Somewhere between all the hyphens of one of the ultimate multi-hyphenate, Emma Grede found time to sit with Bru to talk about her new podcast, Aspire with Emma Grede, her path to success as one of America's richest self-made women, as well as share some of her own personal philosophy along the way.
Listen to Aspire with Emma Grede on the free Audacy app
Starting with her humble beginnings in East London, raised by a single mother, Emma emphasizes that she didn't know any entrepreneurs growing up. "That was never what I set out to do," she shares. "Where I come from, you work to pay your bills and you just took a job, and whatever that job was, hopefully, you were moderately interested in it but it didn't matter cause you were probably not, you're doing a 9 to 5."
"I loved fashion my whole life and got one job and then into another, and then into another, and kind of found myself at 24 in a place where I felt very undervalued and very underpaid. So I decided to go out on my own and start something, and that is where my journey began."
Emma has taken those lessons she's learned along the way, and put them into her podcast, talking with other self-starters and culture-shapers about business, life, and finding your maximum potential.
"The idea of the podcast was really about scaling mentorship, but it's for anyone that wants to live the life of their dreams, right? I think that we all want to live up to our own maximum potential." Grede hopes to provide honest insights into building a business, including "all the details, the good, the bad, and the ugly."
"I'm allergic to toxic positivity. I hate the idea that people say, 'you can manifest your way there.' I'm like, 'No, you can't.'" Instead Emma says it's focusing on "the level of work, the level of ambition, and the level of focus that it takes to be truly, truly successful."
"You only need to be right once," Grede admits. "I could tell you, like, 10 mistakes that I've had. You only need to be right once." She adds, "I never take anything personally. I'm like, 'that thing didn't work. That's not about me as an individual.'"
To hear much more from Emma Grede, check out the full interview above and listen to Aspire with Emma Grede on the free Audacy app.