The world can be a difficult place for women, people of color and poor people, says UK-born mogul Emma Grede — and she’s been all of those things, so she knows.

Today, Grede is best known as a serial entrepreneur whom “Forbes” named one of “America’s Richest Self-Made Women” in 2025. She’s the chief executive and co-founder (with Khloé Kardashian) of the size-inclusive denim brand Good American, the founding partner of loungewear-shapewear company Skims and host of the podcast “Aspire with Emma Grede” — among other business roles. But growing up in the rough East London neighborhood of Plaistow, Grede was broke, the daughter of a struggling single mother. She battled dyslexia and dropped out of high school and then the London College of Fashion before immersing herself in the working world of fashion.

In her new book, “Start With Yourself: A New Vision for Work & Life,” Grede chronicles her rags to riches journey while harnessing the lessons she learned along the way to help others achieve what they want in business and in life. The book is part memoir, shot through with personal stories featuring a cast of characters, as Grede puts it, “straight out of a Guy Ritchie movie.” And it’s part self-help book offering a new mindset for success, one that encourages managing our emotions, clarifying what we want for ourselves and changing the way we think about what’s possible.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You say having a clear vision for the future is key for achieving success. What’s your unique process for “grounding your vision,” as you call it?

I really think deeply about, what do I want and what is important to me? And I really make sure that what I’m using my energy for is about what I want and what’s important to me. What type of life do I want to live, how do I want to spend my time? The process takes me weeks and months. I write things down. I started this process in my 20s. So I had a plan for my 30s, I had a plan for my 40s, and now I’m working on the plan for my 50s. It starts with a headline: Like: “It’s the X Y Z decade.” I’ll name it. And then I break it down by the years. Then I break it down even further into quarters, and I keep it on a note, in the notes section of my phone, and then every Sunday I revisit it so I can really ground myself in my goals. And the important part of it is that I say no to everything that isn’t getting me closer to my goals.

On your podcast, you interview successful people about their habits. What are some of your lifestyle habits that set you up for success?
I’m really a very routined person, meaning that I have the same routine almost every day and I’m really militant about policing it. I get up very early in the morning, just before 5 a.m. I work out at 5:30. I do a mix of strength training, so I’m lifting weights three days a week and the other two days a week I do reformer Pilates with a trainer, which I really love. I have to do it in the morning because I just will never work out otherwise. The rest of my day, I help get my kids ready, get them out the door, and then I’m in the office. The rest of my wellness routine really evolves around some regular appointments. I do think about recovery and take recovery quite seriously, so I’ll do a weekly massage, where I do cupping. I love a lymphatic drainage massage too, that’s like one of my favorite treats to myself. I love skincare, that’s one of my little indulgences. I love all of the red light masks and any kind of red light therapy, I’m really into that. I make a lot of time for self-care and for looking after myself.

You say that women are generally reluctant to talk about money. Why do you think that is? The honest truth is, we’re not always raised to talk about money. I’ve done a lot of work on this; not just around the book, but as a leader of a lot of female employees. I’ve really had to sit down and say: Why aren’t my female employees coming to me for pay raises at the same rate as men? Why aren’t they as comfortable stating what it is that they should be paid or what they think they’re worth? I think a lot of it is cultural conditioning. That’s why I wrote this book — it’s not about blaming women, but [meant] to expose the conditioning that keeps women small, that keeps women in a place where we believe that perhaps that’s not for us, that nice girls don’t talk about money. I think it’s really important for women to understand that you can still do really deeply meaningful and impactful work and care about money.

How is managing emotions, particularly for women, a key strategy for success in business?
I don’t make decisions from an emotional place. I haven’t allowed the things that happen in my head — whether it’s fear or anger or guilt — to get in the way of a good decision or an opportunity for me. I do think that women are more, perhaps, emotional, relational, we’re allowed to be much more so in culture and in the world. But we have to make sure that doesn’t stand in the way of our making progress. We’ve been socially conditioned to avoid the exact behaviors that would create wealth and visibility and leadership and opportunity. And so we literally have to dismantle the lies that we’ve been sold about all of those things so that we can just get on with it.

