THE LONG INTERVIEW: Serial entrepreneur Emma Grede wants women to talk about money

The co-founder of Skims and Good American reflects on midlife, her new book Start With Yourself and financial independence for women.

When we connect, it is early afternoon in South Africa, and British businesswoman, entrepreneur, author and podcaster Emma Grede is mid-multitask: she is climbing into her car, juggling a box with fish and chips in one hand and a borrowed phone in the other. She seems unfazed, though, treating this on-the-road chaos like a well-orchestrated balancing act, immediately bringing an easy presence to the call.

Grede feels like a tornado, albeit gentle and colourful (she is wearing a mustard-yellow sleeveless dress); whether hosting a podcast, speaking on stage or squeezed into a quick interview, she speaks with the energy of a whirlwind: fast, funny and disarmingly direct. She calls you “love”, gives hugs, grabs a bite mid-sentence, and draws you into her orbit.

It is with the same energy, along with what she acknowledges as a few “trade-offs” – or, as she puts it, “unavoidable choices” – that Grede has built her success “pedal to the metal”.

Born in London, she worked multiple jobs, raised her hand for every task, learned by watching others (even mimicking her first boss’s demeanour) and by 30, she had launched a talent management and entertainment marketing agency. Today, she is a founding partner of the clothing brand Skims, co-founder and CEO of the women’s fashion and denim brand Good American, co-founder of the sports apparel brand Off Season and on the Obama Foundation’s board of directors. She is also the host of Aspire with Emma Grede , a “masterclass in ambition, heart, and high performance” (as a listener, this writer concurs), and the author of the book Start With Yourself, the reason we are speaking today.

Her book shares the same rapid-fire energy as her presence; it is full of life and practical advice and feels surprisingly raw, as if scrubbing away the swear words (her favourites, she admits) or repetitions would somehow have altered who she is. In fact, in the book she explains that she’s not about to hire someone to edit her emails before sending them. That’s not what matters to her, because she has many other things to focus on, starting with women and money.

She dedicated an entire chapter to the subject and made a podcast episode titled You’re Allowed to Want to Be Rich . When asked why women are still conditioned to avoid discussing money out of fear that “it sounds b**chy”, she doesn’t mince her words.

“It does sound bchy,” she says. “But even the idea that we think it sounds bchy is part of the problem because nobody wants to be a bch. Nobody wants to be the person that’s asking for more all the time. Nobody wants to stick their neck out. And yet, what is the alternative? To be underpaid. I’d rather be an overpaid bch, you know…”

For Grede, overcoming that hesitation requires unlearning the need for approval.

“We have to resist the urge to want to be liked, and resist the urge to be in comfort in the same way that you have to resist the urge to think that you should be happy all the time. It’s about choices. It’s about freedom.