Bru talks with Emma Grede about her path to success and her new podcast, 'Aspire with Emma Grede
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00:00I want to get the intro right because I mean there's so many so many things on this list.
00:04I'm going to keep it kind of short. Businesswoman, that's about the easiest way to state it.
00:08One of America's richest self-made women by Forbes. Huge title. Powerhouse. I love the name
00:13Powerhouse behind some of America's biggest brands like Good American, Skims. Now bringing your
00:17expertise to the mic, Emma Greed. Hello Emma, how are you? Hello my darling, I'm so good. So happy
00:23to be here. Yeah, thank you for making the time. It's so fun to have someone like you in studio
00:27because I have so many questions and I'm so excited about everything you have going on which
00:31I'm sure feels like a million different things but you know sometimes when people hear like the
00:36resume they might feel like almost like a different planet you know. You have so many titles, there's
00:40so many things going on but could you tell me a little bit about like what growing up was like
00:44and how we're here today? Yeah, do you know this is such a great place to start seeing as my like
00:50whole family are here in town. My mom's here from London so I was raised in East London, single mom,
00:55one of four girls, you know very very humble beginnings. You know it was like a regular life
01:01just like most people, not harder but definitely no easier and you know I honestly if I'm honest and
01:07I think about it I didn't know anyone who was an entrepreneur. That was never what I set out to do.
01:13Where I come from you work to pay your bills and you just took a job and whatever that job was
01:17hopefully you were moderately interested in it but it didn't matter because you were probably not
01:21you know you're doing a nine to five and honestly I just worked very hard. I just love fashion my
01:28whole life and got you know one job and then into another and then into another and kind of found
01:33myself at 24 what you know in in a place where I felt very undervalued and very underpaid and so I
01:40decided to go out on my own and start something and that is where my journey began. Yeah I mean so many
01:44people have already resonated with your story and did you get to bring it into the audio world now?
01:49Congrats on the podcast Aspire with Emma. Tell me who that's for like who's going to take the most
01:54from this podcast? Well you know listen I've spent my entire life building and scaling businesses and
01:59at some point you know I honestly believe that I just get so many questions. So many people say to me
02:04how do I get a pay rise? How do I make a change in my career? How do I start a business? So the idea of
02:10the podcast was really about scaling mentorship but it's for anyone that wants to like live the life of
02:15their dreams right? I think that we all want to live up to our own maximum potential and so I'm
02:21obsessed with that idea of who gets to start a business and who gets to you know decide how we
02:26spend our time and I believe that everything starts with yourself. It's all about you know you get in
02:31you get out what you put in and so I really just think that if we can focus on that most people can
02:37end up doing what they want to do and so the podcast is really about making sure that we stay
02:42in learning mode which is one of the things that I talk about all the time. Yeah and bringing so
02:46many so many fun friends to like learn those things from like I mean Gwyneth Paltrow already,
02:51Jay Shetty, Michael Rubin and in an audio and obviously YouTube form as well it's so fun for
02:56people to watch. What inspired you to start though Aspire and I guess bring it into the audio space
03:03and what's it been like to connect with that audience in that way because it feels so intimate.
03:07You know what it does it feels so intimate and in a way there's something so nice about like
03:11that long format. I feel like everything that we do now is so fleeting and so what's so nice is to
03:16get really deep into a subject. You know if we're going to talk about what it really takes to build
03:21the life of your own dreams and to you know start a business then you want to go really deep on that
03:26and people want to answer you know they want the answers to questions like how do I you know raise
03:31money or how do I bootstrap something and so I'm just being very honest about my journey because I feel
03:37like there's so much information out there but actually people kind of sugarcoat over the details
03:42and I'm just going to be really honest and tell you all the details the good the bad and the ugly
03:47because there's so many things that have happened in my career that don't make it to Instagram right
03:52because it's not fun it's not pretty it doesn't look good it wouldn't make a great picture and so
03:56I'm just trying to be really honest with people about what it takes to be truly successful.
