Today on The Breakfast Club, Emma Grede On Building Her Empire, Uplifting Female Entrepreneurs, New Podcast. Listen For More!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wake that answer up in the morning.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
The Breakfast Club Morning, Everybody's DJ, Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne
the Guy.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
We are the Breakfast Club. We got a special.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Guest in the building. Yes, indeed we have Emma Greedy. Welcome,
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
I'm so happy to be here. Good morning, all of you.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
How are you?
Speaker 4 (00:17):
I'm really good, actually very good today.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Now you are the CEO and co founder of the
Denim Company, a good American. I am a founding partner
of Skims, co founder of Safely, and you have a
new podcast coming out Aspire with Emma gree.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
I do, I do? Indeed?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Now tell us how this all came about.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Doing that?
Speaker 5 (00:38):
Thank you, Thank you very much. Well, honestly, I'm so
excited about the podcast. That's my newest latest venture. And
you know, I've spent my entire career building businesses, and
so the idea around the podcast was really me thinking
about how I can scale mental ship because wherever I
go all over.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
This country, if I'm doing a talk or if I'm walking.
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Down the street, people are constantly asking me questions, how
do I start a business, how do I get a
pay rise? How do I become the best version of myself,
how do I negotiate better? And you know, I can
answer a lot of dms, but there's only so much
you can do. And so I'm really taking all of
my knowledge, everything I've done, all of my network and
trying to bring it to people in a digestible way.
(01:17):
And I think that when you think about podcasting, it's
a very very you know, broad medium, but there's a
very narrow business viewpoint, very very narrow viewpoint, and especially
when you get to business podcasting, it's all men. And
so I'm bringing like a perspective of myself, of somebody
who is self made, someone who's a self starter and
has you know, come from where I come from with
(01:38):
very little education, and I want to bring something to
people that is tangible and that they can essentially take out.
I want you to have something that's actionable when you
leave this podcast, that you can take that back into
where you work or back into your small business and
do something with it.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Speaking of where are you from? Where do you come from?
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Where do I come from?
Speaker 5 (01:58):
I come from East London in England, which is a
bit like you know, I always think about it as
you know, similar to Brooklyn or something like that it's
the most impoverished part of London.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
But I would say probably the best part of.
Speaker 6 (02:10):
You said it, like you from Brooklyn, Yeah, East London,
but you have a network of three hundred and twenty
something like that and you're from Eastland.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
I think that was last year's figures. But yeah, we'll talk.
Yeah we're growing out here.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
But you didn't come from an impoverished area.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
I do, and you said yourself, me, yes indeed.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
So how did you get to that point?
Speaker 6 (02:30):
What was the first thing that got you in the
mix of get on that road and having a network.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
I mean, I've had a job since I was twelve
years old.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
I delivered the papers, I worked in a Delhi, I
worked in close shops, I did all the things. But
you know, my interest was really in fashion. That's where
my passion was. But I didn't know anyone who, you know,
had a business when I was old. I didn't even
know the term entrepreneur. If you were an entrepreneur in
where I come from, you were probably doing something very wrong.
So that wasn't really an idea that I had growing up.
(02:58):
Excuse me going to clear my throat. But so for me,
I started out like many people. I did a lot
of work experience. I tried to get into the fashion business.
I assisted everybody. I worked in a lot of stores,
and eventually I found myself in a fashion show production
company and so that was me creating the shows, like
building the shows, the catwalks, the backdrops, and it was
a very unfulfilling job, but you met everybody. So I
(03:22):
did that for about four years, and then I fell
into this kind of weird space of sponsorships because no
designers ever have money to do their shows, and so
they needed brand partnerships. And I just happened to be
like a hustler, you know, I understand how to put
people together and make things happen. So I started doing
these brand partnerships. Became the girl in London. You know,
(03:42):
if you were running a show or you had a
party to do, you come to me for the sponsorship.
I would find you the sponsorship. And after a while,
I started my own company doing that when I was
twenty four years old, and it kind of grew from there.
I did one company, I did another, I sold a
couple companies. Fast forward to when I'm about thirty two.
I managed to exit that business, so I spent, you know,
(04:03):
nearly ten years building that first company, had my first serious,
meaningful exit, meaning that I made some money for myself
and so I was financially secure.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Company with it.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
That was called ITB and so, and it was amazing.
It was like an entertainment marketing agency. So I worked
with all the great brands and I would put talent
in their campaigns and I built a big company. We
had offices in London, in Paris, in New York, in LA.
I shut down in LA because I made a lot
of mistakes, but it gave me the foundational knowledge.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
To really get to where I am now.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
And then, of course, you know, I decided, after all
that time and you know, creating a lot of value
for other people and other brands, that I would do
something for myself.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
And that's when I started Good American.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Yeah, and Good American with Skims is under that and
what else.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
No, it's not.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
They're totally separate, totally separate companies, separate companies, separate entities,
separate shareholdings, separate that's the thing.
Speaker 6 (04:53):
And I was reading this and I started, you have, like,
you know, you have a certain percentage in Skim, Do
you have a certain percentage.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
In good America, you have a certain percent safely.
Speaker 6 (05:01):
And the reason I thought that was so dope is
because we live in this era where people feel like
you have to have one hundred percent of something to
be an owner, to be a boss. But the reality
of one hundred percent and nothing is nothing nothing.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
And listen, here's the thing.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
I've done a very very good job because I divest
my shareholdings. You don't want to hold a lot of
money of a company. I've taken money off the table.
I'm not looking to be rich when I'm seventy five
years old. I want the money now. Yeah, And so
I think that when you get valuations like a four
billion dollar valuation, you take some money off the table.
That's the sensible thing to do to divest your interests.
And that's what I've done all along. And so I'm
(05:34):
very happy with the shareholdings I have right now because
I've cash in the bank and that's what counts.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
How did the Skims company start? You know, people will
know Skims because it's so huge. It's on the sponsored
by the NBA.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
So how did that come?
Speaker 4 (05:45):
We sponsored the NBA even the other way around? Even better?
Speaker 3 (05:48):
So how did that company come about.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
So honestly, I think it came about from the relationship
that I have with the family, and you did, No,
it wasn't my idea. It was Kim's idea. She wanted
to create a shapewhere company or an underwear company, and
you know, I had a business with the family, and
so we decided to do it together. And the rest,
they say, is history. It was, you know, the right
(06:10):
thing at the right time. And you know, I think
with any company, the stars, the stars have to align.
We launched that company in a magical, magical time and
it hit the kind of zeitgeist. It was the right
company for the culture like at the moment, and so
I think it was just a series of amazing things
that happened and put it on the map and here
we are.
Speaker 7 (06:29):
That's amazing because even Good American is Chloe's, Chloe's company.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Right, it's a partnership between me and Chloe.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yes, work well with the families.
Speaker 7 (06:38):
To say a check, check, check, I love that, And
there's so many of them, so so many checks.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
I love that.
Speaker 6 (06:42):
You have a look at Skims and Good American blowing
up and think to yourself, damn, you know, we really
made the Kardashian's culturally relevant again.
Speaker 5 (06:49):
No, I never think I never think about it like that. No,
they're you know, they're being cultural culturally relevant. I think
that what I do is what I do, which is
I'm a very very good product person. I understand how
to bring product to market. And my background, you know,
ten years of working forging celebrity partnerships makes me really
good at understanding how talent are used to accelerate a brand,
(07:12):
and so what I bring is an intrinsic knowledge of
that space, right, And it's not so easy because otherwise
every famous person we know would have a big brand
that does hundreds of millions of dollars, and they don't.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
So there's more to it, right.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
You really have to be a somebody that understands product,
that understands the customer, that understands how to.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
Run a business. And that's what I bring to those partnerships.
Speaker 6 (07:32):
And skims is redefined shapewre Like, what was the biggest
risk you took early on.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
That paid off? You know?
Speaker 5 (07:39):
I think that Kim had a very clear idea of
what she wanted to do and a very differentiated idea,
and I think that that's what it's all about in
business anytime, right, you have to have something that is
unique and a unique point of difference to whatever's out there.
And when I think about anything that we've done, whether
you're talking about size inclusivity, or whether we're talking about
(08:02):
the range from like a kind of you know, nude
color range, like, we're always trying to do something that
doesn't exist in the market. And I think when you're
solving problems, when you're creating solutions for people, that's when
you know, you get that kind of breakthrough. That's when
you get something that customers really go, oh, like, I
need that.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
I have that problem and you guys are solving for it.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
When do you realize when it's time to sell a company?
When do you say, Okay, this is when we have
to exit, you.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
Know, I think that that is different for every company.
