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.

From East London to Global Fashion

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.