As a student, she wrote hundreds of letters to secure unpaid PR internships before landing her first “real job” in production at London Fashion Week. She “packed the boxes, hung the rails, and unfolded the benches” to establish herself in the industry. In 2008, she co-founded Independent Talent Brand Worldwide (ITB), a talent management and marketing agency, serving as CEO until its 2018 sale to R&CPMK.
By then, her life had taken another turn after she cold-called Kris Jenner in 2015 to pitch a size-inclusive denim brand fronted by her daughter, Khloe Kardashian. It launched one year later and sold $1 million worth of clothes in its first hour. Then came Skims with Kim Kardashian. This was followed by momager Jenner’s cleaning brand Safely, and Off Season with designer Kristin Juszczyk (born from an Instagram DM).
In May 2025, the serial entrepreneur stepped out from behind the curtain to launch her podcast, Aspire. On it, she picks the brains of multi-hyphenates from former first lady Michelle Obama to ex-Starbucks chair Mellody Hobson to Meghan Markle.
Aspire has pushed Grede into the celebrity CEO lane, where her lively London tone cuts through the typical podcast bro noise. On TikTok and YouTube, quick-hit takeaways like The Money Rules Rich People Never Tell You and The Lie About Career Paths, rack up engagement.
She didn’t plan to become a creator until she noticed that people from backgrounds like her own were drawn to her story. “I take that quite seriously,” she said. “I thought, ‘Bloody hell, it’d be amazing if a million little Emmas were running around who initially—on paper—had no ‘credibility’ to start something.’”
Marketing won’t fix your problems
Leading design, merchandising, planning, and production, Grede built Skims alongside one of the most famous faces on the planet, as well as her husband and business partner, Skims CEO Jens Grede.
“Our styles of work are galaxies apart,” Jens said of his wife recently on Aspire, “but it works.” The couple has one rule: “Whoever cares the most about the issue at hand gets to decide.”
Having experienced her own ascent to fame, Grede said the pressure on women founders to become the face of their brand is “total BS.” Her other golden rule for up-and-coming founders is to focus on the basics first.
As she did that Tuesday in Heathrow, she wants more young entrepreneurs to obsess over the “meat and potatoes” of running a business: product, pricing, and operations. Marketing should always be the last thing, not “the thing,” she writes in her book.
