This profile is part of the Wellth 30, a curated recognition of the leaders building enduring brands, communities, and culture.
Emma Grede, Co-founder and CEO, Good American; Founding Partner, SKIMS
Emma Grede has spent years arguing that representation is meaningless if the people being represented cannot get access to the economy.
She has chaired the Fifteen Percent Pledge since 2020, pushing major retailers to dedicate 15% of shelf space to Black-owned businesses — and, importantly, auditing whether they actually do it.
She knows what shelf space is worth because she controls it herself. She co-founded Good American, is a founding partner of SKIMS and has built businesses across fashion, beauty and consumer goods.
This year she published Start With Yourself, extending the same philosophy beyond companies and into the choices founders make about their own lives and careers. She also hosts Aspire, where entrepreneurs talk about what went wrong rather than right.
Grede’s work is ultimately about infrastructure: not asking for a seat at the table, but changing who gets to build the table in the first place.