What are those behaviors, exactly?
Having audacity. Maybe sitting in discomfort. Ambition requires you to be uncomfortable. If you think that you’ve got to be comfortable all the time, or that you have to make other people around you comfortable and that pleasing people is higher up on your list of things to do than pleasing yourself, that’s a problem. That’s going to stop you getting where you want.

You grew up in a hardscrabble neighborhood in East London. What role did that play in shaping the businesswoman you are today?
You know, it wasn’t until I wrote the book that I understood that implicitly. I thought that was my personality, that I had a higher moral baseline and that I was just a person of their word, a person who didn’t suffer fools, a person who doesn’t take much s—, but a person that’s really firm and fair. And what I’ve come to understand is: So much of that is from that place. Because in East London, you learn that there is a moral baseline, that there is a right way of behaving, and you’re taught to respect your elders and to sort of look after everyone. All the kids would play out in the street every day, you could walk into any neighbor’s house and they would feed you or you could get a packet of crisps. It really set me up as somebody who understood what was important in life. That you should tell people the truth. And if you say you’re gonna do something, you should do it. That has really seeped into the way that I do business.

You’re very clear that there is no such thing as “work–life balance.” That said, how do you parent four kids as a successful serial entrepreneur? What gives?!
Well, that’s the exact answer to the question — what gives? I do speak a lot about the trade-offs and what has to happen if you’re going to be successful in your business and successful in your life. I think that Oprah said it best: “You can have it all, but maybe not all at once,” and I’ve really understood that my life has seasons. There are moments when I am all work and 110%, and there are other moments, like after you have a baby, where you need to take it slowly and have other priorities in your life. I think the best news is that life is really long, and there’s times for both. The hard thing is having a level of acceptance for the moments and making sure that you are deciding the trade-offs. And I think the best thing to do is to really think deeply about your vision and what’s important to you and make sure that your trade-offs line up with that.

See Emma Grede live, in conversation with Deborah Vankin, at the L.A. Times Festival of Books at USC on April 19 at 4 p.m., on the Los Angeles Times Stage. Free.

After more than two decades working as a journalist, I’ve heard a lot of ways that people reuse their newspapers: lining a pet’s cage or litter box; cleaning a grill; shoving several pages into sneakers to help them dry after they get soaked during a hike with creek crossings.

I am a big advocate of repurposing items to keep them out of the landfill, and yet, I have never felt like any of these reuses celebrates the print medium for what it can provide beyond information.

That’s one reason I wanted The Times to publish a kite design in the Weekend section in coordination with the staff at Clockshop, a local community arts nonprofit, just in time for its annual kite festival, which is from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday at Los Angeles State Historic Park, 1245 N. Spring St.

And now here’s your chance to make one.

In Sunday’s newspaper, you’ll find a colorful trapezoid kite along with printed instructions on how to build the kite as well as a QR code that links to a video of our team showing you how to build it. Regardless of whether you attend the kite festival, this edition of the Weekend section deserves to fly far beyond the confines of your recycling bin.

You can buy a copy of the Sunday newspaper at local newsstands and most 7-Eleven, Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons, Circle K and CVS locations.

If you aren’t able to snag a print newspaper, we’ve also included a digital download where you can print a version of our kite design. The instructions are also below.

Skip to instructions for:

Kite using newspaper | Kite using digital version

The look of our kite was designed by L.A. artist Ben Sanders, who said he drew inspiration from our local landscape.

“I kind of wanted it to look like gusts of wind,” said Sanders, who hadn’t previously illustrated a kite design, “and I was thinking about wind gusts on the beach and pink sunsets and the shoreline and … maybe a sun that’s being refracted.”

I have so many memories of flying kites, but I must admit: Several of them aren’t great. What’s more disappointing as a little kid than running outside with a kite in your arms, anticipating your moment of glory, only to watch it crash repeatedly?

I asked Yaeun Stevie Choi, an L.A.-based artist and kite maker, what some common reasons kites fail were.

“This is where the physics part of kites comes in,” they said. “Generally speaking, there are essential ingredients of how a kite flies, so if you don’t have those, perhaps it will fail.”

For example, kites need to be designed symmetrically to successfully catch the wind, which is often blowing horizontally, Choi said, adding that sometimes people don’t attach a kite’s tail properly, not realizing the tail helps the kite orient itself. Or the kite maker might have attached the string in a way that inhibits the kite’s ability to catch air pressure and rise.