04:00Yeah I mean you built so many brands and I'm curious about that from like the content standpoint
04:05is it kind of the same process how are you like building the show in in a way that you structure
04:09it to you know with your skills now into this format? It's not massively different I think I'm
04:14a very naturally curious person so I'm going to figure out how things work but you know I really
04:19always think about a need or a problem I'm like how can I solve that problem and when you think about
04:24podcasting as a whole for such a wide media it's a very narrow viewpoint there's a lot of dudes
04:30talking a lot about business in a really high level way and I'm like what happens if
04:35you're you know a girl that owns a salon in Minnesota and you want to open a second salon
04:40well like I want to give that person the opportunity and the chance to know how they can scale their
04:45business and everything in between so I'm trying to you know talk about business in a way that is
04:50not complicated that is not convoluted and that is just really honest and I'm allergic to toxic
04:56positivity I hate the idea that people say you know you can manifest your way there I'm like no you
05:01can't you can try but I don't know how well that's going to work that's just a piece of it
05:05so I'm trying to again expose people to the level of work the level of ambition and the level of focus
05:11that it takes to be truly truly successful yeah that's amazing how are you liking the podcasting
05:17space in terms of like I don't know it's a different medium sometimes you know people it takes a curve to
05:24learn about it how's your prep do you just go into it with that curiosity curiosity can you imagine I am the
05:29most like I love preparation yeah but I have a very finite amount of time so right now I'm just like
05:35who am I the most interested in that I would need zero prep and luckily you know what I do very well
05:41and I've done in my businesses is I build great teams so for me everything is about assembling the
05:46right people and bringing in experts because I'm a great podcast listener I'm not a great interviewer
05:51I'm just a very very curious girl so I'm gonna figure it out piece it together and bring in people
05:56that know and I talk about that a lot in my business right there's a place where you can be
06:01an expert and a place where you can bring all your energy and enthusiasm and there's a right time for
06:05that and then at some point you need to surround yourself with people that know better and can do
06:09better and I'm not too proud you know it's like I always think that the beauty in what I do is
06:15assembling amazing teams and getting to work with like really brilliant people so if I don't know it
06:19I'm gonna find somebody else who does yeah for sure the through line I feel like for so many of your
06:24projects and brands is you know purpose how do you kind of make sure that stays the goal for
06:30these massive teams you know with everybody you're working on well I think that's a really really
06:34good question and you know for me it's always about finding what it is that I am really trying to
06:41achieve and with this you know when I think about the podcast this is about raising the ambition level
06:47this is about people being able to live in a way that is to their highest purpose to their highest self
06:53to their you know to the best possible life and so everything I do comes back down to that and I
06:59think whenever we're thinking about guests or we're thinking about subject matters it's like does it go
07:03back to a place where it's truly useful because I want you to take 45 minutes or an hour of your time
07:09and come out with something that you can use immediately and so that's really the whole idea
07:14behind aspire it's like how can we give you and you know I honestly say to people all the time if I'm
07:19going to take an hour of your time I'm going to give you something that is tangible and useful
07:23immediately I don't want you to have to like try and figure it out that's my job I'm going to figure
07:27it out for you and you're going to have something you can go and use yeah I feel that already I'm
07:31learning so much just from the first few minutes here absolutely you've gotten to a point where you
07:36can be you know truly selective with your ventures um are there any of like non-negotiables that
07:42you either operate on internally uh now learning what you have oh my goodness how long have you got
07:47so yeah I know there's so there's so give an hour well you know here's the thing I really am in a
07:52place in my life right now where everything that I do it can never just be about me because I'm at
07:58the point where I'm very comfortable in my life and I love what I do I have what I believe is like
08:02the best job ever I love my work I love my teams I love what we do I love where we're going and I even
08:09love it when you know it's a disaster because I'm a figure out type of person so for me right now my
08:14career it's about how many other people can you impact and I feel like I've just been in such a
