for conversation because
I think oftentimes we forget to ask the people closest
to us big questions, We ask little ones like how
is your day or how was school? And we're not
actually getting the most out of somebody else's presence or
their depth. And so I put together a list of
(01:32):
probably a thousand questions and whittled it down to fifty
two of them. Some are light and fun, like do
plants thrive or die in your care? And then which
personality trait has gotten you in the most trouble? And
then some are more thoughtful and reflective, like what's an
experience that shaped who you are that very few people
(01:54):
know about? And there were card games out on the market,
but I felt like nobody had been asking the quot
questions to really get the most out of people and conversations.
So put it together, tested it with a ton of
different people.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I tested it on a bachelorette party with my.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Parents with friends, with Larry King at one point, because
in many ways it was an ode to him too.
I always called him the King of Questions. And then
started the manufacturing and design process.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
So what was the first step that you took in
order to execute this idea? It was very difficult.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
I found a graphic designer, I found a friend of
a friend who manufactured things in China, and for one
thousand dollars, we manufactured the card game. I wait six weeks,
I get it back. It's hideous, It's nothing that I wanted.
It didn't look the way I wanted. It was flimsy,
the material was awful, and I was so defeated. I
(02:55):
thought like, is this how things get made? Because this
is this is garbage.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Initial investment of one thousand dollars that was like a
waste because you weren't happy with what you got back.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Right, totally gone.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
So then I went back to the drawing board and
I started looking at other card games that I liked,
and I tried to hunt down their manufacturers. I figured
the manufacturer could try and connect me with a graphic
designer that I liked. So I find a manufacturer in
(03:26):
New York, which I loved because I really wanted the
product to be made in America.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
That was important to me.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
And I ordered two hundred card games and a friend
of mine said, you better order a thousand, and I
was terrified because each card game was really expensive. I
initially put sixteen thousand dollars into it, which was a
lot for me at the time, and that was you know,
design and creative and manufacturing, and I was like, I
can only afford to do two hundred of them. What
(03:55):
if nobody buys them? So I created an ad launched
and it was so interesting. The first people that bought
the game were not my mom, not my friends, not
anybody that I was very close with. The first people
that bought the game because I'm on Shopify so you
(04:16):
can see all the orders come through female entrepreneurs because
they knew how hard it was at every turn to
make something even as small as a card game. There
were so many roadblocks, and they were there to support me.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I told you this the first time we met, Danielle.
I think what you've built with your brand pretty Smart
is so impressive. And the fact that you did it
without a mentor without any previous experience that is huge.
It's huge, and I think this. I think some of
the mistakes that you're talking about, or the lack of
knowledge in certain areas, these are some of the things
(04:53):
that keep us out of business, and sometimes we just
need a resource, a friend who's walked through it before,
who can give us some guidance.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
First of all, thank you Simone, that means a lot
coming from you. And second of all, you're so right.
We do and I think you know to your point,
it's a mindset.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
It absolutely is a mindset.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
I also quit a dream job and went out on
my own a few years ago started my own company.
One of the reasons why I did it is because
of a conversation that I had with my best friend
years ago. I was stuck in a job that I
was just not happy with and she said, Simone, you're
stuck in an employee mindset. And she was someone who
(05:34):
was self employed, and I just loved the freedom and
flexibility that she had and something about the way that
she phrased that like an employee mindset meaning you are
trapped in this idea that I have to work for
someone else, that I have to execute their mission and
vision as opposed to creating and living out my own.
And that mindset shift was a huge reframe for me.
(05:57):
That's been hugely beneficial.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
In switching your mindset and going out on your own.
How do you feel, I feel liberated. I feel so
much happier.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I for me at this stage of my life when
I have two little boys, they are my priority and
being able to have the autonomy and the agency to
decide that, Yeah, I'm going to go pick up my
kids from school every single day if I can, or
I'm gonna I'm gonna take a summer Friday, you know,
and I'm gonna enjoy AfterAll sports with my husband.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Just being able to live life.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, now it sounds like you have your life back.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
I have my life back and I love it. I
love my life.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Well, we're not alone.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
There's been a lot of momentum with women own business
in the last few years.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
It's so true, and we actually saw tremendous growth for
female entrepreneurs when you least expect it. During the pandemic.
