You\u2019ve probably heard of the British Entrepreneur Emma Grede because of Skims, the $4 billion shapewear company she runs with Kim Kardashian. She\u2019s also invested in other brands with the family, such as the cleaning products company Safely and Kylie Jenner\u2019s clothing line, Khy. And the growing empire can all be traced back to one phone call she made to Kris Jenner that changed everything.<\/p>\n
It was in 2015, and Grede had built her own entertainment and talent agency, Independent Talent Brand, which saw her jetting between London and LA.\u00a0 \u201cI knew every manager, agent, publicist, lawyer in Hollywood, that was my job,\u201d Grede recalls in an exclusive interview with Fortune.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And it put her in the perfect position for pitching her new idea: a radically inclusive denim brand tailored for women who\u2019d been overlooked by mainstream fashion. In her mind, she\u2019d already picked the perfect partner for the brand: Khloe Kardashian, who \u201cembodied that idea right from the beginning.\u201d The star had often been honest about her experience as the curvy sister.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But here\u2019s the catch: Grede hadn\u2019t run a fashion business before, and the two had never worked together. Instead of waiting for an introduction, she boldly called the family matriarch and \u201cmomager\u201d, Jenner herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI had an idea, and I formed the partnership in my mind,\u201d the now 42-year-old self-made millionaire says. \u201cThe difference between me and someone else is that I made the phone call, I took the meeting, and I made it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no imposter syndrome and no delusions of who gets to run a business,\u201d Grede adds. \u201cI just thought, if not me, then who?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenner asked Grede when she\u2019d next be flying to LA to discuss the partnership face-to-face. At the time, Grede was only flying that way once a quarter, but she quickly lied and said she was heading there the next week. So that\u2019s exactly what she did\u2014and the rest is history.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Good American denim dropped a year later, it made $1 million on day one, making it the biggest denim launch in apparel history. And since then she\u2019s gone on to sit on the board for the Obama Foundation and become the first Black female investor on Shark Tank. Most recently, she\u2019s teamed up with tennis champion Coco Gauff<\/a> on a mentorship campaign with UPS<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, Grede says she\u2019s always advising founders to copy her, be more bold and put themselves out on a limb: \u201cAn idea in your head is just an idea in your head\u2014a lot of people talk and speak about things a lot, sometimes you just got to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Emme Grede says she\u2019s always been \u2018audacious\u2019<\/p>\n Grede\u2019s confidence isn\u2019t luck\u2014or even something she developed alongside the billion-dollar success of her businesses. It\u2019s a trait she was just born with. \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of audacity and I think that you need that to get to where you want to go,\u201d the East Londoner tells Fortune.<\/p>\n In her late teens, for example, Grede had aspirations of working in Britain\u2019s equivalent of Broadway. When the theatre bosses ignored her handwritten notes asking for work experience, she stormed there in person.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember pounding the pavement in the West End,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI just thought, because I didn\u2019t get any answers, that maybe they weren\u2019t getting my letters. So I took to hand delivering letters.\u201d<\/p>\n Even when she was holding down a day job, she\u2019d boldly ask customers with enviable careers for work experience\u2014and it\u2019d work.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was working in a clothes shop, I would talk to everyone, I\u2019d be like, \u2018where do you work? What would you do?\u201d If a stylist came in on a Friday and was doing a shoot on the weekend, I\u2019d be assisting them on the weekend. I did that multiple times.\u201d<\/p>\n She says she\u2019d actively put herself into \u201csituations\u201d, versus passively waiting for opportunities to come to her. After finding out where customers worked, she\u2019d follow up with: \u201cDo you need some help? Can I come?\u201d<\/p>\n Grede\u2019s advice for jobless Gen Z: Kill your darlings<\/p>\n