>> good morning at the memorial day if you are in the u.s. happy bank holiday if you are here in the u.k., but let's

check in on which markets are open in continental europe this morning. in paris, 2/10 of 1%. i'm just casting my eyes across the sector this morning and utilities are the strongest gain across the stoxx 600 but if we flip over and look to the wall street open tomorrow, nasdaq futures currently flat to the downside and flipping over to the cross asset picture as well, trading cash treasuries close, the new t plus one rule is going to kick in after the weekend. brent, 4/10 of 1% higher. gold, i should say. in terms of our top stories this morning, at least 40 palestinians were killed in an israeli airstrike late on sunday according to the hamas-run health ministry.

it comes two days after a ruling widely interpreted as ordering israel to halt its operations. elsewhere, elon musk's artificial intelligence starter x-ai has raised $6 billion in a bid to challenge his former allies at openai. it comes less than a year after the date you and marx would've agreed investments in the field. and china has set up its largest ever semiconductor fund. the fund worth $47 billion is the latest effort from beijing to achieve self-sufficiency at the u.s. seeks to restrict its growth. >> i don't want my daughters wasting time thinking about how much they weigh, what they look like, and i think fashion has done a terrible job reinforcing

if you the idea. >> the entrepreneur trying to redefine the world of fashion. , greed has partnered with one of -- of hollywood. she is also the founding partner of shape where label skims alongside kim. >> as a young, black female entrepreneur, the only thing i can do is what i know from my experience. i didn't set out to create a company that was deeply rooted in the principles of inclusivity. i set out to make a company that was right for me. >> we speak about her rise to the top, how she measures success and why diversity remains elusive in the world fashion. francine: thank you so much for joining me. you represent so much for so many people.

everything you touch turns to gold. did you ever think you would be such a success? >> know. most of the businesses i touched early in the days didn't turn to gold. i love this idea of the overnight success and i'd love to perpetuate that myth but i've just done a lot and there's been a lot of trial and error along the way. i've probably done every job imaginable from having a paper route when i was 12 to starting things that were less successful, to starting things with medium success. there's been a long journey and i really thankful that now i'm 41 years old and i'm starting to see this type of success. francine: you always wanted to succeed. is that what actually makes success? emma: i think so. i also think there's an element of luck in any of these but i

also believe that when opportunity preparation, i was always prepared. and then there is just that old adage of a lot of hard work. and i've really, really put the time in. francine: did you always want to be in occupant nor? emma: no, i never knew what it entrepreneur was. everyone that i knew what to work to pay the bills with usually very little joy in it. so even the idea of doing something that felt purposeful or meaningful really wasn't a part of my understanding i tried really hard to get close to what it is that i love, but i didn't ever think about starting my own thing. i think it actually came out of necessity. i was like, who is going to employ me and pay me what i think i deserve? francine: age -- emma: 24.

francine: there was the determination of making something. emma: i felt like i was adding a lot of value and i think somebody people through their careers have this feeling. i'm adding a lot of value and i'm not being renewed for what i bring to the table. it's but what do you do at 24? i did what a lot of people do. i went to a company and tried to do my best in the position i was given and thankfully somebody saw that. but i talked to so many young but i employ for people that are trying to get noticed anything that such amazingly good advice. no one is ever going to look at you to do the next thing unless you are excelling where you are today. sometimes just buckling down and doing the absolute best job is the way to get ahead. emma: you have to be brave and it is not always easy. emma: it wasn't always easy.

i remember the first time that i got a little bit of backing and they said to me you are going to be in charge of p&l. and i said fantastic, and i went home and googled it. sometimes naivety is the best thing. i didn't know what i'd know and therefore i kind of had to learn fast and i think throughout my career i haven't made the best choices every time, but i think part of being a good entrepreneur is knowing when things are not going right and knowing what you don't know. and i surrounded myself with the right people continuously. francine: what is the biggest mistake that you've learned from? emma: the biggest mistake was probably when i had my first agency and i was killing it in london. and there if this idea that the company was completely exportable and i went to the u.s., opened an office in new york, it went really well and that i opened in l.a. and that they have miserably. bring the right people in, just thought that ever i was doing

would translate, and didn't. i learned that by starting something, dragging people there and having to close it. and there is nothing like a bit of embarrassment to humble. i literally had to pack my own office backup. but again, i never let it break my spirit. i truly took those learnings and when i started my second company in l.a. i was like, ok, this is where i need to do something different. so i literally packed up my family and i knew that if i was going to do something successful, i think to be in the country and give my absolute all. francine: is that also giving time to understand the market? it was difficult to do it not being in the city? emma:emma: being part of the fabric of that culture has been really important, especially for my business, good american.