That's when women owned businesses contributed nearly two million jobs
and almost five hundred and eighty billion dollars in revenue
to the economy. So, if you've been sitting on a
million dollar or even billion dollar idea, our guests today
are exactly who you need to hear from. Emma Greed
(07:07):
and Ashley Graham are champions of female entrepreneurs and mentors
for female business owners in their show side Hustlers. Here's
a little bit about them. So Emma Greed started her
first business at the age of twenty four. She's now
the CEO and co founder of the denim company Good
American with Chloe Kardashian and a founding partner of Skims
with Kim Kardashian, so you know she knows a thing
(07:29):
or two about running multimillion dollar businesses. Ashley Graham is
a world renowned model, body positivity advocate, truly one of
the pioneers of that narrative, and she's also an entrepreneur herself.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Together, Emma and Ashley are the co hosts of Side Hustlers,
a Hello Sunshine docu series where they invest their own
money in women's business ideas. They also offer guidance and
mentorship to help shape successful ventures. We got a sneak
peek of the new season and I even pre ordered
one of the products.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
So after the break, we're talking all this and more
with Emma Greed and Ashley Graham. Stay with us.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Emma and Ashley, Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Thanks for having us, Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
We're lucky to be part of the Hello Sunshine family.
So we got a little bit of a sneak peek
of season two of Side Hustlers.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I binged it. It was so fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Congratulations on a second season, whether it's be so happy
you two are.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
So fun to watch on the show.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
I like the entrepreneurs, but I'm honestly tuning in for you,
if I'm being honest.
Speaker 6 (08:42):
All right, fine, fine, fun together. We actually had a
lot of fun filming it.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Did you know each other before this?
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Yes I did.
Speaker 7 (08:52):
I like we now have blossomed into like friends. We
knew each other like more as colleagues before we first
knew each other, yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yea.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
So let me tell you my Ashley Graham story. So
when I first started Good American, Ashley was like the girl, right,
she was like the model, the one you want need
just to say. It's a startup, so I can't afford
Ashley Graham, but she was in my vision boards, like
I was like, one day I'll be best friends with
this girl. And then I think we'd see each other
like a bit of Paris Fashion Week, a bit in
New York Fashion Week, and I had suggested to Ashley
(09:25):
that perhaps there was one day we could work together
for Good American. We ended up doing a little project
together around our open casting, and then this show came
up and I was like.
Speaker 8 (09:35):
Oh my god, Ashley Graham, I'm gonna call it and
literally I have Emma to think for being on the show,
because she's the one who apparently pushed for me to
be her sidekick, and I said yes Immediately, I was like,
I don't even know what the show is really about,
but if it's agreed.
Speaker 7 (09:51):
She went, I'm agreed, I want to do it and
literally showed up on SAT and I was like, so.
Speaker 9 (09:55):
What are we doing?
Speaker 1 (09:58):
True?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I love that up the sidekick though, Ashley, you two
are very much partners in this show.
Speaker 9 (10:04):
No, what's going nobody's sidekicks?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Say one?
Speaker 9 (10:08):
She said, So I think you should be like this.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
I mean, we weren't producing it together.
Speaker 9 (10:13):
Emmam right.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
So, Ashley, you were a fangirl of Emma before the
show came about. What was your awareness of her?
Speaker 5 (10:21):
I say that anything Emma touches turns to gold.
Speaker 7 (10:24):
So I want to be a part of the gold
empire that Emma is touching.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
And if this is my entry, then like, so be it.
Speaker 6 (10:31):
Well.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Part of what's fun besides your rapport is that you
two really are entrepreneurs.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
You know what you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
So I want to dive into a statistic that I
heard haunts you. Women own businesses receive less than two
percent of total venture capitalist investments in any given year.
That's actually lower than what I had heard. Two percent
is nearly nothing. When you're investing in a business, is
it a feeling or is it data driven?
Speaker 7 (10:58):
That's an interesting question because I think in my twenties
a lot of it was more feeling than it was
data because I was like new to investing and I
just was like excited to be a part of this
whole like investing world. And then as I've gotten into
my thirties and I started like seeing like successes and fails,
I realized this has to be data driven, and it
(11:19):
also has.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
To come from the gut.
Speaker 7 (11:21):
The two have to kind of blend because you may
not be able to see the numbers right away when
you're investing in something.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
It may be something that takes years.
Speaker 7 (11:29):
But if you know in your gut that this is
something that's going to be successful, then you should invest
in it, even if they haven't made a dollar or
they don't even have the projections for it.