And I've been in agency businesses and I've been in
brand businesses. I think that what is often true is
like your first off, your first offer is often your
best offer, and you shouldn't always think that there's something
amazing coming around the corner. You have to sell things
when they're on the up because it peaks right. And
then you've only got the downside to sell. And so
(08:49):
when you've got that momentum, when you've got the forward towing,
when you're in growth mode, as they say, that's when
you need to think about selling or at least taking
some money off the table.
Speaker 6 (08:57):
Do people in fashion really care about diversity or is
it just good pr until like the next next?
Speaker 5 (09:02):
I mean, you could ask yourself, does anyone really care
about diversity? I don't think it's just about fashion. I
think there's definitely a certain amount of you know, performative
action out there right for marketing purposes. And actually Good
American and the reason I started that company was a
reaction to that because I worked in the fashion business
and I saw all these companies doing perform you know,
(09:25):
like hiring one black girl in the campaign, and yet
no one in that entire company was black. And I
saw people like performatively putting a plus sized person in
a campaign where they didn't even make the clothes for
that person. The girls like clothes would be cut up
the back because she couldn't even fit in the jeens.
And so when we started Good American, the idea about
it was to say, Okay, let's make a company that
(09:46):
actually has these values where the office and the people
that run the business and the people that make the
decisions and the people in the c suite are actually
a reflection of the customer base. And I think that's
what made Good Americans so successful, that it was actually
walking the walk and not just talk in the talk.
If you were a Side twenty and you needed a
pair of jeans, you have a tiny waist and a
big bar, like you came to Good American and you
(10:06):
could feel the difference in that product and people knew
we were for real.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Will It's like you said that, a tiny ways and
a big bar.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Yeah, that's what we were working with.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Something I was gonna say, Now, you're also on Shark Tank.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
I am, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
What do you look for when somebody is on Shark
Tank and they're pitching something to you?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
You know, for me, it's always about the founder.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
It's always I you know, even when I think about
hiring and investing, I'm like attitude over experience, because that's
my experience about I'm not someone who comes from a
place where you'd be like, I'm going to bet on her,
and so I really want that person that is so
passionate about their ideas, so crazy about it. They know
everything about the competition, they know everything about what they're doing,
(10:49):
and they are deep and they are into it. So
I'm going for someone who like feels it intrinsically.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I was going to ask, so, what was your more
successful investment on shark TINGK?
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Do you know? Is this incredible?
Speaker 5 (10:58):
It's so funny that you are to because when I
got onto that show, you know, you do a few investments.
And I remember saying to Mark one day when I
haven't made any money out of any of this stuff,
and he said, you know what, Emma, There'll be one
and one of them will make you a bunch of money.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
And for me, that was Cake's body.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
These incredible two women that make like a silicone nipple cover.
And of course the minute I saw them, I was like,
I know that business. I understand this space, like I
know I need that in my ket in my wardrobe.
And they were doing just under a million dollars when
I met them, and a year later, one hundred and
twenty million dollars Killed Cured and just so you know,
(11:33):
just a couple of like regular girls that left their
jobs and decided I'm going to do something for myself.
Speaker 6 (11:40):
You have such a very confident demeanor. What got you
to that place? Did you always have that level of security?
Speaker 5 (11:47):
You know, I was raised by a single mum on
one of four girls, and I think that my mom
did an amazing job of instilling.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
That confidence in us.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
You know, she taught me like, Emmy, you're not better
than any one else, but nor is anyone better than you.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
And I really grew up believing that.
Speaker 5 (12:04):
I really felt like, if I work hard enough, anything
is possible. And in East London, I was surrounded by
people that were really hustlers, but they were trying their hardest.
They were doing whatever they could to make a buck.
And that's just in my spirit.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
You know. For me, I'm a tryer.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
I'm going to keep doing, I'm going to keep learning,
and so much of what this podcast is about, you know,
I think of myself as a lifelong learner.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
I'm always in learning mode, right. It's like the more
you learn, the more you earn.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
And I really really feel like if you can help
people broaden their horizons, if you can bring new ideas
to people, there's nothing more valuable than that. And so
I feel like in my life that's just who I
am me?
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I got four girls? What are you for?
Speaker 4 (12:43):
I'm number one?
Speaker 5 (12:44):
Ye, number one, As I like to say, my sisters
will be like she hah, number one. But yeah, I'm
the eldest of four girls.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Work what you are?
Speaker 4 (12:54):
No, thank god, they don't work with me.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Do you know what?
Speaker 5 (12:58):
I'm not about that missing? I already work in my
that's enough. That that's enough. No. My sisters, two of
them live in England, one lives in Los Angeles. We're
very very close, talk every day on the like sister chat.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
No, I don't want to work with them. I don't
want to work with them.
Speaker 6 (13:12):
How often, because you know, you're in these billion dollar rooms,
right as a woman of color.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
My dad's black moms, a mixed race, got you.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
How often you still feel underestimated every day?
Speaker 5 (13:24):
I mean because I am underestimated every day, right, I think? Well,
I mean, listen, now it's a little bit different. Now
I can walk into any room and people will bet
on me, and people would want to invest in me.
But I do think that you still, you know, I
still think you're proving I'm proving myself every day. I
never take anything for granted. Right, You're only as good
as the last thing you did. And I'm constantly pushing
(13:44):
myself into spaces. It's like I might be sitting here
with you know, a bunch of great companies behind me,
but I don't know. I'm not a good podcaster, you know, I'm.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Just getting started.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
And so I don't take anything for granted. And that's
why I always think that, you know, you've got to
be humble. You've got to go into something with the
spirit of, you know, trying your hardest and trying to
be good.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
And I never let that leave me.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
I don't walk into anything expecting anything.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
I think you got to work for it every day.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Is that why you want to do the podcast? Because
you want to help people?
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Because you've got so many different jobs and you have girls,
you have kids, you have a husband, you have a
lot of ish going on.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
I have a lot of ish going on.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
No, you know, it really is because I think at
a certain point, right you get to a place where
you are financially comfortable. And also I proved to myself
all the things I wanted to prove to myself, and
now I think that the sign, you know, of success
for me is how many people can come along like
that are like me, that can come along and you
can open the door for and that could actually have
(14:42):
this sense of changing their life and building the life
of their dreams because of something that I did. And
I know that, you know, people are looking to me,
and I feel like it's honestly a responsibility and I
don't want that to sound you know, trite or like
something that feels disingenuous. Is I feel very very responsible
(15:03):
for all the women that get in touch with me
all the time because there is so much there are
so many barriers, and there's so much out there that
tells you that it's an impossibility, that there's not room
for people, that.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Your opinion doesn't matter.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
And I really think that leaning into my difference is
really knowing and understanding where I come from and what
is different and important about that. That's what's actually given
me like space in these rooms. That's why people look
to me and say, what is.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Your opinion about this?
Speaker 5 (15:31):
Because of where I've come from, And so I actually
think it's a superpower.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
What would you tell somebody that it's an entrepreneur, maybe
a woman and trying to get into the space has
an idea, but it just hasn't taken off as of yet,
they can't get on shot tank and they just want
some type of advice to say, how.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Would you do it, how would you approach it? What
would you tell that person?
Speaker 5 (15:50):
Well, listen, the first thing is to start, because what
you'll find is a lot of people talk about a
lot of stuff and they haven't actually done it. And
there's this idea that there's some perfect time, perfect set
of circumstances.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
It's never perfect. And also this idea.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
We're in this culture right now where everyone thinks they
have to raise a load of money, Like, don't don't
raise any money, just do something, get out of the gate.
We live in a world where social media and shopify
has enabled us to start things very cheaply, and you
can start small. Not everything needs to be a billion
dollar business. Maybe you're trying to transform your circumstances and
(16:24):
leave your corporate job, and actually a little bit of money,
a little bit of revenue, will be transformative for you.
So I would say, don't benchmark and measure yourself by
some standard that actually isn't part of your existence. It's like,
do something, get out of the gate, start it, and
then you test and you learn into it. Because nothing
works immediately. If I think about the business that I
(16:45):
started with Good American three skws of skinny denim and
what it is today, the two things don't even look
the same. They don't look the same. We change the size,
but we changed everything. The only thing you can't change
in business is the reason that you started, right It's
like the very essence of what you do and your
purpose has to remain the same.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
You iterate everything.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Else transform on the way up. And so I think
that that's a really important thing. It's like you just
have to get out of the gate and start.
Speaker 6 (17:11):
I agree with you, you know, I think comparison to the deferioid, yes,
it is.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
So people will.
