“Don’t call me a celebrity CEO,” Grede said on April 15 at Adweek’s Social Media Week in New York City. “I’m not a celebrity CEO. I’m a CEO that’s done so well that you know my name.”

Grede, a serial entrepreneur and investor who is worth an estimated $405 million, according to Forbes, is no stranger to hard work. She got her first job at 12 and has, as she puts it, “done every single job all the way up,” from selling Fendi bags that “fell off the back of the truck” to packing boxes as an intern and eventually serving as a senior executive of her own marketing agency ITB Worldwide. That experience, she said, has shaped how she leads and how she thinks about the value of her team’s work.

“You need everybody along the way, and I think that that understanding, that empathy, makes me a good leader,” Grede said. “My team knows that I know what it takes, I know what they’re doing, and I have an appreciation for what everyone brings to the organization.” 

Emma Grede on the ‘impossible standards’ for women and work-life balance

Grede joined Social Media Week to preview her new book, Start with Yourself: A New Vision for Work and Life, which was released earlier this month. One of her aims, she said, is to be honest about what she doesn’t do—and to push back on what she calls the “impossible standards” women are held to.

Rather than add to the “I do it all” rhetoric, Grede talks candidly about trade-offs. She doesn’t take her kids to school every morning or see her friends as often as she’d like, and she wants readers to understand that her version of success comes with real sacrifices.

Those trade-offs extend to how she works, too. For Grede, one of the few non-negotiables is showing up in person.

Despite her growing profile, Grede insists her day-to-day life still revolves around going into the office.

“The reason I can do what I do is because I go to work,” Grede said. “It’s because I have an understanding of what it means to get up and go into a place every day and do your best.” 

While she understands the importance of flexibility, Grede argues that a “great career” requires both visibility and proximity—and that the only way to get more out of your career is to be present and available.

“If you want an extraordinary career, then an extraordinary effort has to go into that, and that’s usually not done on the other end of a phone call,” Grede said.

She added this mindset extends beyond work. Living exclusively in a “virtual world,” she said, comes with risks of missing out on the moments that “make life incredible.”

“I met my husband at work. I met my best friends at work,” Grede said. “The point of life is to be in community with people. And I have had such a rich and incredible career, and it’s not because of the big wins and the valuations.”

“It’s like all the people,” she continued.. “It’s all the amazing conversations that I’ve had, all the gossipy moments. And so when you extrapolate yourself from that, you actually do yourself a disservice.” 

Emma Grede’s advice for Gen Z workers

Grede believes young people early in their careers are sometimes “socially conditioned” to avoid behaviors that create “wealth, success, and opportunities” in leadership.

“We know that there are systems in place that are there to keep us small, that are there to keep us quiet, but you can change your thinking, and that’s what ‘start with yourself’ means,” Grede said.

But for Grede, shifting your mindset is only the first step. The real work comes from taking action—even before you feel ready. Starting before she was ready, she said, was the “single biggest decision” she’s ever made.

“It’s not about those that make the best decisions. It’s people that make the most decisions,” Grede said. “I really believe in this constant way of always being in motion. I think that’s how I got resilient. That’s how I built confidence.”