While talking about her first job, Emma tells that her first job was a paper router, and she gives the credit to that job for how she fall in love with the morning since she would be there waking up at 4:30 in the morning and would be delivering the papers at 5:00 am. And according to her, this was her amazing quiet moment where she would make things right for her or make things work out, or at least think about it. At this time she would think about the things she had going on, and that’s the same way she starts her day now.
While talking about how she made money, she talked about how she did a lot of different jobs, at the beginning of her career. All she wanted to do was to mark her presence backstage at the fashion shows and that wasn’t a job role she was getting paid for at that time. And, so, she supplemented and started working at a deli, started working in a clothing shop, became a personal shopper, a waitress, and she did the full gambit. As said to her, she can take pleasure in anything and for her, this is one of the things that serve her well in her life. She told that every olive’s and every cheese’s name was learned by her and now that is handy for her since now she is putting together the charcuterie boards in her old age.
When she was asked why she was not scared to start her marketing agency when she was 26 years old, she replied that she credited her naïveté with giving her the chutzpah for doing things only.
As per her, she had no context of the hierarchy of Hollywood’s big agencies, and so she would try to get on-call will Bryan Lourd, and would talk about a commercial deal for some Z-list actress. This was a great thing in a way, and she didn’t also have an ego. She would bring people into her company and then pay them more as compared to what she was paying herself because she had an utter focus on growing the business. One thing she always had in her head as she was there creating a company, and it is going to be bigger than her.
Having this mentality turned out to be fortunate for her, but she wasn’t scared. She told that she doesn’t have imposter syndrome, and in her younger days, she was told by her mother that Emma is no better than anyone else, and neither someone else is better than her. And, this was the principle that stayed with her.
Upon being asked about what she has learned from Kris, Kim, and Khloé, she told that they are all great at having an understanding of an audience. She said, that they have been famous and there has been a long time since they all are doing this all, but even then they have never lost touch with a certain type of girl, a regular girl. That is from pricing, about how much do people want to pay for the things, to the audience, and the marketing. They have a real touch and they are connected with regular women in the country who wants to feel great about themselves.
Emma told that she calls Kris regarding everything, whether it is business or it is not business, since Kris is a great source of knowledge. She told us that she moved here from England, and she had no clue where she was supposed to go, and it was Kris who gave Emma her doctor, her dentist, her kids’ school, and the full lot. And, with their time, they all are super generous, as said by Emma. She further told that she thinks that is another really big thing once we talk about business. She told, that whenever she needs any of these three women, they always are there for her straightaway.
When Emma was asked about why she built a brand that was rooted in diversity, she told that she spent 10 years working in fashion, before she started with Good American. And so much of this was inclusive of working with brands for projecting an image of diversity or inclusivity, when in fact the product couldn’t make a stand for that, and diversity ended up being a part of a short-term marketing fix.
While, as continued by her, after a while that grates at her. As a Black female CEO, she told us that she had a vision of what if she just used her version of what she thinks is beautiful and the viewpoint that she has grown up with and projected that onto a business? What if the company she is being a part of was just diverse since the person who is hiring is catered to a different idea, as well as the expectation of what great is like.
She said that if someone has a bunch of people who are there sitting around a table then each of them will be seeing things differently, that is catered as the superpower, and it is the same factor that stops one from running into different mistakes. If you are there building a company with full diversity, and where diversity is the main part of it, then you are going to generate and own a stronger business. Skims and Good American are catered as the perfect examples of that since they have grown into profitable businesses, and enormously successful by adapting that approach, and as said by her, this was not an accident. Further, she also catered to the racism in America, and how it has affected her approach to her career. She said that coming to this county had been an awakening experience for her since she didn’t grow up feeling that being Black was a pessimist. When she got to America, she got overwhelmed by seeing how people around her were treated. She didn’t mean to say that in Europe there wasn’t racism being in America, she had an element of separation that she hadn’t experienced before. And, this has completely changed the focus of her energies and what she believed can be of service.