Emma Grede: The Secret Queenmaker Behind the Billion Dollar Kardashian Empire

Before she became one of the wealthiest self-made Black women in America, Emma Grede was a kid delivering newspapers in East London, saving money for a future no one around her could yet imagine. Today, she’s the powerhouse behind Good American, a founding partner at SKIMS, and the quiet architect of the Kardashian fashion empire.

Her story isn’t one of overnight success. It’s a blueprint of hustle, talent, and strategic risk-taking in an industry that rarely shares power — and almost never with women who look like her.

Emma Grede was born in 1982 to a single mother in East London. The second of four daughters, Emma’s childhood was shaped by financial struggle and maternal grit. Her mother, a Jamaican-English woman, worked multiple jobs, including cleaning houses, to keep the family afloat. Emma learned early that success wouldn’t be handed to her — she’d have to work for it.

At just 12, she got her first job delivering newspapers. By her teens, she was working the deli counter at a local supermarket, setting aside whatever she could. That practical mindset never left her — and it would become the foundation for how she built billion-dollar brands from the ground up.

Her interest in fashion led her to the London College of Fashion, where she enrolled at 16. But when the opportunity came to intern at Gucci, Emma made a bold move: she left school and jumped straight into the industry. She was only 17.

That one decision marked the beginning of a career that would change the face of celebrity fashion.

By her mid-20s, Emma had already founded ITB Worldwide, a talent and influencer marketing agency that specialized in bridging the gap between brands and celebrities. Her firm handled campaigns for major names like H&M, Calvin Klein, and Net-a-Porter — and it was through that work she was introduced to Kris Jenner.

In 2016, Emma pitched an idea to Kris and Khloé Kardashian: a denim line that embraced size inclusivity without sacrificing style. The result was Good American. On its first day, it brought in $1 million in sales.

But for Emma, this wasn’t just about a product — it was about representation. “So many women weren’t being spoken to,” she later said. “I wanted to build a brand that felt truly inclusive.”

And she didn’t stop there.

In 2019, she joined Kim Kardashian as a founding partner of SKIMS, serving as Chief Product Officer. The shapewear brand exploded in popularity, fueled by both celebrity visibility and an obsessive focus on fit and feel. By 2023, SKIMS was valued at over $4 billion, becoming the official loungewear partner for Team USA at the Olympics. Emma holds an 8% stake.

Emma’s empire isn’t limited to fashion. In 2021, she co-founded Safely, a plant-based cleaning brand launched alongside Kris Jenner and Chrissy Teigen. She also became the first Black woman investor on Shark Tank, offering funding and mentorship to underrepresented founders across the country.

In total, her ownership includes:

Those stakes alone have helped build her fortune to over $300 million. But Emma’s most enduring impact may be in how she redistributes that power.

As Chairwoman of the 15 Percent Pledge, she’s helped secure commitments from major retailers like Sephora and Nordstrom to dedicate at least 15% of shelf space to Black-owned businesses. For her, capitalism and community are not opposites — they are interdependent.

Emma Grede has helped shape some of the most culturally dominant brands of the last decade — yet many people still don’t know her name.

She’s not the face on the billboard. She’s the strategist behind the curtain. The builder, the operator, the closer.

Her brands have redefined what size inclusion, celebrity influence, and modern retail can look like. But perhaps most importantly, Emma has expanded who gets to sit at the table of luxury, fashion, and VC-backed entrepreneurship.

In a world where celebrity often overshadows substance, Emma is the rare executive who blends both — leveraging star power to move product, but staying laser-focused on the bottom line. She isn’t just riding the wave of pop culture; she’s engineering it behind the scenes, translating viral moments into revenue, relevance, and long-term brand equity.

SKIMS and Good American aren’t just successful because of Kardashian faces — they succeed because of Emma’s operational precision, product obsession, and deep understanding of what modern consumers want. Inclusive sizing. Thoughtful design. Purpose-driven storytelling. All of that is Emma’s fingerprint.

She also represents something bigger. As a Black British woman sitting at the top of not one but multiple billion-dollar companies, she’s breaking every stereotype the fashion world has historically upheld around race, gender, and power.

Her presence in these boardrooms is a form of quiet disruption. She doesn’t demand credit. She earns equity.

Emma Grede isn’t just a behind-the-scenes player. She’s the reason some of the biggest celebrity brands exist — and thrive. She’s a woman who worked her way into rooms that weren’t built for her, then helped reshape those rooms entirely.

In an era of personal branding and performative leadership, Emma is a quiet force: purpose-driven, product-obsessed, and equity-minded. She doesn’t just build brands — she builds new standards.

So if you’re building something of your own — but wondering if you have what it takes — consider this:

Emma started with a paper route.
She now controls a piece of a $4 billion brand.

What would you build if you gave yourself the power to begin?