Speaker 6 (17:16):
Start something, but then they'll be looking at you, but
they don't realize all the time you've already put in
all the experience you've got that.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Got you to this point.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
But they feel like if they're not doing what Emma's
doing right now, they're not successful totally.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
And I think that that is just again, it's so
much about the culture that we sit in right now.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
It gives you this idea that you know, there's.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Such a thing as overnight success, and I don't know
any overnight successes. You know, again, I have been working
since I was twelve, and all of those experiences, you know,
are so formative and they're so in me. And it's
like every single thing that you get leverage right. And
when I talk about leverage, I don't just mean taking
something that you've been given.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
It's like, what do you have?
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Well, I have my reputation, right, and that reputation for
delivering great business when I was in the AI agency
business allowed me to go and raise money. I didn't
know what private equity was. I would never have known
how to go and raise funds. I went to a
client that I'd consistently delivered good business for in my agency,
and I said, Hey, do you want to invest three
million dollars in my business?
Speaker 4 (18:14):
And he was like, no, girl, I'll give you.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
I'll give you less than that, but I'll invest in you.
And so sorry, I've been doing a lot of talking
this week. I'm like very hoarse, But you know, I
think that that is the thing. You know, You've got
to be creative and you've got to work with what
you've got. And I think so often we focus on
what we don't have and where our lack is and
actually there is just that that is not worth your energy.
(18:37):
You've got to figure out like where are you, what
do you have and how do you leverage?
Speaker 1 (18:41):
From that point, he says, you work with your husband.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
How is that?
Speaker 7 (18:45):
Because when it's so personally that's your husband, that's my husband,
that's what you wake up with?
Speaker 4 (18:51):
What like, how is that? How are you guys able
to separate? Well, we're not.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Let me be honest with that, there's very little separation.
The truth is that my huse spend was actually like
one of my first investors. So I worked in a
company where I set up a joint venture with them,
and eventually years later and down the line, I ended
up marrying one of those guys.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
It's a great jobs. I have returned that investment.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
But I think the what's important about that is that
we had a professional relationship before we ever had our
personal relationship. And my husband's Swedish, and in Swedish culture
is a very matriarchal culture. They really have so much
respect for women, but they also really meet women halfway,
like even to the point like in Sweden, when you
take maternity leave, it's given to the couple, so if
(19:43):
the woman wants to you know, you get a year,
and if the woman wants to take six months and
the husband takes six months, that's how you do it.
But it's very usual in society that that happens. But
what it means is that I've got someone who meets me.
You know, he respects my ambition, and he respects the
fact that we have four kids.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
We have four kids together, and we do that together.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
So there's no expectation that I'm going to take some
leading role, and nor do I quite honestly.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
You.
Speaker 6 (20:09):
I just forget what I'm gonna ask you. Oh, no,
where did you learn financial literacy?
Speaker 4 (20:12):
You know, that's a really good question.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
I think when you come from scarcity, you have a
really good appreciation for money. Because we didn't have any,
and so I knew the price of everything, right, because
it's like I knew what we didn't have. And my
mum would budget, Like she'd sit at the table and
she'd be like, this is what we are for groceries.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
This is what we've got to keep the lights on.
So I knew what money was.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
And I used to see her back in those days,
you know, you'd write checks, and so i'd see her
do the check book and I'd be on the calculator
and so money was just like a thing that I
understood at a very young age. And also it was
cash then, right, so you'd like count the cash, and
that gave me a relationship with it. I'm dyslexic, and
so I had a very hard time when I started
my business understanding how the money would link together, like
(20:55):
between the margins and the profit and the E but
I would be to me, it was like scrambled eggs.
And then again when I got into e comm, everything
is acronyms. You know, you're talking about AOV and the
UPT and the LOV and I would.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Be like, I don't get this.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
But I think the thing for me is that I'm
naturally curious, and so I would just ask a lot
of questions. And I learned by just asking, like just
that I'm never scared to be the dumbest person in
the room. I'm like, what does that mean? How does
that work? How does that go together? And so I
just like learned on the fly. And I think that
being naturally cautious about money meant that even when I
(21:29):
got investors, I spent their money like it was my own,
meaning that I'm frugal, like I am tight. I'm just
holding all the money all the time, and I never
like flashy with the cash. Even now when I am
a bit flashy with the cash. It's like, I know
the cost of everything. No one can buy anything in
my house and me not be like what was that,
you know, because there's a special price for everything in
bel Air.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
My toilet breaks.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
They're like, oh, hi, you know, it's the bell Air
price and I'm like, no, this is what we're paying,
you know.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
So I'm like very aware of everything.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
How much power do you have in these partnerships, Well, you.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
Know, I don't really think about it in terms of power.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
We're partners and we do different things, and so I have,
you know, a good American and I'm the CEO, and
so I make all the decisions as the CEO would
in any company. In Skims, it's very very different, and
Kim plays a very very hands on role. My role
is across everything product related, so design, merchandising, production planning.
That's a part of the company I run. And I
see my role as really like making Kim's vision come true.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
She's like, this is really what I want to see.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
I want to make a nipple bram No, I'm going
to make the best nipple bra with the best margin,
and we're going to make hundreds of thousands of them.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
So that is what I do.
Speaker 6 (22:34):
What's harder convincing investors to back inclusive brands are convincing consumers.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
It's not just a gimmick, you know.
Speaker 5 (22:43):
I never think about it as I never think about
inclusivity as what the brand is about, right because I
think about at the end of the day, what you're
selling to customers is like the overarching dream of what
a brand is, and there's so much more to that.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
Inclusivity is one.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Piece of what we do, providing a great product at
a great price and getting it to consumers really quickly,
Like that's what the brand is, and then there's all
of these different parts that are additive to it. So
I think that whenever you're pitching something, first of all,
you've got to know your audience, but you've got to
understand what the true mechanics are of anything and what
the important parts of anything are.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
And inclusivity is one of.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
Many, many things that we do, So I never think
about it as something that it's like like that is
the main selling point because nobody's like, at the end
of the day, no one's buying inclusivity. If you're a
size sixteen, you're here for the size sixteen. You ain't
here for the side twenty four and the size eight,
you know. So that's just what we do, like giving that.
The right thing to do is and the right business
(23:44):
decision to make is to serve as many customers as
you can. If I make nineteen sizes, I'm going to
do better the business than if I sell six much
just good business.
Speaker 6 (23:52):
My wife loves Skims, you know what I mean. And
I remember asking her why and she just like, she
just likes the way it fits.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
It fits as comfortable, simple as that fits.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
But what would you say to the black women who
feel like Skims isn't made for them, even if it
looks like it.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Is it's made for them. Who are they?
Speaker 5 (24:06):
What are their sizes? We have everything? I'm like, no, no,
it's made for everyone. We have the most unbelievable customer
base and you don't. You don't have that level of
sales if it's not for certain people.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Question which your podcasts you're gonna have guests on a
podcast and who's coming on a podcast.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
We've got so many amazing guests on the podcast. So
we launched yesterday with Gwyneth Paltrow and Melody Hobson, and
Melody is my business idol. So I really wanted to
make sure that we could come out of the gate
with someone that I've learned from and also someone that
I believe is you know, Melody is a one of one.
She is not just one of the best black business
(24:46):
women in the country, she's just one of the best.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Business people in the country.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
Former chair of Starbucks. I mean, she is just so incredible.
And she spent her.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Entire career at one place, thirty.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
Years in one company, and I think that there's some
really amazing learnings for that. She went in as an
inter born on the South side of Chicago, you know,
one of five kids, five kids, she's one of five.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
And she is just single mom.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
Again, the most incredible woman went into this company as
an intern and now she owns a very very meaningful
part of a fourteen billion dollar, you know, private equity business.
And so I look at that and like my mind
is blown. And then again Gwyneth, I thought so interesting
because for so many women they're starting businesses from something
that they're passionate about.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
And also they're trying to do a pivot.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
And if you are, you know, working your corporate job
and you want to just change completely and do something different,
I thought she would be a really interesting benchmark to
look at. How do you just completely rip it up
and say I'm going to start something new. So I
was really I was really happy to have those first people.
But I also think that women have a lot to
learn from men right in business, and so I'm really
(25:51):
going to be focused on a lot of different men
coming through.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
And so we have Michael.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
Rubern, I've got Mark Cuban, I have the wonderful You,
and some find Charlote Maine's coming on and I'll be
so happy. So I've just got like a bunch of
really incredible guests, and it's really about people that I know,
I respect and those that I aspire to.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
He has if you haven't guess because you can talk,
you're good talking. You're good talking.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
One is hoping. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:19):
How do you evaluate celebrity influence versus product quality when
you're trying to build brand trust?
