--- title: Emma Grede Doesn’t Gatekeep Her Playbook for Success description: Find out why Emma Grede is on TIME’s 2026 Closers list. canonical: https://time.com/collections/closers-2026/7353451/emma-grede/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-01-27T13:02:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-03T01:04:19.344Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Emma Grede Doesn’t Gatekeep Her Playbook for Success og:description: Find out why Emma Grede is on TIME’s 2026 Closers list og:url: https://time.com/collections/closers-2026/7353451/emma-grede/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2157518036a1480/6998ccf9e1ba0058f198e460/time-closers-2026-emma-grede-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Emma Grede Doesn’t Gatekeep Her Playbook for Success og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Emma Grede Doesn’t Gatekeep Her Playbook for Success twitter:description: Find out why Emma Grede is on TIME’s 2026 Closers list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2157518036a1480/6998ccf9e1ba0058f198e460/time-closers-2026-emma-grede-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Jan 27, 2026 # Emma Grede Doesn’t Gatekeep Her Playbook for Success by [Kaitlyn McNab](https://time.com/author/kaitlyn-mcnab/) ## Kaitlyn McNab  Courtesy Emma Grede Emma Grede knew from a young age that in order to build the empire she dreamed of, she would have to be “relentless.” The U.K.-born mogul, who grew up one of four kids raised by a single mother in Plaistow, England, says that her early sense of ambition stuck. “Everybody has a little bit of imposter syndrome and fear,” says Grede, 43\. “I made sure—and make sure on a daily basis—that my world and my life are not run by my feelings, but rather run by the goals and the vision that I have for myself.” Grede landed at no. 88 on _Forbes_’ 2025 list of [America’s Richest Self-Made Women](https://www.forbes.com/self-made-women/). The self-described “serial entrepreneur” is the business force behind a handful of the buzziest consumer brands on the market. Grede is the co-founder and CEO of the Khloe Kardashian-fronted, size-inclusive denim line Good American and a founding partner and chief product officer of the shapewear brand SKIMS, co-founded with Kim Kardashian. She is also a co-founder of the sports apparel brand Off Season, and more. In addition to her expansive business portfolio in apparel, Grede sits on the boards of organizations that are dedicated to making change. Since 2020, she has served as chairwoman of the Fifteen Percent Pledge, a nonprofit that seeks to ensure Black-owned brands are represented on the shelves of major corporate retailers. And in April 2025, she joined the board of the Obama Foundation to contribute to “marketing, communications, and fundraising.” Grede says she started her charitable work on nonprofit boards over a decade ago with the intent of fostering equity. “I did it to balance what I _thought_ was the work that I did, which was lining the pockets of celebrities with evermore fortune,” she says, and laughs. “I was getting a lot of experience in business, in branding, in scaling mission-driven platforms, and I really wanted to take that and expand it.” Within the past year in particular, Grede has worked to further her reach as an entrepreneurial expert with the launch of her podcast _Aspire with Emma Grede._ The mother of four started the podcast with the goal of “scaling mentorship.” She hopes to become an adviser to many more come April 14 with the release of her book _Start With Yourself_, a hybrid memoir and self-help guide that includes a wealth of her experiences, knowledge, and her “multiple failures.” Grede stresses the importance of sharing stories about ventures that didn’t work out. She aims to “demystify some of what people find so complex and some of what holds them back." Grede’s “unfiltered” perspective can [sometimes ruffle feathers](https://www.businessinsider.com/skims-cofounder-emma-grede-work-life-balance-your-problem-2025-5)—she was criticized for saying on a podcast last year that work-life balance is the responsibility of the individual, not the employer—but she stands firm in her point of view. “I can only tell you what has worked for me, and what has worked for me is 20 years of unbelievably hard work,” Grede says, adding that she believes in “radical self-responsibility.” Regardless of the circumstances we’re born into, she says, we can all take responsibility for our own choices. “I stand by my remarks because they are my truth,” she says. “I don't think you can be a people pleaser and a leader.” Four mornings a week, Grede dedicates her commuting time to speaking on the phone with a female founder, typically a Black woman, who has reached out to her via social media or a mutual friend. She answers their questions and offers guidance, serving a mission to help more women succeed in business. “It isn't small at the top. It's _minuscule_,” Grede says, pointing to the fact that one of the boards she sits on includes two men from the same fraternity at Harvard University. “What I want to do is not just about sharing information—it's about giving access,” she says. “It really is about taking everything that I've learned and experienced, and figuring out how I can be that real-world proof of economic mobility—and help female entrepreneurs really scale." ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/closers-2026/7353451/emma-grede/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/closers-2026/7353451/emma-grede/"},"headline":"Emma Grede Doesn’t Gatekeep Her Playbook for Success","datePublished":"2026-01-27T13:02:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T01:04:19.344Z","description":"Find out why Emma Grede is on TIME’s 2026 Closers list.","url":"https://time.com/collections/closers-2026/7353451/emma-grede/","keywords":["Closers 2026","list","franchise","Special Project","sponsorshipblock"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2157518036a1480/6998ccf9e1ba0058f198e460/time-closers-2026-emma-grede-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kaitlyn McNab","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kaitlyn-mcnab/"}],"creator":"Kaitlyn McNab","articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2157518036a1480/6998ccf9e1ba0058f198e460/time-closers-2026-emma-grede-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/closers-2026/","name":"Closers 2026"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/closers-2026/7353451/emma-grede/","name":"Emma Grede Doesn’t Gatekeep Her Playbook for Success"}}]}] ```