where are we in society, where is fashion, and i think that has been really important. francine: that is a really bold move, selling denim to americans. emma: nobody needs more bluejeans, let's be honest. but come into a business with mission and purpose at the heart of what we do is what sets us apart. there are so many brands that how do consumers make choices these days? right now we make our choices based on what we feel this important, what we want our children to see. i am a mother of four. i don't want my daughters wasting time thinking about how much they weigh, what they look like, and i think there fashion has done a terrible job of reinforcing a really unrealistic beauty ideal. so the whole premise of the brand was to say we are going to make clothes for all women, we are going to let women make their choices and hopefully we are going to take some of the pain out of what it means to be left out of the conversation or not represented fashion.

and we've done that pretty well, i think. francine: you have this idea of making women feel good. who do you talk about it with first? emma: funny enough, my husband. we are both entrepreneurs. it's natural for me to bounce any ideas backwards and forwards with him. i worked for years in the fashion business. i've been part of the problem. i've seen firsthand how some fashion businesses may women feel and i think there is one thing, being really vocal and being an instagram activist, there is a difference than putting your money where your mouth is for really trying to do something about the problem and that is what i did with that business. how do i take everything that i know and i bloomed and actually to the opposite? as a young, black female entrepreneur, the only thing i could do was what i know from my experience. i didn't set out to create a company that was deeply rooted in the principles of inclusivity

and diversity. i set out to make a company that was right for me and my friends and i knew that if i had a problem, chances are somebody else does. i think that is where so many businesses are created, we were solving a problem that is real for you and therefore real for the consumer. francine: is there danger the -- that some are cheaper nor -- entrepreneurs will look for a gap in the market? emma: for me, i go with my gut. i tend not to go against my gut. i'd be lying if i said i didn't run some numbers in the electives commercial opportunity here. no one makes 19 sizes of everything without thinking i reckon i can sell them somewhere along the line, but i definitely think so much more of what i've done throughout my career has been in response to a feeling i've had and then acting on that feeling. francine: three surprised how many other people felt like you? emma: yeah, honestly. it is one of the things that on paper, good american has been

such a massive success but if you wind it back to day one, 9:00 i was the hero, by 11:00 i had no stock left and everyone was like, you have no idea what you are doing. and in a way, that was my first lesson in what it needs to be excellent from the customer experience point of view. how long do i think people will wait? turns out, not that long. i was my own customer. can you help me get some more fabric, will you wake eight weeks for a pair of jeans? and somewhere in that it all kind of worked out. but what people respond to his brands that have authenticity and there is a level of honesty that is needed and i went and said you know what, we have no idea how popular and how much this was going to chime with customers and if you just be patient, we are going to get you something. turns out, we know we messed up and we don't want to disappoint you. there is a part of that honesty

that was clearly not written by pr, because i couldn't afford pr at that point. francine: for you signing emma? emma: how i would speak to my mom or something. francine: coming up, her attempts to break one of the last taboos in fashion and how success is making the reassess what to be an entrepreneur -- what it means to be an on-chip nor -- entrepreneur.