Speaker 6 (11:38):
Right for me, first of all, let's just rewind to
the stack again, because I think that there's one thing
when you're talking about women, is another thing when you
start to talk about black women or minority founders, the
stats get even more shocking, like would make you cry
type shocking. And so, as somebody that's done pretty well,
it's not just about my need or want to be investor.
(12:00):
This is an absolute must. It's a requirement of anybody
that's done pretty well. You've got to put your money
where your mouth is and get behind the people that
need it most. And as a woman, and especially as
a Black woman, you're in a pretty unique position because
you understand the needs of that community more than perhaps
you know, like a white guy would. But to answer
your question, I think I'm super founder focused at this point.
(12:23):
I've seen amazing businesses with banging numbers.
Speaker 9 (12:26):
Out the gate go down.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
I've seen businesses where it was just something that I
felt like because I might use the product not work out.
And so right now I'm really focused on the founders
that I believe in. Because whether or not you have
experience really doesn't say anything about whether or not you'll
be successful in business. If you have passion, perseverance, I
if you have great if you want to make something work,
(12:50):
and you see a gap in the market, Like I've
seen founders do incredible things with very little means, and
so I'm really focused on the individual, on what I
think about them and their ability to take something from
like an idea in their head and bring it to fruition.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
So here's something that haunted me actually from the show.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
You two at the beginning are sort of doing these
initial meetings, and you're sitting down and the women come
through and talk about their businesses. It's not even a
pitch yet, it's just like an initial hello. And Emma,
you said you kind of whispered to Ashley like as
an aside, and you said, so many of these women
don't need our money, they need our mentorship. And I
(13:30):
got chills. Can you break that down for me?
Speaker 6 (13:34):
You know, it's really funny because I have a bit
of a bee in my bonnet about mentorship as it is, right,
I never had a mentor, and I think that a
lot of people ask me about finding a mentor, and
it's a pretty difficult thing to do because the reality
is that mentalship usually comes out of like a pre
existing relationship. And so I really think that for women
(13:56):
in business. What you ought to be doing is not
trying your hardest to find out mentor. That's like trying
to find a man.
Speaker 9 (14:01):
It's hard.
Speaker 6 (14:02):
Like. What you need to do is ask the right
questions and find the right people to ask the right
questions for that one of the things that are going
to unlock your business. And where do I get those
questions asked? What I meant in that show was that
the women need guidance, They need their plans fed it,
they need strategy, and they need someone to bounce things
off of. Because again, and it was similar for me
(14:23):
in the start of my own business journey, I just
didn't know anyone that owned a business, so I had
no way of going right, Am I onto something?
Speaker 9 (14:30):
Is this right?
Speaker 7 (14:31):
Like?
Speaker 6 (14:31):
Would you spend this on this? Or would you do
that first? And that's what those women needed. They needed
to be given confidence in the assumptions that they were
making so that they could just get on with it
and go do it.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Yeah, em when you mentioned that you didn't have a
mentor when you were coming up in the industry, do
you see yourselves in these entrepreneurs that you're mentoring, Ashley,
I want to hear from you too. Why do you
both love doing this.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
One of the things that I obsess about is who
has the right to be in business, who gets the opportunity.
And I don't think I'm the smartest, the cleverest, the
one with the best idea, Like a few magical things
happened and.
Speaker 9 (15:08):
I made it work.
Speaker 6 (15:09):
And so if you're obsessed about that idea, then you
play your part in doing what you can do to
give other people the opportunity. And sometimes it's money, sometimes
it's time, sometimes it's just advice. And so I really
honestly think that what I can do at this stage
of my career is introduce somebody to the person at
JP Morgan or Goldman Sachs that I'm dealing with, Introduce
(15:32):
somebody to a retailer. It's like, why would you not?
There's no scarcity mentality with me. I'm like more is more,
and the more women that we have in business, the
more women that we have in positions of power, the
better off this world.
Speaker 9 (15:44):
And I'm talking like the world will literally.
Speaker 7 (15:47):
Be I'm also like Emma, and I didn't have any
business mentors, even modeling mentors growing up, and I had
to literally figure it out myself and a lot of
it was speaking it till I made it, making decisions
on my own with just out of prayer and gut feeling.
And I think that something that Emma and I always
talk about is when you feel it, do it. And
(16:10):
I think a lot of people second guess themselves because
they're living in fear, or they're not confident enough, or
they think that they need somebody to give them validation
that is maybe somebody that they're striving to be like.
But if you keep that mindset, you can be successful.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Talk to me more about second guessing yourself. It's something
that is so innate, but I imagine it's also like a
muscle because you two you have to train yourselves as
investors to choose your choice, to make your decision work.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
How do you train yourself to not second guess yourself?
