By Salem Joel
Emma Grede doesn’t build alone. In an industry where solo founders often dominate headlines, she’s built a business philosophy around a simple but powerful truth: collaboration isn’t just good business, it’s transformative. As the co-founder of Good American, founding partner of SKIMS, and the first Black woman investor on Shark Tank, Grede has turned strategic partnerships with women into billion-dollar brands while deliberately creating pathways for the next generation.
Her approach isn’t accidental. It’s intentional, systematic, and rooted in a belief of the business philosophy: that collaboration is not a weakness, but a competitive advantage.
The Power of Strategic Collaboration
When Grede co-founded Good American with Khloé Kardashian in 2016, she wasn’t just launching another denim brand. She was demonstrating what happens when two women with complementary strengths, one a fashion industry veteran, the other a cultural force with deep audience connection—build something together. The result was a standout debut in apparel history, generating one million dollars in sales on its first day.
But the collaboration went deeper than business metrics. Good American was built on inclusivity, offering sizes 00 to 24 from launch and later creating “size 15” based directly on customer feedback. This wasn’t charity, it was business informed by listening to women who had been ignored by the fashion industry. The partnership between Grede and Kardashian created space for that listening to happen.
She replicated this collaborative model with SKIMS, partnering with Kim Kardashian to build what is now a five-billion-dollar shapewear and apparel empire. Most recently, in January 2025, she co-founded Off Season with fashion designer Kristin Juszczyk, creating NFL-licensed apparel for women fans. Grede reached out to Juszczyk via direct message after seeing her work, a modern mentorship moment that turned into a business partnership.
The pattern is clear: Grede sees potential in women, reaches out, and builds with them not just for them or around them.
Scaling Mentorship Through Community
Grede’s commitment to women extends far beyond her co-founders. She created the podcast “Aspire with Emma Grede” with an explicit mission: to scale mentorship for women, founders, and the next generation. As she explains, her intention is to share all that she has learned, not hoarding knowledge but distributing it widely.
This philosophy manifests in tangible ways.
In partnership with tennis champion Coco Gauff and UPS, Grede mentored three women-owned small businesses through one-on-one sessions, offering the kind of personalized guidance that can change a business trajectory. These weren’t passive investments or photo opportunities—they were active collaborations designed to transfer knowledge and open doors.
Her work extends to formal structures as well. As a trustee and board member of Women for Women International, she helps provide networking and mentorship for disenfranchised women globally. As chairwoman of Fifteen Percent Pledge, a movement pushing major retailers to commit shelf space to Black-owned businesses, she’s working to change industry structures that have historically excluded women of color.
Creating Trusted Voices in Challenging Times
What makes Grede’s approach particularly relevant now is her understanding that collaboration and community aren’t optional extras, they’re essential, especially in challenging environments. She’s spoken about the need for trusted voices, truthful voices, and mutual support, emphasizing that we need to support one another more than ever.
This isn’t abstract philosophy. It’s reflected in how she chooses projects, partners, and platforms. Her role as the first Black woman investor on Shark Tank isn’t just personal achievement, it’s visibility that matters for the entrepreneurs watching, particularly women of color who rarely see themselves in investor seats.
Her board positions with Baby2Baby and the Obama Foundation, combined with her business ventures, create a portfolio that consistently centers women’s empowerment, economic opportunity, and structural change.
The Ripple Effect
Emma Grede’s legacy isn’t just the brands she’s built, it’s the doors she’s opened and the blueprint she’s provided. She’s showing a generation of women that you don’t have to choose between business success and lifting others up. That collaboration can be your competitive advantage. That mentorship can scale. That the strongest empires are built not by solitary geniuses but by women choosing to build together.
In every partnership, every mentorship session, every board position, Grede is asking the same question: how can success create more success for more women? And then she’s doing the work to make it happen. That’s not just good business, it’s transformation in action.