francine: emma grede has made a personal fortune founding denim companies. good american made $1 million in sales on its first day. she tells me about her success and the challenges that remain across the industry. fashion hasn't done enough when it comes to inclusively and diversity, but has it on something in the last five to 10 years? emma: fashion, as quick as it is to change in the kind of aesthetic, it is very difficult to change a system. and i think that comes down to who makes decisions. and the people that make decisions in fashion don't really look like me. they aren't typically women all the time. when we look at who is at the helm of the biggest players, it tends to be the same type of people. and so i honestly think there is a lot of work to be done. progress has definitely happen but you only have to look at the last new york fashion week, the

biggest, most commercial to see that there is so much tokenism around what inclusivity really means. i think that especially when it comes to size, we are back where we were 20 or 30 years ago when you would have one single black model that would walk down the catwalk. now we are in that same situation where less than 3% of models that came down the catwalk were about a sized 12. size 12 is less than average. there are so much work to be done. size is the last allowed to bucha, we are allowed to disclose people because of their size and it is for the crazy. francine: i was reading something saying people feel a bit rubbish when they look at all this stuff because they don't know represented and they feel there is something wrong with them. emma: that's the whole reason i started the brand. seven years ago i was pregnant with my second child and i really felt that deeply. how much time and effort you can spend and waste time. to be, if you take out some of

that worry and the strife around how much we think about her looks, and instead put our energy into saying i need a pay raise, i think i should be doing something else with my life, part of it was like, what happens if you shift and change the paradigm of how people see themselves? it is a really trite sentence that representation really matters. when you see a version of yourself and something there is a level of acceptance and that is what i wanted to do, level the playing field. we all look different, we all are different and that's ok. that is not what we should be thinking about. we should be thinking about equal pay. they are the things that we should use our time for as women. let's just get you quality going with men and i mean throughout the workplace, throughout all of the industries. the media is such a huge impact on us and i don't mean just fashion media, i mean the media at large. we need to see better

representation everywhere in society. francine: is that what you are doing dragon's den? emma: you asked me earlier today think about being an entrepreneur and i never thought about being an entrepreneur. but as i got more successful i thought more about what it means to be an entrepreneur. they talk about it being with a small at the top but it is not small at the top. it is minuscule. for me, because i'm on shark tank in the u.s., the idea of dragon's den and that you could be an entrepreneur with seemingly very little background and absolutely no access to funding and walk on and get a check to do something that means something to you and that could mean something for your family, why wouldn't you? it wasn't so long ago that i was out fundraising. if i could be a small part of somebody's journey that would usually get the opportunity, it makes so much sense. it is not just about women of color.

if you didn't have the means for the education to know anything differently than getting up and going to work everyday, that doesn't mean you can't have a successful business. i am walking proof of that. to me, it is about laying -- leveling the playing field. having that idea that they can be successful if they just get an opportunity. francine: in the u.s. there is almost a badge of honor of trying and failing and starting again. i don't know if there is a stigma in the u.k., but people are less bold. emma: i don't think they are less bold. we are different here. we don't celebrate it in the same way and i find that really difficult to say because i feel like i'm so celebrated especially where i'm from. people in london are so nice to me. i turned up in this office and two girls are like, we love you, high-five. what i am all about is

celebrating people. it doesn't all work out, but that is also part of life and i think just have to be a little bit more honest with ourselves about what it takes and how hard it is. francine: it is hard because you need to build team around you, you need funding. what have you found hardest? emma:emma: if i'm really honest, probably the funding. without the right background and circles around you, access is difficult. i raised my first check from my clients because i build a business in fashion media. the only rich people i work clients i'm the head and paying the retainers. so that was, for me, the easiest way. i was like, hi, remember me, would you like to give me $3 million? most of them said no but a couple of them said yes. they are the areas that most people face. but once you are in it, i think it is also much about the journey. none of this stuff happens like

a dozen social media. just knowing that you are on a journey, and actually, i honestly think the best way to start a business is with no money. you don't need to go out and raise tons of finances. you need to figure out what and by uniquely good at? because you figure out what you are good at, you know who else you need around you. francine: kris jenner was part of your journey. emma: very much so. francine: how did that shape the entrepreneur you are? emma:-very lucky to be surrounded by so many entrepreneurs. my husband, people like chris, having access and listening and watching some brilliant people as i grew up, even on the tv. really soaking it up and i am one of those people that can learn from anything. i read books about being an entrepreneur before i really