Speaker 6 (16:46):
That's such a lovely question, and I think one that
especially for women, is really prevalent.
Speaker 8 (16:51):
Right.
Speaker 6 (16:52):
I think, just like more generally in life, like forget business, like,
you are training yourself to be the person that you
want to be every single day. And so if you
want to be somebody that doesn't second guess themselves, you
have to practice. And if you're sitting around thinking that
somebody else always knows better you. Like, guys, everyone is
(17:13):
making it up as they go along. If there's one
thing that I've learned, it's like, no one knows more
than you do. Especially when you're in a disruptive business,
you're in a new space. It's like, we'll making it
up as we go along. So I don't kick myself
into thinking that I'm the greatest, but equally do I.
I never think like that person knows more than I do.
It's like, just get on with.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
It, Emma.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
It feels like you exploded onto the scene with Good American.
You're just everywhere, and it's so exciting to see all
the work that you're doing in the various verticals that
you've got going on.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
But you were not this overnight success.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
I mean, you had been working so hard and so long,
doing corporate partnerships, pairing brands with talent and inside the hustlers.
You're not just asking these entrepreneurs to take your investment.
You're asking them to accept an invitation which could change
their life. What was your life changing yes? What did
(18:08):
you say yes to that changed the course of your life?
Speaker 6 (18:11):
You're absolutely right to say I am no overnight success.
I've had a job since I was twelve. I worked
a paper around, I worked in a daily I went
and worked in designer clothes shops. I assisted at the shows,
I worked in production. It's like I've done all the things,
and at some point I had to say to myself, well,
what do I really want and what am I trying
to get and for me at the time, and I
(18:31):
say it unashamedly. You know, I often get in trouble
because a lot of women say you talk about money
too much.
Speaker 9 (18:36):
Well, I'm sorry.
Speaker 6 (18:37):
I was poor and I was trying to make some
money and without saying it and putting it out there,
it's very unlikely to happen.
Speaker 9 (18:44):
But it really was. I would say I had to say.
Speaker 6 (18:48):
Yes to fear and put myself in a position where
I could fail. And so I would say that the
move from my agency ITB to actually starting Good American
was the best yes I ever said, But it wasn't
without making lots of mistakes and really getting heartbroken in
the process of it all.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
Ashley, what was your life changing?
Speaker 7 (19:09):
Yes, mine was getting over procrastination, the moment that I
said this is the thing that's going to hinder me,
and it's going to hinder my lifelong journey of being
a businesswoman is procrastination. My mind changed, my business changed,
the people around me changed, and it was something that
(19:30):
I'm forever grateful that I always go back to that moment.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
So, speaking of fear, a fear of mine was that
I don't have kids yet, and I thought having kids
would mean that I had to put my career on hold.
And a mentor of mine said to me, no, no, no.
If you want something done, give it to a working mother.
There is nobody more efficient. You two are moms. We
have a lot of.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Moms that listen to the show.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
For anybody who is a mother and has a business
or a project something on their hear art that they
want to get out into the world, but may feel
like they don't have the time or the business savvy
to follow that passion.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
What do you say?
Speaker 7 (20:09):
My first piece of advice would be to delegate your time,
because there is enough time in the day. It's just
a matter of when are you going to wake up
and when are you going to go to bed, and
when there is that time in the middle of the day,
are you going to be able to tune in right away,
And if not, how can you what's going to drive
you to start focusing on that thing, that tasking you
need to get done for the day, and being really
(20:31):
organized with what your musts are and what your goal
is and writing it down, putting it all over your office,
in your bedroom, in your bathroom, on your kitchen, on
your fridge, whatever you have to do to stay motivated.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
I get asked this question a lot, and I never
ever want to belittle it, because I think that it
is one of the things, along with mum gil really
truly plagues women. And so my answer is like, really
pretty simple. I think that we've got to have a
level of honesty with one another about what it actually
takes to be a successful working mother. And so I
(21:07):
make a point of like figuring out, well, what's going.
Speaker 9 (21:09):
To give, Like where are my boundaries?
Speaker 7 (21:11):
Right?
Speaker 6 (21:11):
If my kid is in a play, I'm not missing
the play that they've worked hard on. But by the
same token, if I need to be in New York
promoting my show that I've spent months working on and
I'm really really proud of, then I need to be
here and I can't do the school run this morning.