08:19or on such a great journey and I said to you earlier like I'm obsessed with the idea of who gets
08:24to be successful and I know that there was a bunch of things that happened to me early in my career
08:28that allowed me to have the type of opportunities that I have so I'm like well how do we make it so
08:34that that is more attainable for other people because we don't all go to great schools and you know get
08:39the right qualifications and fall into the right firm and get the right job that hasn't been my
08:44journey and so I really think about that from the point of view of like how many other people
08:50are going to have untraditional journeys but you can decide what you want to do at any point in your
08:55life you can have a change at 42 and decide you know what I want to do something completely different
09:00like I'm doing right now so I'm really trying to be the best model for what I'm talking about right
09:05yeah one of those people I think you've you know gotten to collaborate with recently was Kristen
09:10Juszczyk oh I love Kristen with the NFL and Fanatics I mean I love that she went viral for her jackets
09:15and her different like oh my god it was so cool last season I mean it's so crazy because when she
09:20was DMing me you know she was like hey I really need someone to help me get this business off the
09:24ground but I I didn't put two and two together I didn't understand who she was and I didn't connect
09:29that moment to the Taylor Swift jacket but this is what I mean like about a certain type of person
09:33she literally when I mean she must have got like 20 people to call me it was so crazy she just went
09:40everywhere around and it was like from some guy from Amazon some hairdresser that we mutually know
09:45and she just like bashed the door down and of course when I met her I was like this girl is incredible and
09:51she's going to be successful but I was impressed by the the idea you know what she'd been doing and
09:55that she trained herself to sew on YouTube you know like she just wasn't going to let anything stand in
10:01her way and so for me someone like that was always going to be successful regardless of our
10:05partnership what I've done is accelerated that success you know I make it quick I make it happen
10:10and hopefully we're going to build a beautiful big business together yeah it's so interesting
10:14because it's like a multitude of things that'll catch your eye obviously like the product's great
10:18but also the person and her um the way she like got to you um what is it though you think is
10:23the thing that would catch your eye most is it a product or is it like usually the person
10:28so you know what I think about with with entrepreneurs I'm always obsessed with like
10:32the individual but you might not be successful in your first venture so it's like do you have the
10:36tenacity and the resilience to actually keep going but I also think what makes people successful is when
10:42your idea collides with what's happening in culture and we've seen the resurgence not just of sports but
10:48also like women's sports the massive interest in that and so I think what you do has to collide with
10:53where we are in the greater culture and when those two things come together like you're onto a winner
10:57yeah and we see a lot of like celebrities do those ventures as well where it's like jumping into a
11:02product or you know a different space what makes one succeed though because there's so many and it
11:07feels harder than you might think it would be for someone who's like listen it's so so hard if it were
11:12easy every celebrity would have a billion dollar brand right and they don't we know more that are in
11:15the toilet than the ones that are really really fantastic what it takes is excellent excellent
11:20product because a talent can drive a customer to purchase something once if you have a bad product
11:26experience you're not coming back regardless of how much of a fan you are of that person so the
11:30product has to be excellent and once you've got an excellent product then you have to create an
11:34organization around that product that can deliver to customers on time that can please customers day
11:40in and day out and so there's a lot more to it than I think people think about and what we've been
11:45great at is solving problems with customers but also creating like an amazing amazing
11:50customer experience and right now when there's so much choice for consumers it can't just be about
11:55one thing on its own you've got to bring all of those things together and organize yourself
11:59beautifully for that to be the the experience for every single customer every single day yeah I mean
12:05it's hard it's hard listen it's not it's not easy and I I never again I never want to make it feel
12:10or seem like these things are easy they take an unbelievable amount of work and you know I think at this
12:16point in my career I'm working harder than I ever ever have so it's like it's not like you know
12:22suddenly you know you get these amazing valuations and stuff gets really easy it's quite the opposite
12:26it gets harder and harder and harder and harder and that's why you gotta love it you gotta love