Speaker 5 (26:25):
How do I evaluate it? I mean, it's an interesting
question actually to me. I don't even think about listen.
Influence will only take you so far. Right, you can
drive a customer to product once, so I will could
love you, Charlemagne, and you could be trying to sell
me something, and because of the strength of how much
I love you, I'll go and buy your product.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
If your product doesn't perform for me, I'm not buying
it again.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
And the strength of a business is the strength of
the lifetime value of that customer.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
How many times are.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
They coming back to you over and over again, And
that's how you build affinity with customers. And so after
a while, the influence is useless if the product is
not good.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
So the two only work.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
In terms of the acceleration of the talent can only
work for the product if the product is good, because
customers are too smart, Like, no one's going to buy
things that are not good.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
Absolutely, Well, what's your approach to like global expansion? Like
the skim's different in Paris than it would be in
like I think.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
You know, that's one of the things that I learned
really early in my career when I when I had ITB,
which was my agency business, I was killing in London
and then I opened an office in New York and
it was amazing, and I was like, I'm going to LA,
the home of celebrities. And I failed miserably. And when
I tell you, I foiled miserably. I opened a big office,
like a gorgeous office, and I hired all these people
(27:39):
and had to shut it down less than a year later,
about ten months in, when I was devastated because I
had an ignorance for the localization of anything. And it
kind of comes back to this idea that success you
can't transfer success, and you know, more than anywhere.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
I feel like La is one of these places.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
It's built on such a community, right, It's like and
you are either in that and you understand it or
you don't. And I bought all of my kind of
like this ignorance of success into a place where they
were like no, no, no, honey, not here like this.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
That's not going to wash.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
I've since been successful in LA, but I really understood
the landscape of the place. And so to answer your question,
I think that you have to really think about localization
in certain markets. That there's no such thing as Europe, right.
Europe is a is a bunch of different territories, and
what works in Germany does not work in France, which
is not works in England. It's very different to if
you you know, the US, which is essentially one market
(28:32):
with a little.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Bit of localization.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
So you really have to think globally about if your
product is going to resonate in that market and how
and where, and have specificity around how you come into
that market.
Speaker 7 (28:44):
How long were you in La before you did become
successful because you you did say like you thought, you know,
with the ignorance of succession, that she was going to
go to this La Hollywood place in it pop overnight.
How long were you?
Speaker 5 (28:57):
It took me about honestly, like I would say three
four years. And I was lucky because the business was
successful in other places. But I shut down the office,
I scaled it down, and then I essentially had to restart.
And it was really like a bash on my ego,
you know, because I was flying high with this agency girl.
I had a bunch of stuff and I was like,
nothing can touch me. And it was really like eating
(29:17):
humble pie. And again, all of that is fine so
long as you take the lessons, you know, And I'm
not too proud to say I failed and I knew
it at the time, and I was like, Okay, well,
why what did I do wrong? And so I just
scaled it back. I changed a few of the people around.
And again that's really difficult because for me, I was
often bringing you know, people that I loved, people that
(29:37):
were successful with me in a business. And there's nothing
worse than having to fire people. But you know, it's like,
you can't be a people pleaser and a leader at
the same time. You have to make you know, I
always talk about this idea of killing your darlings. You
have to like make choices, make tough decisions, and you
have to have an enterprise mentality. And so for me,
it's about doing the best thing for the business, and
at that point, it was about scaling it back and
(29:59):
starting again and doing something with a lot more understanding
of where I was and of respect for the place
that I was in.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
I want to ask you some skims again. I remember
there's a complete love skims. Were wife looking at Okay?
Speaker 4 (30:14):
But are you wearing skims?
Speaker 8 (30:16):
You know we have men throw away like yes, come on,
once again, we have some of it dumb discriminating.
Speaker 5 (30:29):
I'll get you some products, okay, Okay, can you get
into the products place for this afternoon.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
Absolutely I will deliver.
Speaker 6 (30:36):
But I remember them saying Kanye was a ghost creative director.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
O Lord, you're not going to You're not going to
do that to me today, are you.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
I just remember seeing it.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
When I come here with my energy and my voice
and all my things, I'm here to talk about me.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
Don't do that to me now.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Okay, what are you at getting the skims down?
Speaker 6 (31:00):
She handled it the way you should handle it. When
you don't want to answer a question, just don't answer it.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
There's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 7 (31:07):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
What do you want your legacy to be? Business?
Speaker 6 (31:10):
Morgal, culture, shifter, investor are just something else entirely.
Speaker 5 (31:14):
You know, I'd really love my legacy to be I
would love to think about, like here's a girl to
help ten million women get to where they could be,
Like I would love that.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
You know. It's like I really think about myself. You know.
It's like I'm kind of done for me.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
You know.
Speaker 5 (31:32):
It's like I've got to a place where I'm so
happy and I'm so content, and of course I'm very
ambitious still for myself. That's not to say like I'm
in retirement or anything, but I do really like, look
at my success now and think, my goodness, wouldn't it
be amazing if like a million other little Emmas appeared,
you know, a million other girls that like left school
(31:53):
when they were fifteen really without a lot of hope,
became super successful because of something I said, I did,
I enabled, And so that's what I'm thinking about right now,
and I think it's possible for me to do that.
Speaker 6 (32:06):
The DEI initiatives are being rolled back in government and corporations.
Have those pressures changed how you approach the AI for your.
Speaker 5 (32:12):
Business Absolutely not, in fact never, And I really lean
into that because I know that honestly. It's it's the
diversity in my business is a superpower. It's been a
superpower for me. And you know, you guys probably know.
I'm the chairwoman of the fifteen Percent Pledge and we
work with brands all over this country to essentially advocate
(32:33):
for them to take fifteen percent of their annual spend
and give that to black owned businesses. And so we've
put over fourteen billion dollars of opportunity into the hands
of black founders and entrepreneurs all over this country. And
when I look at those this is a business proposition.
Isn't a nice to have, This isn't a fun to do.
This isn't a tick on some charter somewhere. This is
about having more relevance with your customer base. And I
(32:56):
know that if you walk into Sophora now versus walking into.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
Sepour or five years ago.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
So it's not just better for black women or women
of color who can find a product. It's better for
everyone because everyone can go in there and buy those products.
Black businesses aren't just for black people, nor a Latino businesses,
Nora any businesses. So I actually think that when we
talk about some of this stuff, we lose sight of
what we're actually talking about. We're talking about more choice,
better for customers, and that's what women looks like.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
So it's like we really shouldn't.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
Like, I think it's so crazy that people would try
to think about these things. It's like nice to have.
It's like, do you want to make more money or not?
I make more sizes and more colors, I have more
customers that.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
Behave expound on that, like do you ever get out
of explaining whyde diversity market are we talking?
Speaker 4 (33:40):
It's pretty simple, It's really simple stuff.
Speaker 5 (33:43):
It's like, we're trying to be more dynamic, We're trying
to be more differentiated, We're trying to bring more people
through our doors. Who cares who? Here's who they are?
Right Like, I don't I don't understand.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Why limit yourself?
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Why limit?
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Why not? Why the customer.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
Will be a hundred percent?
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Or what I knew?
Speaker 5 (34:01):
I made it moment, you know, I honestly think that
it's so funny because I think, you know, so many
people and quite rightly so are down on this country
right now, right we all feel the fatigue. And I
think that moving to America was a game changer for me.
And I think that what you have to understand is
(34:22):
that the American dream is still alive in Kicking. There
is nowhere on earth that I could have done the
journey that I've done now. And you know, my husband's
he has a very very wise father. He died and
he used to say, you know, ever, America is the
best of everything and the worst of everything. And it's
really true to me now that I live here, I
(34:42):
really see that so clearly.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
But I'm living my American dream, you.
Speaker 5 (34:46):
Know, in this place and the people and the opportunities
that I've had here have been unbelievable and so I'm
really I'm really kind of living proof of something that
is still very very special about this country.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
There you have it.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Enjoyed this conversation.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Enjoy you Now? Where can they listen to the podcast?
Speaker 5 (35:05):
You can listen to it everywhere you get your podcasts,
Please go you know, Apple, anywhere, YouTube.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
We're going to be everywhere.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
And thank you for joining us so much. You make
sure you send them some skims extra small.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
I'll send you all.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Extra small. Yeah, I don't know about that. I'm easily
a large.
