Emma Green is one of the most successful self made women in the US,
working alongside the Kardashian Jenner family on many of their best known brands.
She's the CEO and co founder of Good American co
founder of Safely and a founding partner of Skips.
Well,
Emma is giving back to the next generation of business leaders as
a featured speaker at the Chase for Business Make your Move summit.
And Emma spoke with me last week. Take a look.
Emma welcome.
Thank you
so nice to be here. We're so happy to have you.
So, you know, your talk at the summit is on the power of resilience.
We've seen your many successes.
But what were some of your early struggles that led you to lean on resilience?
How long you got?
You know,
there's been so many and I think that you're part of being in
business and working for yourself is that you have to be resilient,
you have to get really comfortable with the idea of failure.
And you know, I don't want to say something contrived or try in terms of, you know,
it's what you learn from them,
but it really is about how you create a culture where failure is digestible
and part of the inevitable and how does your organization grow for that?
Because actually you're probably not in business or,
or trying hard enough if you're not failing at the
park.
Yeah, I, I think that's a good point.
So I know you and Khloe Kardashian built
good American on the promise of size inclusivity.
Something that's also a part of Kim Kardashian's skims.
Was that something you really had to fight for?
I think it was a collective decision, certainly with the girls,
but it was also just great commercial business sense.
At the end of the day, when you're growing a business,
you want it to be relevant and applicable to as many customers as possible.
And so it makes sense that you would try to service as many customers as possible.
And I think that when you think about how many
women are left out of the fashion conversation still now,
what we did seven years ago with Good American was totally revolutionary right now.
It should just be a business.
Must anyone that's starting a business in the apparel space who doesn't think about
inclusive sizing as part of their business model is asleep at the wheel because,
you know, at the end of the day,
most women in this country are over a size 16 and
why wouldn't they have the same optionality as anybody else?
Yeah, I think that's a good point.
Uh So you worked with Kylie Jenner as well on her brand new clothing brand called Ky.
How did you pull off that surprise launch?
You know, with any launch? It's really about what the girls want to do.
And I'd like to,
you know, say that I'm the mastermind behind it, but Kylie does
is what Kylie wants. She
a
seasoned business founder.
And so she had a great idea and I just helped
put it and make it and turn it into fruition.
Well, speaking to your ex, your experience,
I know you worked in fashion for years before starting the home product line safely.
Was there a learning curve for you? And co-founder, Chris Jenner?
Yeah, I think with any new business, especially when you enter a new space,
there's a learning curve,
but it's really about finding white space opportunities.
What we do it safely is incredible.
Cos it's about bringing, you know, this idea of plant based cleaning, cleaner,
cleaning to the masses at an affordable price.
It's been definitely a journey, but one that's been pretty fruitful and wonderful.
Well, you've worked on four businesses with a Kardashian Jenner family.
What's your working relationship? Like?
I think, like any business partnership, you know, we're great partners because
we know what each of us brings to the table.
And so I think it's based on mutual respect and admiration of one another.
And we're lucky enough that we have, you know, uh,
a very successful working relationship So why not build on it so day to day,
how do you all balance roles on so many different projects?
You know, for me, I'm a mother and you know, I have for
and the idea of balance just completely goes out the window.
There is no such thing as a day off. There is no such thing as a time that you switch off.
It's a huge responsibility and like anyone who starts a business, you know,
I have to do everything all the time.
We all do.
OK, good advice there.
So between your time on Shark Tank Emma or speaking at this summit,
why is it important to you to really mentor the next generation of business leaders?
You know, I think it's really,
really important this country thrives off of innovation and ideas.
And when we find ourselves in the type of economic climate that we have right now,
it's really important that business uh that small businesses continue to thrive.
And if I can be part of any founder journey
to start a company to help invest in a company,
especially that of women black founders, founders of color,
then that's something that I'm really focused on.
And I'm lucky enough to be in a position that I can do it at this point in my career.
So it's a real focus of mine,
the holiday shopping season is coming up.
And as the chair of the 15% pledge which encourages retailers to
pledge at least 15% of their shelf space to black owned businesses.
How can people make sure that they are
supporting these businesses this time of year?
Well, you know, I think it's, uh, such a myth out there that, you know,
black owned businesses are only for black people at the end of the day.
There's so many incredible companies out there doing
great things and it's down to us as con
as consumers to decide where are we spending and how do we use our spending power.
And so I would really think that anyone should be looking at, you know,
where do I put my dollars?
How much do I believe in that company?
Those founders because it's our consumer choice?
Alright, Emma Green, thank you so much for joining it and great insight.
Thank you so much.
It was great to chat with uh Emma there and,
and so thankful that she allowed some of her time for us to uncover some of her,
of course, fascinating insights for kids, all of these different companies.
It's incredible and we really don't know the inside workings
of these billion dollar businesses for the Kardashian family.
I also love that you asked about Kai and the new clothing line from Kylie. And
he says, listen, Kylie does what Kylie wants.
You know,
there's so many misconceptions about this family and it's
no matter what you think about the Kardashian family,
I know they're polarizing.
You can't deny how hard working they are and they're great business women.
You can't deny that absolute
fact. I'm wearing a skims turtle neck right now. You can
thank you. You can't do
it. Is snatched. I will say I love the skim turtleneck.