Aspire with Emma Grede

Success Requires Letting Go of People’s Expectations of You (Jackie Aina)

Jackie Aina has been building in public for 17 years. She didn't just grow an audience, she helped define what it meant to be a Black woman with a voice in the beauty industry. But influence was never the end goal. After nearly two decades as one of YouTube's most recognized creators, Jackie took $250,000 of her own money and started a fragrance brand. Not a makeup line — a fragrance brand. Her childhood dream. The first thing she ever did that nobody asked for. In this conversation, Jackie sits down with Emma to talk about what it really takes to go from influencer to founder and why the two have almost nothing in common. Jackie shares: * Why six million followers doesn't mean six million in revenue — and what creators get wrong about turning an audience into a business * How she self-funded Forvr Mood with $250K, sold out six months of inventory in four hours, and nearly had a breakdown closing the laptop * The vendor relationship that looked like a smart start and took over a year to untangle * What she had to unlearn about being "the strong one" — and why doing everything is actually a disservice to everyone around you * Why she deliberately didn't build a makeup brand, and what it meant to finally do something just for herself What's something you've outgrown — even if other people still expect that version of you? Drop it in the comments. And subscribe to Aspire with Emma Grede so you don't miss what's next. We'd love to hear what you think. Please take this survey to help us make the show better for you: emmagrede.com/survey [http://emmagrede.com/survey] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Build a Team That Wins: Emma Grede on Hiring the Right Employees

Hiring is the single most consequential thing you do when you're building anything. Get it right and it compounds. Get it wrong and it costs you years. In today's episode, Emma is sharing the thing she's come to believe is true: the team you build is the most honest reflection of how well you know yourself. This is the real version of what Emma's looking for when she's sitting across from a candidate—the exact framework for how she actually thinks about it, the mistakes she's made, and why she can see past a great resumé to the person underneath. In this episode you'll learn: * The three people you need to speak to before you write a single job description * Why Emma hires for attitude over experience, and what she believes you cannot teach * What to listen for in how someone talks about their wins and losses * Why culture fit has quietly become code for comfort * How to think about paying for talent when the margins are thin Whether you're hiring for the first time, building a team, or sitting on the other side of the table in an interview, this one is for you. Start With Yourself [https://www.emmagrede.com/] is available now. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Gary Vaynerchuk: Why Truth, Humility, and Kindness Will Become Your Next Superpower

Gary Vaynerchuk has spent the last two decades understanding where culture and consumer behavior were headed long before the rest of the world caught up. He was early to YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, creator commerce, and live shopping. But this conversation is about more than algorithms and internet trends. In this episode, Gary sits down with Emma to talk about the real reason most people stay stuck: fear. Fear of judgment. Fear of failure. Fear of what other people will think if they try something new. Together, they unpack the insecurity driving modern ambition, why so many successful people are still deeply unhappy, and why Gary believes we are entering a cultural shift where kindness, reputation, and emotional intelligence will matter more than ever. Gary shares: * Why most people are living for opinions they don’t even respect * The hidden insecurity driving high achievement * Why reputation compounds faster than money * What social media actually revealed about human behavior * How parents unintentionally destroy confidence in their kids * Why proximity and visibility still matter in the AI era * The business opportunities Gary believes people are still underestimating * Why “nice guys finish first” What would change in your life if you stopped making decisions based on other people’s expectations of you? Drop it in the comments — we’re reading. And subscribe to Aspire with Emma Grede so you don’t miss what’s next. We want to hear from you! Take our audience survey and help us shape what comes next for Aspire: https://form.typeform.com/to/eNPvwUY4 [https://form.typeform.com/to/eNPvwUY4] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Bethenny Frankel: The Business Model Nobody Else Will Share

Bethenny Frankel turned a TikTok account into a $20-million-a-year business without a plan or a brand of her own. She had a vision and a set of deal terms that no one in the industry has been able to replicate, or get her to explain, until now.  In this conversation, Emma gets Bethenny to do the thing she never does: open her playbook. Bethenny shows the work behind it all—the deal structures, the dollar amounts, the model she built that agencies keep trying to reverse-engineer and she keeps refusing to share.  Bethenny shares: * The Skinny Girl carve-out that started everything and the difference between licensing and ownership that determines whether you walk away rich or walk away with nothing * How she built her business with zero exclusivity, equity in nearly every partnership, and why brands agree to terms no one else can get * Why she says trust and attention are the only two assets that matter and what that means for anyone trying to build an audience into a business * The true cost of building an entire business on yourself and what freedom looks like when you’re more successful in your fifties than you’ve ever been If you’ve ever been put in a box or told your vision doesn’t fit the playbook, let us know in the comments. And subscribe to Aspire with Emma Grede so you don't miss what's next. We want to hear from you! Take our audience survey and help us shape what comes next for Aspire: https://form.typeform.com/to/eNPvwUY4 [https://form.typeform.com/to/eNPvwUY4] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

How to Build Something Meaningful From Your Worst Chapter (Sarah Jakes Roberts)

Sarah Jakes Roberts is not a traditional entrepreneur. She’s the daughter of Bishop T.D. Jakes, one of the most prominent pastors in America. Sarah became a mother at 13—and in the years that followed, she carried the weight of that story in public, under a spotlight she never asked for.  This conversation is about what happens when the thing you’re most ashamed of becomes the thing you build from. Today, Sarah co-leads a megachurch while raising a blended family of six. But she didn’t set out to lead a global movement, launch conferences that fill stadiums, host a top-ranked podcast, operate more than a dozen revenue streams, or become a bestselling author. She started a blog because she had something to say and an instinct that other women might see parts of themselves in her story. It turned out to be millions of women.  In today’s conversation, Sarah sits down with Emma to talk about calling, responsibility, and a feeling she describes as being “willing to do what I’ve been trusted with.”  Sarah shares: * The relationship between anger and people-pleasing—and why suppressing one feeds the other * What Old Thoughts look like when you've been carrying them since you were 13 * How she went from a blog with a million views to a global conference and a publishing operation without a traditional business strategy * What young motherhood taught her about shame and building something real from the chapter most people would want to erase * Where ministry ends and business begins—and how she navigates making millions from a unique calling without losing what built it What’s something in your life that you need to move past?  Drop it in the comments — we're reading. And subscribe to Aspire with Emma Grede so you don't miss what's next. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]