Emma Grede is a serial entrepreneur, a podcaster, the founding partner of Kim Kardashian’s Skims, and now, an author. Her new book, Start With Yourself, hit shelves earlier this month.
Just don’t call her a celebrity CEO.
“I’m a CEO that’s done so well that you know my name,” she said on stage at ADWEEK’s Social Media Week conference in New York on Tuesday.
Growing up in working class London, Grede began working at a young age, doing everything from interning to packing boxes. At one point, she sold Fendi bags that “fell off the back of trucks.”
“I have an appreciation for what everyone brings to the organization,” she said. “That understanding, that empathy, makes me a good leader, because my team knows that I know what it takes.”
Tenacity aside, Grede said the widely spread story that she cold-called Kris Jenner to pitch the idea for Skims is a myth. “I had a reputation,” she said. “That’s what enabled that cold call to happen, that meeting to happen.”
Though her book has been provocative—specifically her philosophies around parenting (three hours with her kids is enough) and going to the office in-person (yes, every day)—Grede doesn’t think perpetuating the narrative of women “doing it all” is helpful.
“That conversation is useless, untrue, and not helpful to anyone,” she said. “At the end of the day, my life is really hard. It’s not always glamorous, and it isn’t always easy. So I think the most important conversation to have, especially as it pertains to personal success, is about, ‘What do you have to give up in order to have what you want?’”
In addition to her career advice, Grede laid out four principles brands should follow to break through on social.
1. Trust is everything
Early to social media, Grede has watched the shift from sheer audience numbers and reach being the most important metric to trust and authenticity with followers.
She pointed to Real Housewives star and entrepreneur Bethenny Frankel, a recent guest on her Aspire podcast, as an example of someone who builds trust with her fans by being true to herself no matter what.
“It’s very clear to me why she has so many brand deals, and sometimes conflicting ones: Because we know what Bethenny says is what she thinks, and we believe her, and it’s the truth,” Grede said. “If you have an audience’s trust right now, I believe you have everything.”