knew what one was. i will take from any situation that you let me. francine: coming up, why diversity is a superpower and what she is doing to try to improve access and opportunity. what about africa? safari? hot air balloon ride? swim with elephants? wait, can we afford a safari? great question. like everything, it takes a little planning. or, put the money towards a down-payment... ...on a ranch ...in montana ...with horses let's take a look at those scenarios. j.p. morgan wealth management has advisors in chase branches and tools, like wealth plan to keep you on track. when you're planning for it all... the answer is j.p. morgan wealth management. francine: emma grede is perhaps

best known as a founding partner of scamps, the brand valued at $4 billion last year. i continue the conversation by asking about the business and her commitment to supporting diversity in black owned companies. francine: did you think that in underwear shaping company with the set huge? emma: underwear, solution-wear. skims has grown unbelievably. it is kim kardashian's company, it was her idea from the outset. i honestly believe that we never thought that it would just be one thing. we always thought about it as being this each company that would do lots of things. again, that company was based on just doing one product really well and i think that is testament to any great company. we had so much focus in the beginning. we were like, we are going to make superior shape where in

every single size and color and it worked out incredibly well. francine: when is the right time to either grow or go to a slightly different branch? emma: it is so interesting because in good american, the first time we ever thought of going into another category was because customers asked us to. and i think it is a really smart way to think that your growth and development in a business. you really have to listen. you can't take that commentary like just the good things because your customers will tell you what you need to hear. they will also tell you what you don't want to hear. i feel like that is one of the things with social media, because it is just a reflection of everything you're are doing, a reflection of your consumer base. and if you are listening carefully enough, the data will tell you things and all you need to do is tune into that. it really is in regards to or in relation to really what customers are asking me for.

francine: how do you build a team that can also say this is not a great idea? emma: that is a great question. i think i spend about 25% of my time hiring and i will take speculative meetings even if i don't have a position that is available because you are only as good as your team. to do what i do you have to surround yourself with experts, like people that are really, really good at what they do. part of that is being able to stand up to you and you being able to listen. when i think about myself as a leader, i really lead with empathy because i need people to be able to say to me, that is a bad idea. francine: do you think it is different being a leader in 2024 then it was in 2004? emma: 100%. post-pandemic, also the generation we are dealing with right now, it's entirely different.

i think there have been enormous amounts of change. younger people have a different expectation of their life and their work and how those things fit together. like it or not, covid changed the working and direct -- environment forever. you adapt or you die. i might have a certain opinion about how i want people to come into a business but you've got to work with for the culture is at. how do we work to maximize this? francine: how do you spot a good entrepreneur? how do you decide whether you are all in? emma: i am so personality- driven. a good idea is a good idea but if i meet someone who does something to me, i feel it immediately. francine: fire in the belly? emma: sometimes just that mad

passion. i could get excited about an origami company. it's like, i am that person and i respond to that because that is who i am but i also the response to the fact that i sometimes seeing yourself, knowing that someone hasn't got another opportunity or a chance, i will have a go at you. francine: what is emme grede going to do in five years? emma: i don't know, lie down? i will find something else. the focus on a lot of my nonprofit work these days. i'm chairwoman of incredible position which is really focused on creating some semblance of talent in the world lack owned businesses, figuring out how they can show up in retail with more balance and i honestly believe that anyway that i can use my voice, use my influence and use the knowledge that i've built over this time for good is

a good use of my energy. francine: why is it so underfunded still? emma: it's about access. i think about this all the time. talent is fairly evenly distributed. opportunity isn't. what we need is to give more people opportunity regardless of education, race, background, age. we come back to that same idea. who gets to be an entrepreneur, who gets to make decisions? the more we can open that up, the better. diversity actually is a superpower. the more people you have at the table, more customers you can serve, it is just good business. it is not about being holier than thou or giving somebody an opportunity that doesn't deserve it. it is being able to service as many customers as you can and the more minds you have around the table that reflect your customer base, the better. francine: thank you so much.

>> good morning, i'm lizzy burden with your bloomberg business update. happy memorial day in the u.s., happy bank holiday in the u.k.. we can look to continental europe for