How Emma Grede, the very glamorous guest judge investor on Dragons Den overcame tough upbringing and dropping out of school at 15 to be the brains behind the Kardashian brands – as viewers praise her as ‘amazing’

The mastermind behind the Kardashians’ incredibly lucrative brands has been dubbed ‘amazing’ as she made her first appearance as the new investor on Dragons Den.  

Emma Grede, 41, who grew up in east London, went from a college dropout to running some of the most successful companies in the world was a guest investor on the BBC One series on Thursday.

Emma, who co founded Khloe Kardashian’s wildly popular jeans company Good American, and Kim’s shapewear line SKIMS, was branded ‘amazing’ by viewers. 

Viewers have taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, to praise the business woman with some saying they are ‘proud’ of her success. 

One person wrote: ‘Emma Grede was absolutely fantastic tonight on #DragonsDen and as someone who used to know her personally before she moved to LA I can tell you what a genuine amazing woman she is. Go Emma!’

Now a very successful multimillionaire, the east London-born mother-of-four has humble beginnings, leaving school at 15 before getting a job in fashion and pitching a fashion brand to Kris Jenner at fashion week.

Another said: ‘So proud of my former client Emma Grede on Dragons Den tonight. She was absolutely awesome!’ 

Someone else wrote: ‘Emma thought you were a fantastic breath of forest air on the den tonight all your advice was so helpful also, great job.’ 

A fourth wrote: ‘@EmmaGrede You was an absolute superstar in the Den Emma and made a really good investment on your first appearance, loved it and hope to see you more on the show. Worth watching till the end.’ 

In last night’s episode Emma teamed up with Hertfordshire-based entrepreneur, Titi, who is hoping to grow her Afro hair care business Ori Lifestyle.

Titi was looking for a £60,000 investment for 15 percent of her business and Emma swooped in asking for a 25 percent stake in the company for all of the money. 

Before taking a breath, Titi excitedly accepted Emma’s offer before Deborah Meaden got a chance to make an offer.

Before her pitch Titi said: ‘I have a dragon in mind, I learnt Emma Grede is going to be there, she is the ultimate, it would be insane if she came on board.’ 

Emma also became the chief product officer of Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner’s cleaning product company, Safely, in 2021.

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.  

Emma was born and raised in Plaistow, east London. Her dad was a Jamaican and Trinidadian immigrant. 

Her parents split when she was young, which meant her mother 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 on the Jay Shetty podcast.

‘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 mum 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.

‘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 realised 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.’

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. 

‘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.

While reminiscing about her road to success, Emma recalled one of the worst pieces of advice she ever received: ‘Stay in your lane.’

In fact, she recommended that people do the exact opposite of that – since almost all of her achievements came during the times that she decided to try something new. 

‘Never stay in your lane,’ she said. ‘Almost all of my growth has come from stepping out of whatever lane I was in at the time.’ 

Emma explained that when she started her first business at age 26, she had ‘nothing to lose’ since she was already at an extremely low point.

She recalled living in a tiny apartment with no refrigerator while working a ‘non-inspiring job’ and feeling ‘frustrated’ over how little money she was making.

‘I wasn’t being paid enough where I worked, I felt like I wasn’t getting valued for what I put in,’ she explained.

‘I thought, “How could I lose?” I could always go and get another similarly not-inspiring job [if it didn’t work out].

‘I was miserable, but I saw a better life for myself. I knew no one was going to take a chance on me so I had to take a chance on me.’ 

She explained that while she knew taking a chance like that could be scary, it was important that you never let the ‘fear of failing’ stop you from trying. 

‘You have to not be too afraid to lose,’ she continued. ‘The truth is, I have lost and failed more times than I succeeded but people don’t talk about that. 

‘It’s not in the articles and I don’t post that on Instagram but that’s just the facts. I’ve made so many mistakes before I got here. 

‘I’ve embarrassed myself and let people down. I’ve had lots of failures and things that didn’t work out and at the time it feels like the end of your career but it’s not. 

‘I always tell myself, “I’ve survived worse” and then I dust myself off. A lot of that comes from my upbringing – I think I’m pretty good at getting through things.’ 

Even now, Emma said she embraced ‘fear’ because it meant she was pushing herself.

‘If I am not a little bit scared at what I’m doing than I’m not growing or moving forward,’ she added. 

‘I find myself looking for fear, like what can I do that will scare me? I know how to make jeans, I can make you fantastic knickers all day long, but branching out and trying to do something else is the stuff that keeps us as humans growing. 

‘I spent such a huge part of my life being crippled by fear of failing. If I’m not a little bit scared, now I find myself looking for it because I know I need that fire in my belly. It’s in those moments of challenge or difficulties that you grow the most.’

Emma told Jay that one of the most important lessons that she learned along the way was to not get discouraged by people turning you away.

She explained that she spent years pitching ideas to people that were unsuccessful – but despite hearing no over and over again, she ‘never doubted herself.’

‘I never doubted myself or any of my ideas, I just thought I hadn’t found the right people yet,’ she explained. 

‘I don’t think success should be easy. When you’re doing something that’s new and unproven, it’s supposed to be hard. I never let it get to me. It’s fine, it’s part of it.’

She reminded listeners that if someone ‘doesn’t understand’ your vision ‘from the start,’ they ‘won’t be a good partner’ down the line anyway.

In addition, the businesswoman said that you should never be ashamed of feeling ‘ambitious’ and ‘confident’ or of putting yourself first.

She added: ‘You can be unashamedly ambitious and focused on what it is that you need while also being an inspiring and empathic leader who lifts other people up.

‘Be selfish. You have to think about yourself because no one else is thinking about that for you. 