12:30what you do absolutely you've been through so much stuff you know you have so much experience when it
12:34comes to like a lesson that maybe cost you a lot to learn um what is something that you ultimately
12:39were like glad and it was worth it that you went through you know I think in the early days of one of my
12:44like my first company it was called ITB it was a talent man like a talent branding agency we put
12:50talent and and brands together in endorsements deals and product placement and all of that stuff
12:55and I was absolutely killing it in London I had you know 75 people an agency with you know so many like
13:02awards and so much great work behind it and then I tried to open an office here in LA and I failed
13:10miserably I kind of overestimated the reputation that the agency had in Europe underestimated the
13:16difference in the culture underestimated the way certain uh places work and LA more than anywhere
13:23is like this kind of community and I hadn't like really understood that at all and so I learned the
13:29hard way but I've had you know I could tell you like 10 mistakes I've had you only need to be right once
13:34what you need is to like get back up from that failure and not think that it's about you like I
13:40never take anything personally I'm like that thing didn't work that's not about me as an individual I
13:45think I'm great I made a mistake I'm moving on and so I think so many times people take things to heart
13:50and they're like that was all about me it's like no no it's about that moment you just as long as you
13:54learn you can go off and do something else and so I do think that there are um it's it's so much more
14:00about a mentality and a style and a way of doing things than it is about like the any one individual
14:06thing that you're doing yeah I'm all fired up yeah come on you're like what are we doing what are we
14:11doing what's the business and and you mentioned like with LA being that community it is in so many
14:16different spaces you know you hear it all the time it's who you know and your connections that you
14:20have um I'm so curious from you like who's been the most chance encounter or like circumstantial
14:25moment that has led to a business partnership even with Kristen you just mentioned like the DM and
14:30have on other people but what has been like something that was so minuscule that ended up
14:33turning into a partnership my lawyer yeah that one go my lawyer's been real useful gotta have a good
14:40one absolutely yeah you do listen and it's oftentimes it's not the sexy stuff right if you if I'm deadly
14:46serious I think about some of those vendor partnerships you know it's the people that
14:50will their suitcases into my office that have traveled all the way from the far east or the middle east or
14:57from Europe and they come and they present their fabrics and they present their innovations and the
15:01things that they've been working on and when you create relationships with people that are like okay
15:06I'm looking and I want to create this type of fabrication I want a jean that you know snatches
15:11you at the waist and I want pocket bags that flatten your tummy and you work with the right people
15:16it's those relationships those kind of unsexy partnerships that seemingly you don't really think
15:22about at the time that if you get it right again you only need to be right once those are the
15:26things that I think in my business that are the most everlasting and the most fruitful partnerships
15:31and they're never the ones that you think like necessarily these are like the people that I want
15:36to hang out with or these are the people that I you know envisaged myself being in business with but
15:40those are the most important partnerships that you make the fantastic vendors the people that work in
15:45your factories the people that are doing the unsexy things are the ones that are actually the the most
15:51useful and the most helpful when you think about creating a lasting product that people are going to
15:56absolutely love yeah for sure all right a passion question from my end you are one of the handful
16:01of people on earth who can say that you were a shark on shark tank and in the dragon's day
16:05I'm just a shark and a dragon wow yeah you're like a disney princess at this point there you go there
16:10you go gosh what's it like just from like again from people who had never experienced what that's
16:15like what is it about these pitches from passionate people and the overall opportunity to get to be a
16:20part of such a unique show you know I have to tell you I find the whole thing so emotional I would
16:24invest in every single one of them just just because they're the guts to come in it's so
16:29intimidating and they come in and you can see they're so rehearsed they're so practiced this is
16:34like their one shot and you know you're all like all of you are sitting there like scowling and it's
16:38just like to me I think that what it takes to get up there and put yourself on the line like that
16:44it says so much about a person but the shows are so interesting because we know nothing like you you