The kite that readers can build using The Times’ Weekend section.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

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And sometimes the ratio is just off. The area of the sail (in our case, the trapezoid shape in our newspaper) to the weight of the spars (the frame or rigid sticks that allow the kite to hold its shape) really matters. Heavier spars require a larger sail while people who build miniature kites sometimes don’t include a spar or will only use half a toothpick, Choi said.

Choi estimated that around six of their first kites failed. I asked them how someone can get over the embarrassment they might feel when their kite just doesn’t fly.

Choi produced a mischievous grin. “You wear a mask, like a monster mask [or] your favorite animal,” they said. “So you wear a penguin mask, so [onlookers] are like, ‘Oh, the penguin made a failing kite.’ They won’t be like, ‘Oh, a person embarrassed themselves.’”

In all seriousness, building and flying a kite is an opportunity to embrace a challenge rather than view a difficult task in binary terms, a point Choi and I discussed.

I also asked Sue Bell Yank, Clockshop’s executive director, how the kite festival began.

The organization wanted to celebrate the open sky above L.A. State Historic Park and reclaim what could be taken if the controversial electric aerial gondola system, first proposed in 2018 by a company funded by former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, were built, as it would take passengers over the park on its way to Dodger Stadium.

Over the years, the festival has evolved into a celebration of the artistry of kite-making, although Clockshop still views it as a “joyful protest” that brings communities together on public lands, Yank said.

“There’s a sense of freedom in connecting yourself to the ground and the air and with the wind,” Yank said. “You’re working in concert with nature to get this kite off the ground.”

That’s the spirit that my colleagues and I had when we started this process.

The staff at Clockshop gave us a few kite designs they suggested we consider. Then Faith Stafford, a senior deputy design director, worked diligently to re-create one design out of newspaper. And because we’re journalists, we tested it since printing thousands of copies of a design that doesn’t work would require a historic and embarrassing correction none of us would fully recover from.

I procured kitchen twine from The Times’ Kitchen manager Luciana Momesso, and three of us — Stafford, deputy features editor Marques Harper and I — headed to The Times’ parking garage at our El Segundo office.

At the top of the garage, we asked one another: “Do you know how to fly a kite?” It was immediately clear we’d focused intensely on every detail of our kite-making process but that.

We wandered around the parking lot until we found the breeziest spot, although I was also Googling “How to fly a kite successfully.” Stafford bravely let our first newspaper prototype go, and there was a collective sigh of relief and joyous exclamation when our kite flew.

At the annual kite festival, The Times will have a booth where you can talk with us about our kite and snag a copy of the Weekend section that includes the kite design (while supplies last).

I am so eager to see our newspaper used in a tactical, whimsical way — a reuse option that’s been there all along.

How to build the L.A. Times kite (newspaper version)

Materials needed

• One May 3 edition of the L.A. Times’ Weekend section
• Two 17¼-inch bamboo spars, commonly found at grocery or gardening stores* (see notes)
• Kite line made of kitchen twine** and a winder***
• Scissors
• Transparent tape

1. Using your cellphone, take photos of the newspaper kite design on the L1 cover and on pages L6-7 and L10 before you start cutting so you have a reference point.

2. Now you’re ready to build our kite. First, leaving them in one large piece, cut out the trapezoid-shaped kite sail and the two thin triangles on these pages.

3. Cut out the trapezoidal vent in the middle of the sail, as indicated, and discard.

4. If you correctly followed Step 2 and left the kite sail and two triangles together in one large piece, skip to Step 6. If you mistakenly cut the triangles from the sail, follow this step: Tape the two triangular sections to the bottom of the sail, taping the base of the triangles (non-pointy ends) to the sail on both sides. You want the straight side of each triangle to face outward while both triangles’ angled sides face inward toward each other. (See images from your phone for reference.)

5. Now you’re ready to cut out and connect the strips to make the kite tail:

• Using the arrows as your guide, cut the portion below into six long strips. Make note of the letters on each end.
• Applying tape to both sides, tape A to A, B to B, C to C, etc., then tape all the strips until you have one long strip that starts and ends on yellow like the line below. The colors will match at each seam as the diagram below shows.

