Emma Grede

Grede was born and raised in East London, England.[4][5] She is the daughter of Jenny-Lee Findlay,[6] an English mother who worked for Morgan Stanley; and a Jamaican and Trinidadian father.[7] She has three younger sisters Charlotte, Rachelle, and Katie-Beth. She was raised by her mother in the Plaistow neighborhood of London.[8] She studied business at the London College of Fashion.[5] After securing an internship at Gucci she dropped out of college.

After initially working as a producer at fashion show and events company Inca Productions,[3][9] in 2008 Grede founded and was CEO of Independent Talent Brand (ITB) Worldwide, a London-based talent management and entertainment marketing agency [10] [5][11][12] In 2018, ITB was acquired by Rogers & Cowan, and Grede exited the company.[11]

Around 2015, Grede proposed an idea for a denim company to Kris Jenner, explaining that she wanted to partner with Jenner's daughter Khloé Kardashian.[9] Grede and Kardashian launched Good American in 2016, as a women's clothing company focused on size inclusivity and body positivity, with Grede as CEO.[4][5] The company expanded from strictly selling denim jeans to include dresses, activewear, tops, swimwear, sleepwear, and shoes in its line.[5][9] They also created the size 15 to accommodate more body types.[9]

Grede is a founding partner of Skims, a shapewear brand founded by her husband Jens Grede and Kim Kardashian in 2019. Grede is the company's chief product officer.[5] Along with Kris Jenner and Chrissy Teigen, Grede is the founder of Safely, a brand of plant-based cleaning and self-care products that was launched in March 2021.[13][14]

Grede is a guest shark on the first episode of season 13 of the reality television series Shark Tank in 2021.[15] She is being promoted as the first black woman on the show, but she is the first bi-racial woman on the show: her mother is white; her father is black. She is chairwoman of the 15 Percent Pledge, an initiative for retailers to reserve 15% of their shelf space for Black-owned businesses.[3]

Grede is married to Jens Grede, the Swedish co-founder of Skims and denim brand, Frame.[3] They moved to Los Angeles in 2017. They have four children: Grey, Lola, and twins Lake and Rafferty.[16][17]