16:50have zero information it is your money so you have to absolutely on that on the spot in that moment
16:56you are like I'm committing to you yeah this is somebody you know that I am into and I'm going to
17:01spend hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars yeah what other meeting ever is it like you have to
17:04decide now and also compete even with someone like Kristen you know it's like I had like three four
17:09months to figure out the deal and negotiate with my lawyer you know it's like you have time and in
17:13those circumstances you don't but I actually have to say I've been very very lucky and I remember
17:18speaking to Mark Cuban after I don't know I did like three seasons of the show multiple episodes
17:22and I was like am I ever going to make any money out of any of these deals and he said to me you know
17:29what Emma there'll be one there'll be one that just pays for everything and my one that's paid for
17:34everything is this incredible business like two of my favorite founders on the planet Casey and Taylor
17:39and they have a company called Cakes Body and it's nipple covers and when I met them they were doing like
17:43I don't know 650 grand or something which was like phenomenal the two girls that bootstrapped
17:49a business with their ten thousand dollars of savings and you know last year they did over
17:52150 million dollars and so very very very profitably that's amazing so it's just and it's just incredible
17:58you know just unbelievable but again it's about what I love about that show it has so much heart and
18:04not everybody has the same ambition when I met those girls I was like what do you want like what is it that
18:09you really really want because my head goes straight to like how do we make this a billion dollar
18:12company they were like we want to pay our mom's mortgage you know we want to buy our mom and dad's
18:16house and I was like great then let's make that the aim let's get there and so I think that that's
18:20what's so nice about business like there are so many different ways to be in business and to do business
18:26well and it has to be personal it has to be about your hopes your dreams your ambitions what you need
18:32and I think that's the the beautiful thing about business is that it can be an enabler for so many
18:37great things in your life yeah that's incredible I love that so much when you talk about um you know
18:42obviously you are so intentional with your time as you have to be I can only imagine like
18:46I don't know is your screen time high you know what I don't even know what high screen time would
18:51be maybe not because I have like an army of people that look at different devices and phones for me
18:56so it's somebody else's eyes it's someone else's eyes I get to cheat it a little yeah I was I was so
19:01curious like what your for you page would look like I'm guessing it'd be inspirational content and
19:05gorgeous beautiful furniture I don't know yeah have you ever seen wait I'm guessing no the trend
19:11of propaganda you're falling for no what is this it sounds a lot harsher than it is okay let's go
19:17propaganda you're falling for and what you're not it's a big trend in 2025 it's just like things
19:21you're on board with things you're out on I'll give you mine real quick and I'm curious if you have
19:25any propaganda I'm not falling for is matcha I don't know if you're a matcha person but I'm out
19:30doesn't taste good it's green for some reason I have so fallen for that and drunk the kool-aid
19:36like I have my matcha sent from Japan I'm such a freak whoa new bucket list alive that's crazy
19:43another one I'm out on I'm putting in WhatsApp I'm out on it no listen I'm European I would not
19:49have any friends like European people only are on WhatsApp isn't that crazy they don't even know
19:53how to text they don't like they just they only they don't know it's an iMessage they're all
19:58WhatsApp if it were up to me though I'd be fully with you okay because I want to consolidate I want
20:02like one message I refuse to go on to Slack like my whole office is on Slack and I'm like no at some
20:08point you could have eight different texting platforms you don't need it ridiculous and I'm
20:10out on pickleball I couldn't do it I'm just like you know no no that's like tennis for people that
20:14just play tennis stop it more fun stop it now what I'm falling for propaganda I'm falling for
20:19cooking more homemade meals just loving it I'm like having fun it's like therapy you know I'm like
20:24not on my phone to get the screen time and it's good for you totally so I'm saving money believe
20:28it or not you are saving money that's for sure it's saying I'm working out to feel good yes you
20:33know there's that as opposed to working out like we talked about toxic um you know toxic positivity
20:39yeah it's almost toxic gym culture you know it's like I gotta be in there seven days a week
20:43you need to go like three times and you'll be good you know three to four that's all we need and
20:48I'm in on postcards you know I don't need it's like texting I don't need to give you a whole that is