6. On the undecorated back side of the sail, tape the spars in place, as shown below.

7. Get the tail pieces you cut and assembled during Step 5. You will tape each end of the tail to where it matches the width of the triangular sections to make a connected long loop.

8. Turn the kite over so the front (decorated) side faces up. Tie your kite line securely around the spars, where they cross in the middle of the vent. Use two overhand (shoelace-style) knots.

9. If using a homemade winder,*** consider gluing or taping the string to the winder so that your string stays connected if you happen to use all of your string to fly the kite.

Notes:

* We tested our kite with bamboo spars, but if you don’t have those around your home, you could also try taping wooden coffee stirrers or other thin, lightweight wooden objects — although bamboo chopsticks might be too heavy. Some kitemakers have success with straws, but straws typically work better with diamond-shaped kites. A final option would be old wire hangers, but that could require a longer tail.

** We used kitchen twine, but other options are crochet thread as long as it isn’t too thick, or fishing line, although it can be difficult to see and tangles easily. You can also find string options at your local craft store. You want to have between 50 to 100 feet of string for the kite.

*** We tested our kite without a winder, but you can make one out of many household objects, including an empty toilet paper roll, a small, sturdy piece of cardboard or anything else around your home that will help you keep from tangling your line.

How to build the L.A. Times kite (digital version)

Materials needed

• One L.A. Times kite pattern printed on two 11-by-17-inch sheets of 20- to 24-pound paper* see notes
• Two 17¼-inch bamboo spars, commonly found at grocery or gardening stores** (see notes)
• Kite line made of kitchen twine** and a winder***
• Scissors
• Transparent tape

1. Print the pattern, ensuring the design is set to print on 11-by-17-inch (tabloid) size paper at 100% to scale. The design might not print correctly if your printer settings are set to “fit to page,” “fit to paper” or “fit to printable area.”

2. Cut out the trapezoid shape (your kite’s sail) on page 1 and the two triangular segments on the right and left side of the trapezoid shape.

3. Tape the two triangular sections to the bottom of the sail, taping the base of the triangles (non-pointy ends) to the sail on both sides. You want the straight side of each triangle to face outward while both triangles’ angled sides face inward toward each other (see below).

4. Cut the white space out of the middle of the trapezoid. This will be your kite’s vent. You don’t need this small white piece for your kite.

5. Now you’re ready to cut out and connect the strips (page 2) to make the kite tail:

• Using the arrows as your guide, cut the portion below into six long strips. Make note of the letters on each end.
• Applying tape to both sides, tape A to A, B to B, C to C, etc., then tape all the strips until you have one long strip that starts and ends on yellow like the line below. The colors will match at each seam as the diagram below shows.

6. On the undecorated back side of the sail, tape the spars in place, as shown below.

7. Get the tail pieces you cut and assembled during Step 5. You will tape each end of the tail to where it matches the width of the triangular sections to make a connected long loop.

8. Turn the kite over so the front (decorated) side faces up. Tie your kite line securely around the spars, where they cross in the middle of the vent. Use two overhand (shoelace-style) knots.

9. If using a homemade winder,*** consider gluing or taping the string to the winder so that your string stays connected if you happen to use all of your string to fly the kite.

10. Go have fun!

Notes:

* We recommend printing your design on an 11-by-17-inch, 20- or 24-pound piece of durable paper, like bond paper.

** We tested our kite with bamboo spars, but if you don’t have those around your home, you could also try taping wooden coffee stirrers or other thin, lightweight wooden objects — although bamboo chopsticks might be too heavy. Some kitemakers have success with straws, but straws typically work better with diamond-shaped kites.

*** We used kitchen twine, but other options are crochet thread as long as it isn’t too thick, or fishing line, although it can be difficult to see and tangles easily. You can also find string options at your local craft store. You want to have around 50 feet of string for the kite.

**** We tested our kite without a winder, but you can make one out of many household objects, including an empty toilet paper roll, a small, sturdy piece of cardboard or anything else around your home that will help you keep from tangling your line.

Sources: The Drachen Foundation; Trépanier Trapezoid kite design by Québec-based artist Robert Trépanier