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

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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.

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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

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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

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Hiring is the single most consequential thing you do when you're building anything. Get it right and it compounds. Get it wrong and it costs you years. In today's episode, Emma is sharing the thing she's come to believe is true: the team you build is the most honest reflection of how well you know yourself.

This is the real version of what Emma's looking for when she's sitting across from a candidate—the exact framework for how she actually thinks about it, the mistakes she's made, and why she can see past a great resumé to the person underneath.

In this episode you'll learn:

The three people you need to speak to before you write a single job description

Why Emma hires for attitude over experience, and what she believes you cannot teach

What to listen for in how someone talks about their wins and losses

Why culture fit has quietly become code for comfort

How to think about paying for talent when the margins are thin

Whether you're hiring for the first time, building a team, or sitting on the other side of the table in an interview, this one is for you.

Start With Yourself is available now.

We'd love to hear what you think. Please take this survey to help us make the show better for you: ⁠emmagrede.com/survey

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Gary Vaynerchuk has spent the last two decades understanding where culture and consumer behavior were headed long before the rest of the world caught up. He was early to YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, creator commerce, and live shopping. But this conversation is about more than algorithms and internet trends.

In this episode, Gary sits down with Emma to talk about the real reason most people stay stuck: fear. Fear of judgment. Fear of failure. Fear of what other people will think if they try something new.

Together, they unpack the insecurity driving modern ambition, why so many successful people are still deeply unhappy, and why Gary believes we are entering a cultural shift where kindness, reputation, and emotional intelligence will matter more than ever.

Gary shares:

Why most people are living for opinions they don’t even respect

The hidden insecurity driving high achievement

Why reputation compounds faster than money

What social media actually revealed about human behavior

How parents unintentionally destroy confidence in their kids

Why proximity and visibility still matter in the AI era

The business opportunities Gary believes people are still underestimating

Why “nice guys finish first”

What would change in your life if you stopped making decisions based on other people’s expectations of you? Drop it in the comments — we’re reading. 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

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Bethenny Frankel turned a TikTok account into a $20-million-a-year business without a plan or a brand of her own. She had a vision and a set of deal terms that no one in the industry has been able to replicate, or get her to explain, until now. 

In this conversation, Emma gets Bethenny to do the thing she never does: open her playbook. Bethenny shows the work behind it all—the deal structures, the dollar amounts, the model she built that agencies keep trying to reverse-engineer and she keeps refusing to share. 

Bethenny shares:

The Skinny Girl carve-out that started everything and the difference between licensing and ownership that determines whether you walk away rich or walk away with nothing

How she built her business with zero exclusivity, equity in nearly every partnership, and why brands agree to terms no one else can get

Why she says trust and attention are the only two assets that matter and what that means for anyone trying to build an audience into a business

The true cost of building an entire business on yourself and what freedom looks like when you’re more successful in your fifties than you’ve ever been

If you’ve ever been put in a box or told your vision doesn’t fit the playbook, let us know in the comments. And subscribe to Aspire with Emma Grede so you don't miss what's next.

We want to hear from you! Take our audience survey and help us shape what comes next for Aspire: https://form.typeform.com/to/eNPvwUY4

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Sarah Jakes Roberts is not a traditional entrepreneur. She’s the daughter of Bishop T.D. Jakes, one of the most prominent pastors in America. Sarah became a mother at 13—and in the years that followed, she carried the weight of that story in public, under a spotlight she never asked for. 

This conversation is about what happens when the thing you’re most ashamed of becomes the thing you build from. Today, Sarah co-leads a megachurch while raising a blended family of six. But she didn’t set out to lead a global movement, launch conferences that fill stadiums, host a top-ranked podcast, operate more than a dozen revenue streams, or become a bestselling author. She started a blog because she had something to say and an instinct that other women might see parts of themselves in her story. It turned out to be millions of women. 

In today’s conversation, Sarah sits down with Emma to talk about calling, responsibility, and a feeling she describes as being “willing to do what I’ve been trusted with.” 

Sarah shares:

The relationship between anger and people-pleasing—and why suppressing one feeds the other

What Old Thoughts look like when you've been carrying them since you were 13

How she went from a blog with a million views to a global conference and a publishing operation without a traditional business strategy

What young motherhood taught her about shame and building something real from the chapter most people would want to erase

Where ministry ends and business begins—and how she navigates making millions from a unique calling without losing what built it

What’s something in your life that you need to move past?  Drop it in the comments — we're reading. And subscribe to Aspire with Emma Grede so you don't miss what's next.

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Victoria Beckham is one of the most famous women in the world. But behind the headlines is a business story that took nearly two decades to build.

She entered fashion with every reason to be dismissed. A Spice Girl. A celebrity. A public figure trying to be taken seriously in an industry that rarely gives second chances. The skepticism was loud. The losses were public. And at one point, she lost control of the company that carried her own name – but she building anyway. 

Over nearly two decades, Victoria rebuilt her business piece by piece. Through financial pressure, shifting perceptions, and the quiet work of proving she belonged. Today, her fashion business is profitable, her beauty brand is scaling, and the narrative has finally caught up to the work.

In this conversation, Victoria sits down with Emma to talk about what it really took to get here — the financial pressure, the imposter syndrome she carried for years, and the moment she decided to put Victoria back into Victoria Beckham. She opens up about building alongside David, what their partnership actually looks like behind closed doors, and why she refuses to feel guilty about following her dreams.

And for the first time, she reveals that Harper — who has sat in on product development meetings since she was tiny — is starting her own brand. 

Victoria shares:

What it felt like to lose control of her own company and rebuild from inside it

Why staying close to the creative saved the business when nothing else could

How she and David have built alongside each other without disappearing into one another

The Diane von Furstenberg advice that changed how she thinks about guilt

What Harper's brand pitch revealed about legacy, motherhood, and what it means to raise a family of builders

What have you stayed committed to longer than anyone expected? Drop it in the comments.

What would you build if you stopped listening to the noise? Drop it in the comments — we're reading. And subscribe to Aspire with Emma Grede so you don't miss what's next.

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This one is a little different.

For Emma, sitting down with Oprah Winfrey wasn’t just another interview — it was a full circle moment. A conversation years in the making with someone who helped shape how she thinks about success, ambition, and what’s possible.

In this special episode, Emma shares her conversation from The Oprah Podcast — one of the most honest conversations she’s had about her debut book Start With Yourself and the journey behind it.

Together, they go beyond the highlight reel and get into:

Emma also opens up about the mistakes that shaped her, overcoming comparison, and why she believes success starts from within — not from external validation.

It’s a conversation that feels as grounding as it is powerful.

And if you know Emma, you know — this moment meant everything.

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