Even with a reported net worth of nearly $400 million, SKIMS co-founder Emma Grede still counts pennies.
The 42-year-old serial entrepreneur — she co-founded the apparel company Good American as well as natural cleaning product brand Safely — said in a recent appearance on the “Richer Lives by SoFi” podcast that her “very interesting relationship with money” comes from having grown up without much of it.
Grede was raised by a single mother in East London, and said that her mom instilled in her the value of meticulously looking after her finances.
“She would sit down every weekend and go through her budget meticulously, planning out down to the pint of milk,” she said. “Paying attention to what is coming in and what is going out, but also knowing the price of everything.”
Indeed, Grede said that she has held onto that attention to detail even though her ability to afford the things she wants has grown exponentially.
“To this day I literally know the price of everything and I question the price of everything,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a massive line item in the company or some powder that I got from Erewhon.”
Remembering what it was like to struggle to make ends meet and “trying to make money any way possible” has made Grede determined to give back.
The executive said that while she is extremely ambitious and is always looking to grow her businesses and try new things, she is also focused on how she can help people who grew up like she did.
“Thinking so much about where I come from, and how lucky I got, I think about how those opportunities can be extended,” she said. “Success becomes much less about me and much more about what else and who else I can affect.”
Her No. 1 Rule
In a 2021 conversation with Grede said that the “frustration” of not making as much money as she wanted in her first post-college job is what led her to think about starting her own business.
“I have a rule: You have to do things that scare you,” she explained. “I think that’s so important for growth.”
Early on, there were points in her first venture — entertainment marketing agency ITB Worldwide — when she hired employees who were paid more than she herself was earning. Bringing in the best talent, she said, helped her compensate for the gaps in her own knowledge.
“Some people, they’ll be like, ‘I’m the CEO. I’m the top dog. I should be getting paid the most money,’” she told Make It. “For me, it was never about that. I wanted to win by any means possible.”
Grede elaborated on this in her conversation with SoFi, saying that part of what has helped her become so successful is her willingness to mess up. Every quarter she writes down the things that have happened, both good and bad, and “digests” her learnings to see how she can improve.
“When you’re doing a lot, you’re going to make a lot of mistakes,” she said. “The thing that I worry about the most is not making mistakes, it’s inaction.”
