Growing Interest with Mary Holland Nader

How to Stop People-Pleasing With Your Money | Emma Grede

October 13, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Emma Grede built Good American into a billion-dollar brand, co-founded Skims with Kim Kardashian, and sits on the board of Snapchat. She also describes herself as someone with “immigrant disease”—a relentless drive to build and acquire that she treats as a diagnosis she has to manage. In this conversation with Mary Holland Nader on Growing Interest, Grede lays out the emotional and psychological architecture behind taking power with money, ambition, and relationships. Her central argument is that women's financial problems are rarely about math. They are about permission—permission to want, to ask, to take up space, and to stop apologizing for success.

The Exposure Therapy of Money

Grede’s framework begins with a simple but uncomfortable prescription: think about money constantly. Her "old thought" was that nice girls don't speak or think about money publicly. Her "new thought" reframes financial awareness as exposure therapy. “Take the fear out of money by facing it and thinking about it constantly,” she says. “It's a type of exposure therapy that will build comfort over time.”

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What you'll learn

1 (02:16) **Emma Grede Introduces Her Money Philosophy** - The "old thought vs. new thought" framework for reframing your relationship with money is introduced.
2 (04:58) **The Origin of Financial Responsibility** - Emma traces her comfort with money back to her childhood, not a single lightbulb moment.
3 (07:14) **The Two Most Expensive Emotions: Fear and Anger** - Emma identifies which emotions have cost her the most money and how she manages them.
4 (09:55) **The Danger of Blame and the Power of Action** - Emma explains why blaming external factors is a trap and why action is the only cure for anxiety.
5 (14:03) **Reconciling Financial Independence and Being Taken Care Of** - Emma dismantles the false binary between being a strong, independent woman and wanting a partner to provide.
6 (17:37) **Money and Friendship: Transparency as a Tool** - Emma explains how she navigates financial disparities with her long-time friends.
7 (20:55) **The "Book Club Effect" and Breaking the Money Taboo** - The host shares a story about hosting a book club for *Start with Yourself* and how the money chapter was the hardest to discuss.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Emma Grede Mary Holland Nader

Show Notes

As the co-founder and CEO of Good American, founding partner of SKIMS, and one of the most successful self-made women in business, Emma Grede has built an empire. But she didn't come from money, didn't finish college, and wasn't always comfortable with numbers.

In this episode of Growing Interest, Mary Holland Nader sits down with Emma to explore the money mindset shifts behind her success—and what the rest of us can learn from them.

They get into the psychology of money, from emotional spending and overcoming a fear of numbers to negotiating for more, knowing your worth, and understanding when to prioritize ownership over a paycheck. Emma also opens up about navigating money in friendships, relationships, and business, and why women need to stop apologizing for wanting more.

Keep Up With Mary Holland

Instagram: ⁠@MaryHollandNader⁠

TikTok: ⁠@MaryHollandNader⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠@MaryHolland⁠

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Produced by ⁠Dear Media⁠

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