20:52very romantical it's like hey grandma see you love you I love I love a stamp you know like the
20:57old school so nice I love where we're going with this I know it's kind of hard to think on the spot
21:01of like any of those any any um uh what am I what am I into listen okay let me tell you what I'm I'm
21:08out of like perfect yeah okay so like that insane morning routine that that man did with the ice
21:14and the thing and the thing and the thing I'm like bro like what is happening like who's your
21:19girlfriend and what is she doing while you're doing all of that stuff that's a no for me I
21:24couldn't agree more we could do a whole podcast on that I could I could just go and go and go okay
21:28I'm not doing that what else am I there will be so many more that I'm like not in later what I'm
21:33into yeah absolutely oh what are you in on though what am I in on I am okay like this is gonna sound
21:40so LA I'm really in on colostrum like which is explain please elaborate okay because I'm from
21:47the Midwest for anyone who doesn't know colostrum's like like the first produced milk of the animal
21:52right wow but it's supposed to be unbelievable for your immune system okay and I use it every day
21:57in my smoothie and I've been you know it's like I think that it really works it makes you very energetic
22:02and it's very good why do I feel like Gwyneth Paltrow told you about this because that's
22:06I guarantee she did not but I guarantee she's taking it oh my gosh I'm you know I'm in on the
22:12whole longevity you might be so ahead of the curve on this next year I'm like 75 years old like for
22:17real you look great there you go I love it um in the radio show I do something called all the feels
22:23where we always rap with a quote and I'm always curious about um whether it's a quote that you've
22:28loved recently or a bit of advice that's really resonated with you um could you share something like
22:32that for our listeners well listen I post quotes almost every day because I love them and I feel
22:39like there's something that you know like really like gets to me and inspires me I'm trying to think
22:44of the one you know it's so funny so we had Mark Cuban on the show recently and Mark is like one of
22:49my favorite people in the world and he has this great quote where he says you know if you're not
22:54positive energy you're negative energy and I think that it's really easy to kind of stay in neutral
23:00mode right and like feel a bit cool and like be like I don't need to be either but it's really
23:04true if you are not getting up in the morning and thinking about how lucky you are to be alive and
23:10thinking about how grateful you are and being positive to the people around you like I don't
23:15know what you expect in life and I think so much of what I'm doing on this podcast is about there's
23:20another great quote I love the more you learn the more you earn Warren Buffett but you know I think
23:24about that all of the time like what are you putting out there and what do you expect to get back
23:28and for me I love that idea of like being constantly positive and thinking about what
23:33you're putting out and being really purposeful with it that's amazing so I can't wait to follow
23:37you and just pull my quotes from your page every day that's it it's so easy um lastly maybe this is
23:43like a you know it doesn't have to be super deep of a question but I'm just curious how do you want
23:47to be remembered when everything's all said and done that is a great question and you know I would
23:52honestly like to be remembered as the person that enabled millions and millions and millions of
24:01people to meet their full potential that would be like it for me oh yeah yeah it's amazing well
24:07it's been so nice chatting with you um I feel like again I could do this for like an hour on a bunch of
24:11different topics but so excited for your podcast I'm so excited for all the projects you have coming
24:15up what can your followers and people that are just getting to know you look forward to as the
24:19season goes on of Aspire oh listen I have so many great guests I just put out my first solo episode
24:24today which I was so scared about but it's you know it's a good one it's like working it's tracking
24:29it's like we love it but we're just gonna have like a lot of great people that are ready to be
24:33really honest and you know it's all all of the people that I speak to every day that I rely on
24:39my mentors people that you know my husband is coming on which is going to be absolutely crazy but
24:45I'm trying to do that I'm trying to bring my network into a place where I can really
24:49spread them about and get everybody else to take everything that they need from them
24:53can't wait to see it anything I missed team not a sausage you were so good you're so great at this
24:59so nice to meet you again I'm glad we're like somewhat of co-workers I guess now um I'll be
25:03sending you some emails being like I got some advice yeah but thank you so much Emma um congrats on
25:08everything and can't wait to follow your journey and be inspired so thank you so much for the time
25:12thank you my dear appreciate it
25:14to meet you
25:14you