So it really is about being honest with yourself and
figuring out, like where am I willing to give something?
Where is something going to go? And then how do
(21:33):
I patch in for that. It's like I have a
lot of childcare, like a lot of child care, so
I don't do all the things, but I.
Speaker 9 (21:40):
Choose like what's important to me.
Speaker 6 (21:43):
Like, I just feel like we're in this time of
like such perfectionist energy.
Speaker 9 (21:47):
It's like, oh, now I am not that, Like that
is just not me.
Speaker 6 (21:50):
You're not going to open my cupboards and find everything
beautifully labeled. I've got other stuff to do. And so
I think that we just have to figure off like
where am I willing to let go?
Speaker 5 (22:00):
I'm glad we're not in my cupboards? Oh my god.
Speaker 9 (22:03):
But do you know what I mean?
Speaker 6 (22:04):
We shouldn't we shouldn't all be sitting here saying to
each other like and having this kind of like perfection
is trade off because that's just not reality. What we
need to do is have honesty with each other and
talk about what gives. And So there are a lot
of things in my life that I would like to do.
I would probably like to see my friends more. I
would probably like to take my children to I'm from
(22:27):
school every day, but I don't that's not the reality
of my life.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I also think that we need to shift the narrative
around working motherhood and stop talking so much about the
inadequacies that motherhood may or may not provide in the
eyes of some in our society, and start talking about
the strengths, the transferable skills that we learn from motherhood
and parenting that can apply to business in the office.
I mean, I think about how efficient I've become since
(22:53):
becoming a mom, you know, in terms of like I
think about how I've become a better communicator, I've become
more into sun with other people's emotions, talking about like
relational equity. I just think let's talk about the strengths.
Let's talk about the skills well.
Speaker 6 (23:06):
Also, and let's talk about what your kids get from
seeing you doing all of that. Because I sit here
and I think my kids see me go out to
work every day. There's a direct correlation between what we
have in our lives and the fact that Mummy goes
out to work. And I can't hide behind those things.
So I think it's really positive for kids to understand,
like the lights come on because of these reasons, right,
(23:29):
let's be really honest. And so I think that that
is a piece of it that's really really important. And
so I do also just kind of think we just
need to relax a little bit because parenting is just
like the idea of parenting has gone bananas. When I
watch these people making their pack lunches, I'm like, oh.
Speaker 9 (23:45):
Stop it.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
That sandwich does not need to be in that shape.
Like I'm doing sandwich ora garmi the thing, and I.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
See those they get me.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
So in sandwich or gami is a metaphor for so much.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
This is such a great conversation, but we have to
take a quick break. We'll be right back with more
from the hosts of Side Hustlers, Emmagreed and Ashley Graham.
Stay with us, and we're back with Emmagreed and Ashley Graham.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
So after watching the show, I was trying to think
about what makes you two so fun to watch, and
I brought it to one word. Okay, individually and as partners,
you two have so much grit. You are by any
means necessary people and as of by any means necessary person.
I respect it so much, Ashley, even with something as
(24:39):
small as launching your podcast, no one in your space
was launching a podcast and you said, yeah, I'm gonna
do it, and it was so successful. You've launched businesses
from being a model, which is so rare.
Speaker 9 (24:50):
Emma.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
You just mentioned how you were a poor kid from
England who dropped out of school and moved to America
and said, yeah, I'm gonna make millions of dollars and
I'm going.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
To be the boss.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
So if you could this is a tough question, but
if each of you could point to one part of
your childhood or one defining moment that turned you into
a boss.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
What made you this way?
Speaker 7 (25:13):
Oh, it's two things for me, okay, because I've done
enough therapy to figure this out.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
If we love it involved queen, Yes.
Speaker 5 (25:23):
Yes, here she is.
Speaker 7 (25:25):
I'll start with the positive and I'll go with the negative.
So the positive one is that my mom grew up
on a farm and she instilled the hardest working ethics
in me and my sister. And she would take us
to the farm in the summer and we would haul pipe,
we would lay the pipe, we would move irrigation.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
This is hard, This is not an easy job.