Speaker 4 (35:24):
Definitely not get you an ex excel XL. We'll figure that.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Emma Greedy, it's the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 4 (35:31):
Good morning, Thank you guys.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Wake that ans up in the morning. Breakfast Club
Wake that answer up in the morning.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
The Breakfast Club Morning, Everybody's DJ, Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne
the Guy.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
We are the Breakfast Club. We got a special.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Guest in the building. Yes, indeed we have Emma Greedy. Welcome,
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
I'm so happy to be here. Good morning, all of you.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
How are you?
Speaker 4 (00:17):
I'm really good, actually very good today.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Now you are the CEO and co founder of the
Denim Company, a good American. I am a founding partner
of Skims, co founder of Safely, and you have a
new podcast coming out Aspire with Emma gree.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
I do, I do? Indeed?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Now tell us how this all came about.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Doing that?
Speaker 5 (00:38):
Thank you, Thank you very much. Well, honestly, I'm so
excited about the podcast. That's my newest latest venture. And
you know, I've spent my entire career building businesses, and
so the idea around the podcast was really me thinking
about how I can scale mental ship because wherever I
go all over.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
This country, if I'm doing a talk or if I'm walking.
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Down the street, people are constantly asking me questions, how
do I start a business, how do I get a
pay rise? How do I become the best version of myself,
how do I negotiate better? And you know, I can
answer a lot of dms, but there's only so much
you can do. And so I'm really taking all of
my knowledge, everything I've done, all of my network and
trying to bring it to people in a digestible way.
(01:17):
And I think that when you think about podcasting, it's
a very very you know, broad medium, but there's a
very narrow business viewpoint, very very narrow viewpoint, and especially
when you get to business podcasting, it's all men. And
so I'm bringing like a perspective of myself, of somebody
who is self made, someone who's a self starter and
has you know, come from where I come from with
(01:38):
very little education, and I want to bring something to
people that is tangible and that they can essentially take out.
I want you to have something that's actionable when you
leave this podcast, that you can take that back into
where you work or back into your small business and
do something with it.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Speaking of where are you from? Where do you come from?
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Where do I come from?
Speaker 5 (01:58):
I come from East London in England, which is a
bit like you know, I always think about it as
you know, similar to Brooklyn or something like that it's
the most impoverished part of London.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
But I would say probably the best part of.
Speaker 6 (02:10):
You said it, like you from Brooklyn, Yeah, East London,
but you have a network of three hundred and twenty
something like that and you're from Eastland.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
I think that was last year's figures. But yeah, we'll talk.
Yeah we're growing out here.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
But you didn't come from an impoverished area.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
I do, and you said yourself, me, yes indeed.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
So how did you get to that point?
Speaker 6 (02:30):
What was the first thing that got you in the
mix of get on that road and having a network.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
I mean, I've had a job since I was twelve
years old.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
I delivered the papers, I worked in a Delhi, I
worked in close shops, I did all the things. But
you know, my interest was really in fashion. That's where
my passion was. But I didn't know anyone who, you know,
had a business when I was old. I didn't even
know the term entrepreneur. If you were an entrepreneur in
where I come from, you were probably doing something very wrong.
So that wasn't really an idea that I had growing up.
(02:58):
Excuse me going to clear my throat. But so for me,
I started out like many people. I did a lot
of work experience. I tried to get into the fashion business.
I assisted everybody. I worked in a lot of stores,
and eventually I found myself in a fashion show production
company and so that was me creating the shows, like
building the shows, the catwalks, the backdrops, and it was
a very unfulfilling job, but you met everybody. So I
(03:22):
did that for about four years, and then I fell
into this kind of weird space of sponsorships because no
designers ever have money to do their shows, and so
they needed brand partnerships. And I just happened to be
like a hustler, you know, I understand how to put
people together and make things happen. So I started doing
these brand partnerships. Became the girl in London. You know,
(03:42):
if you were running a show or you had a
party to do, you come to me for the sponsorship.
I would find you the sponsorship. And after a while,
I started my own company doing that when I was
twenty four years old, and it kind of grew from there.
I did one company, I did another, I sold a
couple companies. Fast forward to when I'm about thirty two.
I managed to exit that business, so I spent, you know,
(04:03):
nearly ten years building that first company, had my first serious,
meaningful exit, meaning that I made some money for myself
and so I was financially secure.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Company with it.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
That was called ITB and so, and it was amazing.
It was like an entertainment marketing agency. So I worked
with all the great brands and I would put talent
in their campaigns and I built a big company. We
had offices in London, in Paris, in New York, in LA.
I shut down in LA because I made a lot
of mistakes, but it gave me the foundational knowledge.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
To really get to where I am now.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
And then, of course, you know, I decided, after all
that time and you know, creating a lot of value
for other people and other brands, that I would do
something for myself.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
And that's when I started Good American.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Yeah, and Good American with Skims is under that and
what else.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
No, it's not.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
They're totally separate, totally separate companies, separate companies, separate entities,
separate shareholdings, separate that's the thing.
Speaker 6 (04:53):
And I was reading this and I started, you have, like,
you know, you have a certain percentage in Skim, Do
you have a certain percentage.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
In good America, you have a certain percent safely.
Speaker 6 (05:01):
And the reason I thought that was so dope is
because we live in this era where people feel like
you have to have one hundred percent of something to
be an owner, to be a boss. But the reality
of one hundred percent and nothing is nothing nothing.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
And listen, here's the thing.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
I've done a very very good job because I divest
my shareholdings. You don't want to hold a lot of
money of a company. I've taken money off the table.
I'm not looking to be rich when I'm seventy five
years old. I want the money now. Yeah, And so
I think that when you get valuations like a four
billion dollar valuation, you take some money off the table.
That's the sensible thing to do to divest your interests.
And that's what I've done all along. And so I'm
(05:34):
very happy with the shareholdings I have right now because
I've cash in the bank and that's what counts.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
How did the Skims company start? You know, people will
know Skims because it's so huge. It's on the sponsored
by the NBA.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
So how did that come?
Speaker 4 (05:45):
We sponsored the NBA even the other way around? Even better?
Speaker 3 (05:48):
So how did that company come about.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
So honestly, I think it came about from the relationship
that I have with the family, and you did, No,
it wasn't my idea. It was Kim's idea. She wanted
to create a shapewhere company or an underwear company, and
you know, I had a business with the family, and
so we decided to do it together. And the rest,
they say, is history. It was, you know, the right
(06:10):
thing at the right time. And you know, I think
with any company, the stars, the stars have to align.
We launched that company in a magical, magical time and
it hit the kind of zeitgeist. It was the right
company for the culture like at the moment, and so
I think it was just a series of amazing things
that happened and put it on the map and here
we are.
Speaker 7 (06:29):
That's amazing because even Good American is Chloe's, Chloe's company.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Right, it's a partnership between me and Chloe.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yes, work well with the families.
Speaker 7 (06:38):
To say a check, check, check, I love that, And
there's so many of them, so so many checks.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
I love that.
Speaker 6 (06:42):
You have a look at Skims and Good American blowing
up and think to yourself, damn, you know, we really
made the Kardashian's culturally relevant again.
Speaker 5 (06:49):
No, I never think I never think about it like that. No,
they're you know, they're being cultural culturally relevant. I think
that what I do is what I do, which is
I'm a very very good product person. I understand how
to bring product to market. And my background, you know,
ten years of working forging celebrity partnerships makes me really
good at understanding how talent are used to accelerate a brand,
(07:12):
and so what I bring is an intrinsic knowledge of
that space, right, And it's not so easy because otherwise
every famous person we know would have a big brand
that does hundreds of millions of dollars, and they don't.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
So there's more to it, right.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
You really have to be a somebody that understands product,
that understands the customer, that understands how to.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
Run a business. And that's what I bring to those partnerships.
Speaker 6 (07:32):
And skims is redefined shapewre Like, what was the biggest
risk you took early on.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
That paid off? You know?
Speaker 5 (07:39):
I think that Kim had a very clear idea of
what she wanted to do and a very differentiated idea,
and I think that that's what it's all about in
business anytime, right, you have to have something that is
unique and a unique point of difference to whatever's out there.
And when I think about anything that we've done, whether
you're talking about size inclusivity, or whether we're talking about
(08:02):
the range from like a kind of you know, nude
color range, like, we're always trying to do something that
doesn't exist in the market. And I think when you're
solving problems, when you're creating solutions for people, that's when
you know, you get that kind of breakthrough. That's when
you get something that customers really go, oh, like, I
need that.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
I have that problem and you guys are solving for it.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
When do you realize when it's time to sell a company?
When do you say, Okay, this is when we have
to exit, you.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
Know, I think that that is different for every company.
