Emma Grede: Lessons from building billion-dollar brands (with Angela Ahrendts) | Summit 2024

Emma Grede on Instinct, Honest Leadership, Impact Investing, and Building Brands

1. A.Emma Grede traces her path from running a talent and brand partnerships agency to founding Good American, and says she expects hundreds of creator and talent billionaires in the next five years.
2. B.She says she chooses investors, partners and team members as one decision: people she'd want to spend time with and who believe in the mission, with partners picked to cover her own weaknesses.
3. C.She describes the 15 Percent Pledge, started by Aurora James, which asks retailers to dedicate 15% of spend to Black-owned brands and which she says has created a $14 billion pipeline and put 750 brands on shelves.
4. D.On marketing and retail, she says social media arbitrage is gone, B Corp certification unexpectedly built loyalty among team and customers, and she favors a hybrid of digital, wholesale and stores, opening about one store a month.
5. E.Her leadership advice is to tell the truth and be clear about expectations, which she says helps her hire best-in-class people even if it isn't made for corporate America.