Ask Me Anything: Pivoting in Your 40s, Plastic Surgery, and Starting a Business With No Money

Ask Me Anything: Pivoting in Your 40s, Plastic Surgery, and Starting a Business With No Money

In today’s solo episode, Emma dives into real listener questions: the actual mechanics of building from nothing, starting a business with no capital, why having no money can be an advantage, plus more nuanced questions about navigating your career, handling tricky mentors, and knowing when to quit. She also gets into more personal reflections about her marriage, what her life looked like in her twenties, and what she does to look after herself. There’s a quick round at the end too, on everything from her favorite crisps to plastic surgery.  In this episode you’ll learn: * The type of business Emma would build if she were starting today * How to think about fear when you’re making a decision * What it takes to start again in your 40s * The marketing rule that built Good American * How to find your first customers before anyone knows you * Her one rule for spending in year one  * The one thing she thinks every woman needs to stop doing If your question didn’t make it this time, hold onto it, because she’ll be doing this again. Follow Aspire so you don’t miss the next one, and sign up for the weekly newsletter at emmagrede.com. 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 Monetize AI and Build the Life and Career You Want

Alicia Lyttle is the CEO of AI InnoVision and one of the clearest voices teaching entrepreneurs and operators how to actually use AI to make money. Her clients run from solo founders to Fortune 500 companies and US government agencies. She's been teaching people how to build online for 25 years, long before the current AI wave. People call Lyttle the Queen of AI for good reason. The AI conversation right now is mostly hype or fear, but this is the more grounded version: specific tools, real workflows, and what actually works when you try to put any of this into a real business. In this conversation: * The one question Lyttle calls the golden ticket for figuring out what to hand to AI first when you're building your business * Why getting good at AI has meant hiring more people, not fewer * How to build an AI team when you can't yet afford to hire a human one * The three-step process for turning any prompt into a "super prompt" that actually pays off * How to use AI to create a $20,000 presentation * What you should never put into ChatGPT, and how to protect your business while still using it 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]

Patrick Ta on Accountability, Identity and Building a Beauty Empire

Patrick Ta built one of the most successful beauty brands in the world after dropping out of high school, filing for bankruptcy at 21, and spending years building his career one client at a time. What started with a makeup kit and a dream eventually led to working with some of the biggest names in the world, launching Patrick Ta Beauty, and becoming one of the most influential makeup artists of his generation. But this conversation isn't just about success. In this episode, Patrick sits down with Emma for a candid conversation about the recent controversy surrounding his Transition Blush launch, the criticism that followed, and what accountability looks like when your name is on the brand. Together, they unpack creator credit, intention versus impact, reputation, and the challenges that come with building in public. Patrick shares: • How bankruptcy shaped his ambition and work ethic • Why makeup was the first thing that gave him confidence • The journey from celebrity makeup artist to beauty founder • What he's learned building Patrick Ta Beauty into a leading beauty brand • How he thinks about accountability, influence, and creator credit • The responsibility that comes with having your name on the product • What this experience taught him about leadership and integrity What's a belief about success you've been carrying that might be costing you more than it's giving you? Drop it in the comments. 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]

Building a Billion-Dollar Unicorn with Julia Collins

Julia Collins has spent much of her life chasing big goals,first to prove herself and then to save the planet.  The path took her from restaurant kitchens in New York City to Silicon Valley boardrooms, where she became the first Black woman to co-found a unicorn and raised more than $450 million in venture capital. But it also came with heartbreak, burnout, a co-founder fallout, and years spent trying to fit into a version of success that never quite felt like her own. Today, Julia is building companies focused on the future of food and the future of the planet. But getting there required unlearning some of the biggest lessons she thought she knew about ambition, achievement, and self-worth. In this conversation, Julia sits down with Emma to talk about what was really happening behind the headlines — the pressure to fit in, the cost of tying your identity to your success, and the belief she carried for years that the more she suffered, the more successful she would become. Julia shares: * Why showing up as herself changed everything — and what it cost her to try fitting in first * What she learned raising hundreds of millions of dollars * How she navigated a co-founder fallout and life-changing exit * The financial habits that shaped her relationship with money * The lesson that took her the longest to unlearn about success and sacrifice What's a belief about success you've been carrying that might be costing you more than it's giving 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]

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]