And I've been in agency businesses and I've been in
brand businesses. I think that what is often true is
like your first off, your first offer is often your
best offer, and you shouldn't always think that there's something
amazing coming around the corner. You have to sell things
when they're on the up because it peaks right. And
then you've only got the downside to sell. And so
(08:49):
when you've got that momentum, when you've got the forward towing,
when you're in growth mode, as they say, that's when
you need to think about selling or at least taking
some money off the table.
Speaker 6 (08:57):
Do people in fashion really care about diversity or is
it just good pr until like the next next?
Speaker 5 (09:02):
I mean, you could ask yourself, does anyone really care
about diversity? I don't think it's just about fashion. I
think there's definitely a certain amount of you know, performative
action out there right for marketing purposes. And actually Good
American and the reason I started that company was a
reaction to that because I worked in the fashion business
and I saw all these companies doing perform you know,
(09:25):
like hiring one black girl in the campaign, and yet
no one in that entire company was black. And I
saw people like performatively putting a plus sized person in
a campaign where they didn't even make the clothes for
that person. The girls like clothes would be cut up
the back because she couldn't even fit in the jeens.
And so when we started Good American, the idea about
it was to say, Okay, let's make a company that
(09:46):
actually has these values where the office and the people
that run the business and the people that make the
decisions and the people in the c suite are actually
a reflection of the customer base. And I think that's
what made Good Americans so successful, that it was actually
walking the walk and not just talk in the talk.
If you were a Side twenty and you needed a
pair of jeans, you have a tiny waist and a
big bar, like you came to Good American and you
(10:06):
could feel the difference in that product and people knew
we were for real.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Will It's like you said that, a tiny ways and
a big bar.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Yeah, that's what we were working with.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Something I was gonna say, Now, you're also on Shark Tank.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
I am, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
What do you look for when somebody is on Shark
Tank and they're pitching something to you?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
You know, for me, it's always about the founder.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
It's always I you know, even when I think about
hiring and investing, I'm like attitude over experience, because that's
my experience about I'm not someone who comes from a
place where you'd be like, I'm going to bet on her,
and so I really want that person that is so
passionate about their ideas, so crazy about it. They know
everything about the competition, they know everything about what they're doing,
(10:49):
and they are deep and they are into it. So
I'm going for someone who like feels it intrinsically.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I was going to ask, so, what was your more
successful investment on shark TINGK?
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Do you know? Is this incredible?
Speaker 5 (10:58):
It's so funny that you are to because when I
got onto that show, you know, you do a few investments.
And I remember saying to Mark one day when I
haven't made any money out of any of this stuff,
and he said, you know what, Emma, There'll be one
and one of them will make you a bunch of money.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
And for me, that was Cake's body.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
These incredible two women that make like a silicone nipple cover.
And of course the minute I saw them, I was like,
I know that business. I understand this space, like I
know I need that in my ket in my wardrobe.
And they were doing just under a million dollars when
I met them, and a year later, one hundred and
twenty million dollars Killed Cured and just so you know,
(11:33):
just a couple of like regular girls that left their
jobs and decided I'm going to do something for myself.
Speaker 6 (11:40):
You have such a very confident demeanor. What got you
to that place? Did you always have that level of security?
Speaker 5 (11:47):
You know, I was raised by a single mum on
one of four girls, and I think that my mom
did an amazing job of instilling.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
That confidence in us.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
You know, she taught me like, Emmy, you're not better
than any one else, but nor is anyone better than you.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
And I really grew up believing that.
Speaker 5 (12:04):
I really felt like, if I work hard enough, anything
is possible. And in East London, I was surrounded by
people that were really hustlers, but they were trying their hardest.
They were doing whatever they could to make a buck.
And that's just in my spirit.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
You know. For me, I'm a tryer.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
I'm going to keep doing, I'm going to keep learning,
and so much of what this podcast is about, you know,
I think of myself as a lifelong learner.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
I'm always in learning mode, right. It's like the more
you learn, the more you earn.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
And I really really feel like if you can help
people broaden their horizons, if you can bring new ideas
to people, there's nothing more valuable than that. And so
I feel like in my life that's just who I
am me?
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I got four girls? What are you for?
Speaker 4 (12:43):
I'm number one?
Speaker 5 (12:44):
Ye, number one, As I like to say, my sisters
will be like she hah, number one. But yeah, I'm
the eldest of four girls.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Work what you are?
Speaker 4 (12:54):
No, thank god, they don't work with me.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Do you know what?
Speaker 5 (12:58):
I'm not about that missing? I already work in my
that's enough. That that's enough. No. My sisters, two of
them live in England, one lives in Los Angeles. We're
very very close, talk every day on the like sister chat.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
No, I don't want to work with them. I don't
want to work with them.
Speaker 6 (13:12):
How often, because you know, you're in these billion dollar rooms,
right as a woman of color.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
My dad's black moms, a mixed race, got you.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
How often you still feel underestimated every day?
Speaker 5 (13:24):
I mean because I am underestimated every day, right, I think? Well,
I mean, listen, now it's a little bit different. Now
I can walk into any room and people will bet
on me, and people would want to invest in me.
But I do think that you still, you know, I
still think you're proving I'm proving myself every day. I
never take anything for granted. Right, You're only as good
as the last thing you did. And I'm constantly pushing
(13:44):
myself into spaces. It's like I might be sitting here
with you know, a bunch of great companies behind me,
but I don't know. I'm not a good podcaster, you know, I'm.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Just getting started.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
And so I don't take anything for granted. And that's
why I always think that, you know, you've got to
be humble. You've got to go into something with the
spirit of, you know, trying your hardest and trying to
be good.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
And I never let that leave me.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
I don't walk into anything expecting anything.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
I think you got to work for it every day.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Is that why you want to do the podcast? Because
you want to help people?
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Because you've got so many different jobs and you have girls,
you have kids, you have a husband, you have a
lot of ish going on.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
I have a lot of ish going on.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
No, you know, it really is because I think at
a certain point, right you get to a place where
you are financially comfortable. And also I proved to myself
all the things I wanted to prove to myself, and
now I think that the sign, you know, of success
for me is how many people can come along like
that are like me, that can come along and you
can open the door for and that could actually have
(14:42):
this sense of changing their life and building the life
of their dreams because of something that I did. And
I know that, you know, people are looking to me,
and I feel like it's honestly a responsibility and I
don't want that to sound you know, trite or like
something that feels disingenuous. Is I feel very very responsible
(15:03):
for all the women that get in touch with me
all the time because there is so much there are
so many barriers, and there's so much out there that
tells you that it's an impossibility, that there's not room
for people, that.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Your opinion doesn't matter.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
And I really think that leaning into my difference is
really knowing and understanding where I come from and what
is different and important about that. That's what's actually given
me like space in these rooms. That's why people look
to me and say, what is.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Your opinion about this?
Speaker 5 (15:31):
Because of where I've come from, And so I actually
think it's a superpower.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
What would you tell somebody that it's an entrepreneur, maybe
a woman and trying to get into the space has
an idea, but it just hasn't taken off as of yet,
they can't get on shot tank and they just want
some type of advice to say, how.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Would you do it, how would you approach it? What
would you tell that person?
Speaker 5 (15:50):
Well, listen, the first thing is to start, because what
you'll find is a lot of people talk about a
lot of stuff and they haven't actually done it. And
there's this idea that there's some perfect time, perfect set
of circumstances.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
It's never perfect. And also this idea.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
We're in this culture right now where everyone thinks they
have to raise a load of money, Like, don't don't
raise any money, just do something, get out of the gate.
We live in a world where social media and shopify
has enabled us to start things very cheaply, and you
can start small. Not everything needs to be a billion
dollar business. Maybe you're trying to transform your circumstances and
(16:24):
leave your corporate job, and actually a little bit of money,
a little bit of revenue, will be transformative for you.
So I would say, don't benchmark and measure yourself by
some standard that actually isn't part of your existence. It's like,
do something, get out of the gate, start it, and
then you test and you learn into it. Because nothing
works immediately. If I think about the business that I
(16:45):
started with Good American three skws of skinny denim and
what it is today, the two things don't even look
the same. They don't look the same. We change the size,
but we changed everything. The only thing you can't change
in business is the reason that you started, right It's
like the very essence of what you do and your
purpose has to remain the same.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
You iterate everything.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Else transform on the way up. And so I think
that that's a really important thing. It's like you just
have to get out of the gate and start.
Speaker 6 (17:11):
I agree with you, you know, I think comparison to the deferioid, yes,
it is.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
So people will.
