Kardashians’ ‘secret business weapon’ behind their BILLION-dollar brands (including SKIMS and Good American) reveals how ‘anyone’ can achieve success

The mastermind behind the Kardashians’ incredibly lucrative brands has revealed some of her secrets to achieving business success.

Emma Grede, 41, originally from London, went from a college dropout to running some of the most successful companies in the world – and has become right-hand woman to Khloe and Kim Kardashian along the way.

She not only helped to launch Khloe’s wildly popular jeans company Good American, but she also cofounded Kim’s shapewear line SKIMS.

In addition, she became the chief product officer of Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner‘s cleaning product company, Safely, in 2021.

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The mastermind behind the Kardashians’ lucrative brands – Emma Grede, 41 – has revealed some of her secrets to achieving business success. She’s seen with Khloe Kardashian

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She shared some of her top tips to creating a booming business to Jay Shetty on his podcast, while reflecting on her journey from a poor girl without a degree to the ultimate powerhouse

So how did she do it? Well, the business mogul has just shared some of her top tips to creating a booming business to Jay Shetty on his On Purpose podcast, while reflecting on her journey from being a struggling girl without a degree to becoming the ultimate powerhouse.

The self-made entrepreneur opened up about the most important steps that she took to rise to the top on the show, as well as the vital advice that she has for others looking to follow in her footsteps.

She also shared the strict rules that she follows when running her vast array of businesses on the podcast, which originally referred to her as the Kardashians’ ‘secret business weapon’ in the episode title but has since changed it.

From bringing in people from as many backgrounds as possible to obsessively following what your competitors are up to, here are Emma’s key tips to success.

Don’t let hardships from your past make you feel like you’re less than anyone else – and don’t look down on others for the things they’ve had to overcome

Emma was born and raised in a poor neighborhood in East London, called Plaistow. Her dad was a Jamaican and Trinidadian immigrant.

Her parents split when she was young, which meant her mom was left to raise her and her siblings alone while struggling to make ends meet.

The entrepreneur explained that growing up in an area ‘void of aspiration’ drove her to want to make a better life for herself.

‘[As a kid] I didn’t know anyone who owned their own business. Where I come from, everyone worked for someone else,’ she said.

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Emma was born and raised in a poor neighborhood in East London, called Plaistow. She’s seen as a baby with her mom

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She said her ambition stemmed from her hardworking mother, who raised her to have ‘respect’ for everyone, no matter where they came from, and to ‘really value herself and her goals’

‘Jobs were seen as exactly that, just [jobs]. There was no career, work wasn’t purposeful.

‘You got up, went to work, found it miserable, and tried to get out of there as fast as you could.

‘For me, I thought there had to be a better way to live. Shouldn’t there be some excitement and enjoyment?’

She said her ‘sense of ambition’ stemmed from her hardworking mother, who raised her to have ‘huge respect’ for everyone, no matter where they came from, and to ‘really value herself and her goals.’

‘My mom would say, “Listen Emma, you’re not better than anyone else nor is anyone better than you,”‘ she continued.

‘I’ve never felt less-than others [because of my poverty-stricken childhood]. I always felt that if I worked hard enough and I really put everything into it, that I could achieve. I never had a sense of, “I can’t do it.”‘

Emma dropped out of school when she was only 15 to pursue her career, and for years, she admitted that she was terrified that her lack of education would stop her from succeeding.

But in the end, she said it only pushed her to want to work harder and pushed her to want to prove herself even more.

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Emma told Jay that it’s important to embrace your past and to not let the hardships that you’ve overcome make you feel like you can’t succeed or that you’re less than anyone else

‘I dropped out of school when I was 15 and that always left me with this inferiority complex of feeling like I wasn’t educated enough,’ she admitted.

‘For so long, that held me back until I realized no, that’s my fuel. That’s what makes me [who I am].’

Emma told Jay that it was important to embrace your past and to not let the hardships that you’d overcome make you feel like you can’t succeed or that you’re less than anyone else.

In addition, she stressed the importance of not judging others for the things they’ve gone through.

‘I grew up with such a respect for those around me, regardless of where they came from or what they were doing,’ she added.

‘As a kid, I was surrounded by a lot of people who were doing what they had to do to get through the day. I never looked down on anyone.’

Use every opportunity – good or bad – as a learning experience, and work your hardest even if you feel like your job doesn’t pertain to your long-term career goals

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Emma (seen with Kris Jenner) said you should every opportunity – good or bad – as a learning experience

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Before becoming a booming businesswoman, Emma spent an entire decade trying her hand at many different career paths, and she reminded listeners that nothing ‘happens overnight’

Before becoming a booming businesswoman, Emma spent an entire decade trying her hand at many different career paths.

‘We have this idea that everything happens overnight, but I’ve been grafting away [at this] since I was 12,’ she said. ‘I have worked every job imaginable.’

She spent time delivering newspapers, working at a deli, and running the cash register at a clothing shop as a teen.

She told Jay that she worked her absolute hardest at every single job she had – even if it was something that she didn’t think pertained to her long-term goals.

And now, she had no regrets about her journey – since she said that every opportunity, good and bad, was a learning experience for her.

‘When I worked in that deli and I was making a sandwich, I was gonna make you the best turkey sandwich that you’ve had in your life,’ she shared.

‘I took pride in everything, and I took a huge amount of learning from everything I did. I would think, “One day, this might be useful to me.”

‘I think about all of those experiences being very formative. I had a lot of unenjoyable jobs that I had to get through but I never let it put me off.

She said she discovered ‘what she was good at’ through each and every odd job that she worked, which ultimately helped her discover ‘what kind of leader she wanted to be’

‘I always saw them as a means to the end. What does hard work actually mean? It means getting up and thinking about the end goal when you’re nowhere even close to it but you can see a pathway.’

She said she discovered ‘what she was good at’ through each and every odd job that she worked, which ultimately helped her discover ‘what kind of leader she wanted to be.’

Her big break came when she landed an internship with Gucci in 2001 – when she was almost 20 years old.

She then got a job at Inca Productions, producing various fashion shows and events for the company, before launching her first business in 2008, a London-based talent and marketing agency called ITB Worldwide.

Through ITB, she scored a partnership with Natalie Portman and Dior. ITB also helped her link up with the Kardashians – she worked on Kendall Jenner’s My Calvins ad campaign and met Kris Jenner during a Paris Fashion Week event.

After growing close with Kris, she pitched the idea of Good American to the momager, who thought it would be a perfect fit for Khloé.

The two then launched the jeans brand in October 2016, and it racked up $1 million in sales on its first day – reportedly the biggest denim launch in apparel history.

Emma teamed up with Kim to create SKIMS in 2018, and in July, Forbes valued the company at $4 billion.

While it took a long time for her to find success, Emma insisted that she stayed positive the entire time – and never let her failures or set backs derail her.

‘I’m a naturally positive person, I am always a person who thinks about the glass being half-full,’ she dished.