‘There’s no other way to get ahead and do what you want to do. You have to put your needs and wants and ambitions first because no one is gonna do that for you.’

Emma explained that everyone made mistakes, so rather than ‘beating yourself up’ if you did something wrong, it was important to ‘move forward and keep evolving.’

She admitted that she had moments where she had ‘not been proud of her behavior,’ but added that she was always willing to ‘hold her hands up and work on’ changing.

‘I’m practicing everyday at who I want to be,’ she shared. 

‘I never beat myself up about my past, who I’ve been, my background, or where I came from because I know I’m constantly moving and evolving. 

‘If you’re not working on yourself you’re not really living. The purpose of my life is to explore how I can be the best version of me and I don’t just mean in business. 

‘It takes work and it takes practice and I don’t get it right every single day. I’ve had all this success with the businesses but I’ve also had a huge awakening about who I am as a person and who I’m supposed to be.

‘I really feel like those are things I’m still exploring and I will be until I die. I’m always in learning mode.’

Emma said one of her goals is to try to end the ‘stereotype’ that ‘society has set up’ that women can’t be successful in their careers while also being moms.

She and husband Jens Grede, 45, shared four children together: Grey, Lola, and twins Lake and Rafferty.

She admitted that becoming a mom ‘changed everything’ for her because it suddenly gave her a new ‘reason’ for wanting to succeed. 

‘It had never been more clear to me until that moment. I was like, “OK, now real life starts. I have a reason to do what I’m doing now,”‘ she recalled of giving birth.

She reminded her listeners that you could be an amazing mother and a powerful mogul at the same time.

‘Society has set it up that you’re one or the other – you’re either putting on your heels and banging out the door and hardly see your kids or you’re this really sweet mom. But I’m actually both,’ she said. 

‘There are these misconceptions about what women are allowed to be. Men can be in the office killing the deal and be this incredible dad throwing the football on the weekend, they’re fully allowed and it’s fine but for women it’s not so fine. 

‘So much of what I do is trying to be honest about me and how I operate so I can dispel a lot of those myths. We’re not one dimensional. We can be so many different things’.

One thing that Emma takes pride in is inclusivity across all of her brands – making sure their products cater to people of all sizes, shapes, and skin tones. 

‘When I started Good American, it was actually a reaction to the idea that so many women – women of color, plus size women – were completely left out of the fashion conversation,’ she said on the podcast. ‘Why is their dollar any less valuable than anyone else’s? 

‘I had worked in marketing for 15 years and I had grown this incredible agency and I had done castings and put projects and collaborations together for the biggest and best brands in the whole world. 

‘[But I realized], I had been part of falsifying an image of inclusivity. The products didn’t work for anyone over a certain size and the board rooms were typically made up of white men making the decisions for women. 

‘I thought to myself, “There must be a better way to start a company.” I think about customers in a way that most people don’t.

‘When I talk about this idea of inclusivity and diversity being a superpower in business it’s not something that I just say, it’s something that I do.’

She encouraged other creators to start their companies with inclusivity from the beginning and not make it an after thought.

‘It’s such an under thought about part of business, people usually bolt it on in the end but I’m like no, “It’s right where you start,”‘ she added.

‘It starts with the inception of the products, make 32 sizes and make nine different shades. 

‘It’s in the very beginnings of what you create. And then you can dress it up and make it look nice and put the right branding on it but it starts way earlier than that.’

According to Emma, the key is bringing in people from as many different backgrounds as possible.

‘A lot of big brands make mistakes that have come across as insensitive, racist, misogynistic, but that’s just where a decision is made,’ she added. 

‘A company isn’t inherently racist, like a whole company, it’s just that the decision process is flawed, there’s not enough people of different backgrounds in the room. 

‘I know that the more people you bring to the table – and I’m not just talking about race here, I’m talking about age, education, the full gambit – the better the company will be.’

Emma explained that stress management was vital to making it in the world of business.

‘My life is a series of problems, from the minute I wake up to the minute I go to bed. The stress level is unbelievable,’ she revealed.

But she has learned to get by ‘religiously’ reminding herself of what she is ‘grateful’ for and enjoying the ‘little things in life.’ 

‘I have trained myself to focus on the great stuff in my life,’ she added. ‘I feel like there’s going to be so much noise whether I like it or not.

‘I could be overwhelmed every day by what’s going on around me but I am someone who truly stops to smell the roses.

‘I can find good, happiness, and joy in everything and I really make it a point to do that everyday.’ 

She admitted that the hardest part of her ‘working with extremely high profile businesses’ where ‘everything they do is scrutinized.’

But she said the ‘responsibility’ and ‘expectations’ to represent ‘a group of people who have been historically left out and marginalized from these conversations and opportunities’ only ‘fuels her’ more.==

Emma urged people not to get complicit even after they find success, explaining that she was ‘fueled every day’ by her competition.

‘I look at everything,’ she shared. ‘I look at every competitor, I know everything everyone else is doing. 

‘And I think that natural inquisitiveness is part of what keeps me [going]. At the end of the day, I just want to win and I don’t feel satisfied. 

‘Yeah it’s been a couple of years of success but I don’t think that’s the end goal. The end goal is to build generationally defining businesses and that doesn’t happen quickly.’

She explained that it was vital not to big let numbers ‘get to your head’ and to focus on a more important ‘end goal’ than just making a lot of sales.

‘It’s about taking the foundations of what we built, not sacrificing any of your principles, and still being able to grow and thrive,’ she added. 

‘It actually gets more difficult the bigger you get.

‘I love what I do, I genuinely really love it and I just want to keep getting better at it.’