Speaker 6 (17:16):
Start something, but then they'll be looking at you, but
they don't realize all the time you've already put in
all the experience you've got that.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Got you to this point.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
But they feel like if they're not doing what Emma's
doing right now, they're not successful totally.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
And I think that that is just again, it's so
much about the culture that we sit in right now.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
It gives you this idea that you know, there's.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Such a thing as overnight success, and I don't know
any overnight successes. You know, again, I have been working
since I was twelve, and all of those experiences, you know,
are so formative and they're so in me. And it's
like every single thing that you get leverage right. And
when I talk about leverage, I don't just mean taking
something that you've been given.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
It's like, what do you have?
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Well, I have my reputation, right, and that reputation for
delivering great business when I was in the AI agency
business allowed me to go and raise money. I didn't
know what private equity was. I would never have known
how to go and raise funds. I went to a
client that I'd consistently delivered good business for in my agency,
and I said, Hey, do you want to invest three
million dollars in my business?
Speaker 4 (18:14):
And he was like, no, girl, I'll give you.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
I'll give you less than that, but I'll invest in you.
And so sorry, I've been doing a lot of talking
this week. I'm like very hoarse, But you know, I
think that that is the thing. You know, You've got
to be creative and you've got to work with what
you've got. And I think so often we focus on
what we don't have and where our lack is and
actually there is just that that is not worth your energy.
(18:37):
You've got to figure out like where are you, what
do you have and how do you leverage?
Speaker 1 (18:41):
From that point, he says, you work with your husband.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
How is that?
Speaker 7 (18:45):
Because when it's so personally that's your husband, that's my husband,
that's what you wake up with?
Speaker 4 (18:51):
What like, how is that? How are you guys able
to separate? Well, we're not.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Let me be honest with that, there's very little separation.
The truth is that my huse spend was actually like
one of my first investors. So I worked in a
company where I set up a joint venture with them,
and eventually years later and down the line, I ended
up marrying one of those guys.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
It's a great jobs. I have returned that investment.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
But I think the what's important about that is that
we had a professional relationship before we ever had our
personal relationship. And my husband's Swedish, and in Swedish culture
is a very matriarchal culture. They really have so much
respect for women, but they also really meet women halfway,
like even to the point like in Sweden, when you
take maternity leave, it's given to the couple, so if
(19:43):
the woman wants to you know, you get a year,
and if the woman wants to take six months and
the husband takes six months, that's how you do it.
But it's very usual in society that that happens. But
what it means is that I've got someone who meets me.
You know, he respects my ambition, and he respects the
fact that we have four kids.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
We have four kids together, and we do that together.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
So there's no expectation that I'm going to take some
leading role, and nor do I quite honestly.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
You.
Speaker 6 (20:09):
I just forget what I'm gonna ask you. Oh, no,
where did you learn financial literacy?
Speaker 4 (20:12):
You know, that's a really good question.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
I think when you come from scarcity, you have a
really good appreciation for money. Because we didn't have any,
and so I knew the price of everything, right, because
it's like I knew what we didn't have. And my
mum would budget, Like she'd sit at the table and
she'd be like, this is what we are for groceries.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
This is what we've got to keep the lights on.
So I knew what money was.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
And I used to see her back in those days,
you know, you'd write checks, and so i'd see her
do the check book and I'd be on the calculator
and so money was just like a thing that I
understood at a very young age. And also it was
cash then, right, so you'd like count the cash, and
that gave me a relationship with it. I'm dyslexic, and
so I had a very hard time when I started
my business understanding how the money would link together, like
(20:55):
between the margins and the profit and the E but
I would be to me, it was like scrambled eggs.
And then again when I got into e comm, everything
is acronyms. You know, you're talking about AOV and the
UPT and the LOV and I would.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Be like, I don't get this.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
But I think the thing for me is that I'm
naturally curious, and so I would just ask a lot
of questions. And I learned by just asking, like just
that I'm never scared to be the dumbest person in
the room. I'm like, what does that mean? How does
that work? How does that go together? And so I
just like learned on the fly. And I think that
being naturally cautious about money meant that even when I
(21:29):
got investors, I spent their money like it was my own,
meaning that I'm frugal, like I am tight. I'm just
holding all the money all the time, and I never
like flashy with the cash. Even now when I am
a bit flashy with the cash. It's like, I know
the cost of everything. No one can buy anything in
my house and me not be like what was that,
you know, because there's a special price for everything in
bel Air.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
My toilet breaks.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
They're like, oh, hi, you know, it's the bell Air
price and I'm like, no, this is what we're paying,
you know.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
So I'm like very aware of everything.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
How much power do you have in these partnerships, Well, you.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
Know, I don't really think about it in terms of power.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
We're partners and we do different things, and so I have,
you know, a good American and I'm the CEO, and
so I make all the decisions as the CEO would
in any company. In Skims, it's very very different, and
Kim plays a very very hands on role. My role
is across everything product related, so design, merchandising, production planning.
That's a part of the company I run. And I
see my role as really like making Kim's vision come true.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
She's like, this is really what I want to see.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
I want to make a nipple bram No, I'm going
to make the best nipple bra with the best margin,
and we're going to make hundreds of thousands of them.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
So that is what I do.
Speaker 6 (22:34):
What's harder convincing investors to back inclusive brands are convincing consumers.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
It's not just a gimmick, you know.
Speaker 5 (22:43):
I never think about it as I never think about
inclusivity as what the brand is about, right because I
think about at the end of the day, what you're
selling to customers is like the overarching dream of what
a brand is, and there's so much more to that.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
Inclusivity is one.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Piece of what we do, providing a great product at
a great price and getting it to consumers really quickly,
Like that's what the brand is, and then there's all
of these different parts that are additive to it. So
I think that whenever you're pitching something, first of all,
you've got to know your audience, but you've got to
understand what the true mechanics are of anything and what
the important parts of anything are.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
And inclusivity is one of.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
Many, many things that we do, So I never think
about it as something that it's like like that is
the main selling point because nobody's like, at the end
of the day, no one's buying inclusivity. If you're a
size sixteen, you're here for the size sixteen. You ain't
here for the side twenty four and the size eight,
you know. So that's just what we do, like giving that.
The right thing to do is and the right business
(23:44):
decision to make is to serve as many customers as
you can. If I make nineteen sizes, I'm going to
do better the business than if I sell six much
just good business.
Speaker 6 (23:52):
My wife loves Skims, you know what I mean. And
I remember asking her why and she just like, she
just likes the way it fits.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
It fits as comfortable, simple as that fits.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
But what would you say to the black women who
feel like Skims isn't made for them, even if it
looks like it.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Is it's made for them. Who are they?
Speaker 5 (24:06):
What are their sizes? We have everything? I'm like, no, no,
it's made for everyone. We have the most unbelievable customer
base and you don't. You don't have that level of
sales if it's not for certain people.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Question which your podcasts you're gonna have guests on a
podcast and who's coming on a podcast.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
We've got so many amazing guests on the podcast. So
we launched yesterday with Gwyneth Paltrow and Melody Hobson, and
Melody is my business idol. So I really wanted to
make sure that we could come out of the gate
with someone that I've learned from and also someone that
I believe is you know, Melody is a one of one.
She is not just one of the best black business
(24:46):
women in the country, she's just one of the best.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Business people in the country.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
Former chair of Starbucks. I mean, she is just so incredible.
And she spent her.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Entire career at one place, thirty.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
Years in one company, and I think that there's some
really amazing learnings for that. She went in as an
inter born on the South side of Chicago, you know,
one of five kids, five kids, she's one of five.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
And she is just single mom.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
Again, the most incredible woman went into this company as
an intern and now she owns a very very meaningful
part of a fourteen billion dollar, you know, private equity business.
And so I look at that and like my mind
is blown. And then again Gwyneth, I thought so interesting
because for so many women they're starting businesses from something
that they're passionate about.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
And also they're trying to do a pivot.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
And if you are, you know, working your corporate job
and you want to just change completely and do something different,
I thought she would be a really interesting benchmark to
look at. How do you just completely rip it up
and say I'm going to start something new. So I
was really I was really happy to have those first people.
But I also think that women have a lot to
learn from men right in business, and so I'm really
(25:51):
going to be focused on a lot of different men
coming through.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
And so we have Michael.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
Rubern, I've got Mark Cuban, I have the wonderful You,
and some find Charlote Maine's coming on and I'll be
so happy. So I've just got like a bunch of
really incredible guests, and it's really about people that I know,
I respect and those that I aspire to.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
He has if you haven't guess because you can talk,
you're good talking. You're good talking.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
One is hoping. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:19):
How do you evaluate celebrity influence versus product quality when
you're trying to build brand trust?
Speaker 5 (26:25):
How do I evaluate it? I mean, it's an interesting
question actually to me. I don't even think about listen.