Speaker 7 (25:43):
My uncles are they're still on working farms and it
is tough, and having that perseverance was very important. Also
having an incredibly this is the negative, but this is
good because it turned into a positive. Having an incredibly
negative father and having someone look at the dyslexia I
was diagnosed with and add in the same year in
(26:04):
fourth grade and look at it as the worst thing
that could have happened in my life, and him reminding
me daily how not smart I was, and how things
that I should have cared about more I didn't, and
how our relationship was very just terrible, that's the easiest
way to put it. But I thanked him, actually not
to his face, in a letter that I never sent him,
(26:25):
because that's therapy for being so hard on me, because
it gave me that ambition that I needed to go
out and prove him wrong. And I'm really thankful for
both sides of the spectrum, for my parents, because it
made me who I am today. And that grit that
you're talking about that comes from both of them, and
you can turn the good and the bad into something
(26:46):
very good for you.
Speaker 9 (26:48):
You know, it's so interesting.
Speaker 6 (26:50):
I think that I came out like leaning in okay,
like I'm predisposed to.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Like you know, wait, that's a bar right there. That's
a bar I came out leaning in you.
Speaker 9 (27:00):
It's really the truth. I am that girl, you know.
Speaker 6 (27:02):
But I do think that I come from a long
line of women that really really made so many sacrifices
and put everyone before them.
Speaker 9 (27:12):
You know.
Speaker 6 (27:12):
It's like a little bit I'm obsessed with Chris Rock
And there's this skit that Chris had like years ago
that like, dads always get the big.
Speaker 9 (27:18):
Piece of chicken.
Speaker 6 (27:19):
Yes, And I could never understand my mom, who was
a single mum, like any man who came around, she'd
be giving him the big piece of chicken.
Speaker 9 (27:25):
I'd be like, we you cooked the chicken, we season
the chicken. What does he get the big piece of chicken?
Speaker 6 (27:30):
And like in my head, I'm like, that's just the
opposite of how I am. I was like, I need
the big piece of chicken. And if I need to
go and get that and do it myself and give
it to myself, I'm going to do.
Speaker 9 (27:42):
It, and I'm going to do it without apology.
Speaker 6 (27:43):
And so I feel like my whole life is in
retrospect of like my nan and my mom and all
my mom's sisters and all these women that just put
everyone else first before themselves, and in my head, I
just think that I, from a very young age very
highly of myself and that I was just going to
(28:04):
do things that were important to me, and I was
going to place like my ambition and what I want
like way out ahead of it and kind of be
unapologetic for it. So I don't know if that answers
your question exactly, but I just feel like that has
been you know, that's been my idea of myself for
a very long time.
Speaker 7 (28:24):
But I think also like a boss evolves, there's different
kind of bosses. As you're asking, like when did you
become one? Like that's a constant evolving title.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Well said, yeah, I agree, Yeah it is. I'm also
going to have the imagery of a big piece of
chicken for the.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Rest of the day.
Speaker 9 (28:40):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
It's so true.
Speaker 9 (28:44):
It's really true.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Glenn and Doyle will say, like, be a model, not
a martyr. There's so many different ways to say it,
but it's the big piece of chicken.
Speaker 9 (28:51):
Said, big piece of chicken.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
Yeah, I'm telling you this, and I always get the
big piece of chicken.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Thank you Ball for so much for the wisdom and
the laughter. I love that you are opening the door
and pulling people through behind you.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
It's just inspiring. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
And what's really cool is that I think both of
you get to see the impact that you've had on society,
business and culture through this show, because, like Ashley, you're
getting pitched products that are incorporating the same inclusivity messaging
right that you've been such a staunch supporter of Emma
just being like a business mogul yourself. So many of
these entrepreneurs are inspired by you, and that's why they're there.
(29:31):
It must be a full circle experience to see it
all come together.
Speaker 9 (29:35):
It definitely feels that, I will say for sure.
Speaker 7 (29:37):
I feel like it feels so important that we have
to have season three and four happens.
Speaker 5 (29:40):
Yes, Illo, this is.
Speaker 9 (29:41):
A Moss speak you into existence.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Yes, thank you both so much.
Speaker 9 (29:46):
Thank you, Thank you both. This is lovely. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Sha Ashley Graham and Emma Greed are the hosts, executive producers,
and investors on Side Hustlers. Season two is streaming exclusively
on the Roku channel on August sixteenth. You can watch
it on Roku devices or TVs, and it's also easily
accessible online at the Roku channel. Dot Com iOS and
Android devices, Amazon firetvs, Samsung TVs, and Google TVs.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
That's it for today's show. Listen and follow the bright
Side on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
I'm Simone Boye.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
You can find me at Simone Voice on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
That's ro b A.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Y See you tomorrow, folks. Keep looking on the bright side.
Hosts And Creators
Simone Boyce
Danielle Robay
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