How a High School Dropout Co-Founded SKIMS and Good American with the Kardashians (Exclusive)

Emma Grede, the co-host of 'Side Hustlers' on Roku, opens up about how she achieved her success despite leaving school at 16: 'You have to sacrifice something'

Emma Grede, the businesswoman who has co-founded brands like SKIMS and Good American with Kim and Khloé Kardashian, is opening up about how she has just a high school education — but that didn't stop her from becoming a big success story.

"I was raised by a single mom, one of four girls, and I watched my mom every single day get up and go out to work," says the London-born Grede, 41, who is currently co-hosting season two of Side Hustlers on Roku with Ashley Graham, where they guide and invest in women who are pitching new businesses. (The new season was the #1 on-demand title on Roku Channel since its launch.)

"I always think about myself as someone who was kind of born leaning in," she says of her secret. "I was always working — I was just finding lots of things that either I wasn't that good at or I didn't want to do. And so it was more about taking control and being like, 'Okay, I've got to just find something that I want to do."

Related: Good American and SKIMS Co-Founder Emma Grede Shares Why She's the Perfect Mentor on 'Shark Tank'

At just 24, she took her fashion experience and started an agency that helped people in the entertainment world land sponsorship and brand ambassadorship deals.

"I had that company for ten years, and I was lucky enough to learn on the job. I learned how to be a boss, and frankly, I learned a lot about what not to do."

She also learned one key element to earning success: Sacrifice and boundaries.

"If you really want to start something, be willing to sacrifice. Because my experience of starting businesses has always meant that there's some type of sacrifice that has to come along with it," she says.

"If you're the type of person that wants to exercise every morning or go out with your friends every evening somewhere, then something's got to give," she says. "I think we can make entrepreneurship seem easy and it's not, so there's got to be a reality check, where people understand the trade-offs."

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Finding a Side Hustle as Coronavirus Upends College Grads' Career Plans

For Grede, it was figuring out her boundaries when it came to balancing her working life and raising her four children.

"I have a 10-year-old, an 8-year-old and twin two-year-olds," she says. "I'd like to be honest about that, because I think as a working mother, again, it's back down to this idea of like, well, where are my boundaries? What am I willing to give up on? And what's a non-negotiable?"

Related: Rihanna Admits Work-Life Balance Is 'Almost Impossible' as a New Mom: 'It's Very Different'

She continues, "I don't do pick up and drop off every single day. But if my kid's in a play, I'm going to see my kid in the play. It's not cookie-cutter, it's different for every person. I think what we have to do is normalize the idea that you're not going to have everything. Perfection is only something that exists on Instagram."

She also shuts down the notion that women have to be super-moms.

"I don't know about you, but the way I was raised, no one was cutting my sandwiches into fun shapes!" she says with a laugh.

"I think that we can take our cues from our own childhoods and remember that we were all alright. Our kids don't need us that much. They need us to love them and guide them but we shouldn't be carrying them through every moment and every hardship. That's not helpful."

She continues, "If we try to do that, it leaves women with very little time to do anything else. And I feel like I just watched so many of my friends turn themselves inside out once they became moms."

When it came to launching SKIMS and Good American, Grede says a big reason the brands became so successful is because they delivered products to a massive portion of the female population that was being underserved.

"The fashion business only catered to small women or a small segment of the plus-size market. But 64 percent of women are above a size 12. So we reasoned, if you're going to make products for everyone, you're going to have more customers."

She says that because of that different way of thinking, Good American's Size 15 jean is one of its best-selling.

"There were women who weren't quite plus and were at the tail end of the offered sizes," she says. "It's our fourth best-selling size to this day. At the end of the day, what we've really done with those brands is make them for as many people as possible, and with real lasting power."

Grede also credits her success with listening to her gut and being able to learn on the job.

"I have had pretty severe learning difficulties and I didn't go to college or university. I was a high school dropout. But if you're not good at something, you can get good. I now know that it's called a growth mindset."

"I didn't know that when I was younger, but I knew that I could learn things. I never think about intelligence or aptitude or ability as being fixed things — I would say for anyone out there, you can get better at almost anything."

Season Two of Side Hustlers is Now Streaming on ROKU

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