Influence will only take you so far. Right, you can
drive a customer to product once, so I will could
love you, Charlemagne, and you could be trying to sell
me something, and because of the strength of how much
I love you, I'll go and buy your product.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
If your product doesn't perform for me, I'm not buying
it again.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
And the strength of a business is the strength of
the lifetime value of that customer.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
How many times are.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
They coming back to you over and over again, And
that's how you build affinity with customers. And so after
a while, the influence is useless if the product is
not good.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
So the two only work.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
In terms of the acceleration of the talent can only
work for the product if the product is good, because
customers are too smart, Like, no one's going to buy
things that are not good.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
Absolutely, Well, what's your approach to like global expansion? Like
the skim's different in Paris than it would be in
like I think.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
You know, that's one of the things that I learned
really early in my career when I when I had ITB,
which was my agency business, I was killing in London
and then I opened an office in New York and
it was amazing, and I was like, I'm going to LA,
the home of celebrities. And I failed miserably. And when
I tell you, I foiled miserably. I opened a big office,
like a gorgeous office, and I hired all these people
(27:39):
and had to shut it down less than a year later,
about ten months in, when I was devastated because I
had an ignorance for the localization of anything. And it
kind of comes back to this idea that success you
can't transfer success, and you know, more than anywhere.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
I feel like La is one of these places.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
It's built on such a community, right, It's like and
you are either in that and you understand it or
you don't. And I bought all of my kind of
like this ignorance of success into a place where they
were like no, no, no, honey, not here like this.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
That's not going to wash.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
I've since been successful in LA, but I really understood
the landscape of the place. And so to answer your question,
I think that you have to really think about localization
in certain markets. That there's no such thing as Europe, right.
Europe is a is a bunch of different territories, and
what works in Germany does not work in France, which
is not works in England. It's very different to if
you you know, the US, which is essentially one market
(28:32):
with a little.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Bit of localization.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
So you really have to think globally about if your
product is going to resonate in that market and how
and where, and have specificity around how you come into
that market.
Speaker 7 (28:44):
How long were you in La before you did become
successful because you you did say like you thought, you know,
with the ignorance of succession, that she was going to
go to this La Hollywood place in it pop overnight.
How long were you?
Speaker 5 (28:57):
It took me about honestly, like I would say three
four years. And I was lucky because the business was
successful in other places. But I shut down the office,
I scaled it down, and then I essentially had to restart.
And it was really like a bash on my ego,
you know, because I was flying high with this agency girl.
I had a bunch of stuff and I was like,
nothing can touch me. And it was really like eating
(29:17):
humble pie. And again, all of that is fine so
long as you take the lessons, you know, And I'm
not too proud to say I failed and I knew
it at the time, and I was like, Okay, well,
why what did I do wrong? And so I just
scaled it back. I changed a few of the people around.
And again that's really difficult because for me, I was
often bringing you know, people that I loved, people that
(29:37):
were successful with me in a business. And there's nothing
worse than having to fire people. But you know, it's like,
you can't be a people pleaser and a leader at
the same time. You have to make you know, I
always talk about this idea of killing your darlings. You
have to like make choices, make tough decisions, and you
have to have an enterprise mentality. And so for me,
it's about doing the best thing for the business, and
at that point, it was about scaling it back and
(29:59):
starting again and doing something with a lot more understanding
of where I was and of respect for the place
that I was in.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
I want to ask you some skims again. I remember
there's a complete love skims. Were wife looking at Okay?
Speaker 4 (30:14):
But are you wearing skims?
Speaker 8 (30:16):
You know we have men throw away like yes, come on,
once again, we have some of it dumb discriminating.
Speaker 5 (30:29):
I'll get you some products, okay, Okay, can you get
into the products place for this afternoon.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
Absolutely I will deliver.
Speaker 6 (30:36):
But I remember them saying Kanye was a ghost creative director.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
O Lord, you're not going to You're not going to
do that to me today, are you.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
I just remember seeing it.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
When I come here with my energy and my voice
and all my things, I'm here to talk about me.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
Don't do that to me now.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Okay, what are you at getting the skims down?
Speaker 6 (31:00):
She handled it the way you should handle it. When
you don't want to answer a question, just don't answer it.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
There's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 7 (31:07):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
What do you want your legacy to be? Business?
Speaker 6 (31:10):
Morgal, culture, shifter, investor are just something else entirely.
Speaker 5 (31:14):
You know, I'd really love my legacy to be I
would love to think about, like here's a girl to
help ten million women get to where they could be,
Like I would love that.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
You know. It's like I really think about myself. You know.
It's like I'm kind of done for me.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
You know.
Speaker 5 (31:32):
It's like I've got to a place where I'm so
happy and I'm so content, and of course I'm very
ambitious still for myself. That's not to say like I'm
in retirement or anything, but I do really like, look
at my success now and think, my goodness, wouldn't it
be amazing if like a million other little Emmas appeared,
you know, a million other girls that like left school
(31:53):
when they were fifteen really without a lot of hope,
became super successful because of something I said, I did,
I enabled, And so that's what I'm thinking about right now,
and I think it's possible for me to do that.
Speaker 6 (32:06):
The DEI initiatives are being rolled back in government and corporations.
Have those pressures changed how you approach the AI for your.
Speaker 5 (32:12):
Business Absolutely not, in fact never, And I really lean
into that because I know that honestly. It's it's the
diversity in my business is a superpower. It's been a
superpower for me. And you know, you guys probably know.
I'm the chairwoman of the fifteen Percent Pledge and we
work with brands all over this country to essentially advocate
(32:33):
for them to take fifteen percent of their annual spend
and give that to black owned businesses. And so we've
put over fourteen billion dollars of opportunity into the hands
of black founders and entrepreneurs all over this country. And
when I look at those this is a business proposition.
Isn't a nice to have, This isn't a fun to do.
This isn't a tick on some charter somewhere. This is
about having more relevance with your customer base. And I
(32:56):
know that if you walk into Sophora now versus walking into.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
Sepour or five years ago.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
So it's not just better for black women or women
of color who can find a product. It's better for
everyone because everyone can go in there and buy those products.
Black businesses aren't just for black people, nor a Latino businesses,
Nora any businesses. So I actually think that when we
talk about some of this stuff, we lose sight of
what we're actually talking about. We're talking about more choice,
better for customers, and that's what women looks like.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
So it's like we really shouldn't.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
Like, I think it's so crazy that people would try
to think about these things. It's like nice to have.
It's like, do you want to make more money or not?
I make more sizes and more colors, I have more
customers that.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
Behave expound on that, like do you ever get out
of explaining whyde diversity market are we talking?
Speaker 4 (33:40):
It's pretty simple, It's really simple stuff.
Speaker 5 (33:43):
It's like, we're trying to be more dynamic, We're trying
to be more differentiated, We're trying to bring more people
through our doors. Who cares who? Here's who they are?
Right Like, I don't I don't understand.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Why limit yourself?
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Why limit?
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Why not? Why the customer.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
Will be a hundred percent?
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Or what I knew?
Speaker 5 (34:01):
I made it moment, you know, I honestly think that
it's so funny because I think, you know, so many
people and quite rightly so are down on this country
right now, right we all feel the fatigue. And I
think that moving to America was a game changer for me.
And I think that what you have to understand is
(34:22):
that the American dream is still alive in Kicking. There
is nowhere on earth that I could have done the
journey that I've done now. And you know, my husband's
he has a very very wise father. He died and
he used to say, you know, ever, America is the
best of everything and the worst of everything. And it's
really true to me now that I live here, I
(34:42):
really see that so clearly.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
But I'm living my American dream, you.
Speaker 5 (34:46):
Know, in this place and the people and the opportunities
that I've had here have been unbelievable and so I'm
really I'm really kind of living proof of something that
is still very very special about this country.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
There you have it.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Enjoyed this conversation.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Enjoy you Now? Where can they listen to the podcast?
Speaker 5 (35:05):
You can listen to it everywhere you get your podcasts,
Please go you know, Apple, anywhere, YouTube.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
We're going to be everywhere.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
And thank you for joining us so much. You make
sure you send them some skims extra small.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
I'll send you all.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Extra small. Yeah, I don't know about that. I'm easily
a large.
Speaker 4 (35:24):
Definitely not get you an ex excel XL. We'll figure that.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Emma Greedy, it's the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 4 (35:31):
Good morning, Thank you guys.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Wake that ans up in the morning. Breakfast Club
The Breakfast Club News
Hosts And Creators
Charlamagne Tha God
DJ Envy
Jess Hilarious
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