If you’ve been paying attention to the “girl boss” side of the internet, you already have a feeling about Emma Grede. Maybe it’s a strong one. Maybe it’s the feeling that settled in when you heard her describe herself as a “max three-hour mom” on weekends. Or when she stated that receiving questions about work-life balance from job candidates was a “red flag.” Or maybe you felt some type of way when she insinuated that “work-from-home” culture is a career killer for black women, and in-person visibility is the *only* road to excelling in corporate.
Grede’s point of view on ambition and what it actually takes to build successful global brands at the C-suite level has sparked a polarizing debate among career women across generations and continents.
On one side of the coin in this debate, women are nodding in agreement and admiration of Grede’s unapologetic path as a highly driven entrepreneur, which was an extraordinary journey with a humble beginning. Her early career began at age 12, when she worked a paper route, and later she held odd jobs at Elle and Vogue magazines without traditional academic credentials, having dropped out of high school at 15.
A single mom raised Grede, her family lived in poverty in East London, and she was the eldest of four, suggesting she served her family as the “provider” early in her life to help her mother as best she could, as is typical of oldest siblings. Later on, after gaining hands-on experience in the fashion and luxury marketing world, she co-founded ITB with her now-husband, Jens Grede.
Today, Grede is the CEO of Good American, the denim brand she co-founded with Khloé Kardashian in 2016 that made history by launching as a size-inclusive label. She is a founding partner of Skims, Kim Kardashian’s shapewear company, now valued at $5 billion. She sits on the board of the Obama Foundation. She is also the author of a new book, Start with Yourself, a self-help manifesto for ambitious women, and is on tour to promote it. Plus, she launched a podcast, Aspire, last year.
What Emma Grede has built is impressive, to say the least, and motivates high-earning women all over the world who aspire to dominate their respective industries. Those are the women Emma is talking to when she proclaims arguable work-life trade-offs.
Now, on the other side of the coin, there is an impassioned point of view from women who do not appreciate Grede’s comments about the sacrifices she suggests are required for modern success, profitability, and continued business growth.
What seems to have caused the spirited discourse due to Emma’s recent public commentary made on KeKe Palmer’s podcast, and during a Breakfast Club interview, are the pieces about how “work-from-home culture is a career killer for women,” and, about how Grede is a “max three hour mom” on the weekends, which has “I have full-time house staff written all over it”. Additionally, Grede conveniently nods to her marriage to Jens Grede as merely a footnote in her story. When in reality, her husband’s background as a Swedish creative executive and co-founder of Saturday Group, a branding powerhouse whose clients include Denim by Stella McCartney, helped catapult Emma’s proximity to power in a way that a woman grinding alone in East London simply could not.
A few things to put into perspective here, aside from the outrage that some of her comments may have caused upon first hearing them depending on the woman listening, because let’s be real: there is a certain privilege Emma is speaking from that allows her to unequivocally prioritize working from her custom-built headquarters, being able to delegate life responsibilities such as parenting, and also benefiting from her life partners’s wealthy, well-connected platform.
Know your audience, which, it is pretty apparent, Emma does. In recent interviews, she even states how she is not an expert and only shares what worked for her. She’s speaking to the “destined for unprecedented success” group of women who have gotten it out of the mud in their earlier stages of life, and then, once a life-changing opportunity like marrying an established businessman or pitching a family member of the Kardashian family becomes a reality, she takes the global business world by storm, outworks her peers, then protects the financial security shes earned for generations to come, by positioing her hustle, as the center of her world.
When talent, grit, and ambition are not enough, then what? This is where “who you know” comes in to give you the boost you need to be seen among giants. We’ve all experienced this act of social good in one way or another. If you’ve read many world-renowned entrepreneur success stories, it all boils down to that one window of opportunity, which, because they did not fumble access to investors/clientele, or resources their business previously did not have, they would not be who we know them to be today. It could be said that Grede’s self-determination and demonstrated success in previous career opportunities helped her reach a point where she landed in rooms with people like her husband, who supercharged the vision she had for herself all along.
The necessary discourse that the modern career woman didn’t know she needed. In particular, women of color have not had a seat at the table or made a seat for themselves among the 1%. Why? Because the gatekeepers have been working overtime to hold black and brown women at the line where they can be controlled, as opposed to inviting them to build and grow with them at parady. Emma shares her outlook as a CEO of several global brands in today’s marketplace, in terms of the type of devotion she looks for in her team and is willing to provide herself. The thing that is not being said, out loud at least, is that Emma’s passion and genuine love for her work radiate from her pores. When you absolutely are obsessed with what you do to make money, and it provides a high quality of life for your family, it does not feel like work; it feels like a layer of your highest self-expression. What this online debate has illuminated is how specific woman are expressing what a fulfilled life looks like for them, on their terms. Some are expressing that working overtime is a non-negotiable, because once they clock out, that time is exclusively for uninterrupted family time. Others are denouncing a return to the office and are living proof that they continue to earn and be promoted while working from home. Then you have those who finally feel like they’ve met (virtually) the mentor they’ve always wanted, someone who embodies how, when you obsess over doing what you love, nurture meaningful relationships, and become the gold standard of work ethic, an abundance of success can surely find you.
J’Arnay Harris covers entrepreneurship, culture, and the intersections of race, ambition, and power through an intergenerational lens. She writes with a sharp eye for the uncomfortable truths that get smoothed over in mainstream narratives, examining what success really costs in a modern world.
