Aspire with Emma Grede

Sofia Franklyn co-created Call Her Daddy in 2018. Two years later, a contract fight with Barstool ended her partnership, and the show kept going without her. Six years on, she's telling her side of the story in her new memoir, Daddy Issues.In this conversation, Emma walks Sofia back through the deal, from a $75,000 first contract to the fight over who owns the IP. They get into what Sofia would do differently, and how she learned to trust herself again after losing control of her own story. Emma also shares how she went into business with her close friend too, and the protections she put into writing from day one.In this episode, you'll learn:Why the one thing to get in writing before going into business with a friend is a partnership agreementHow to weight a partnership by what each person brings, so it holds up when your lives changeWhy "in perpetuity" should stop you cold in any contractWhen to get a second opinion, even from advisors with big namesHow to stop measuring your success against someone else'sDaddy Issues is out now, wherever books are sold.

For more than a decade, Lewis Howes has interviewed some of the world’s most successful people on The School of Greatness, his podcast with more than a billion downloads. When Emma was a guest, they talked about something they recognized in each other: how much of their drive had come from anger.On Aspire, Emma turns the questions on Lewis. After more than 2,000 episodes exploring what drives high achievers, what has he noticed about the ones who are genuinely at peace with what they’ve accomplished? In this episode, Lewis shares his own story of healing and how it changed what he wanted from success.You’ll learn:How to tell whether you want the goal itself or what achieving it would proveWays for recognizing your own triggers and understand what’s underneath your reactionHow to find more fulfillment in your work by asking who it serves and what you feel called to doHow to spot the beliefs about money that still shape your decisions, even after you earn moreWhat pursuing his Olympic dream has taught Lewis about going all in on a goal without making the outcome a measure of his worth

Some decisions get easier with time. Others quietly get made for you while you’re still waiting for the perfect answer.In this solo episode, Emma walks through some of the biggest choices that shape a life, from deciding whether you want children and choosing the person you want to build with, to protecting the friendships that matter and knowing when it’s time to take a bigger risk.There isn’t one right answer. The point is to get honest about what you want, understand what you’re willing to compromise on, and make the choice consciously instead of letting fear, timing, or other people make it for you.In this episode, you’ll learn:How to separate “Do I want children?” from “Am I ready right now?”The questions to ask when deciding whether a relationship can carry the future you wantHow to tell which friendships deserve more of your time and which ones you may have outgrownWhy Emma thinks you should calculate the risk of not actingHow to make a big decision without waiting for complete certaintyPlus, download Emma’s Decision Audit to work through the questions for yourself. Sign up for the newsletter at emmagrede.com.

Today, Emma Grede sits down with her longtime friend Rachel Zoe. Long before everyone had a personal brand, Rachel built one almost by accident. She was making $23,000 a year as a fashion assistant when a single Britney Spears music video (you might know the one) paid her more than her annual salary. At 25, she went freelance with nothing lined up. What followed changed how so many of us think about style and turned the person behind the clothes into someone we all wanted to know.Now 55, Rachel says she’s in the freest chapter of her life. She and Emma talk about the guilt she carried over how much she earned in her twenties, and why she never slowed down long enough to enjoy any of it. Rachel also reveals why she sold The Zoe Report when she did, and what her sons told her before she said yes to reality TV again.In this episode, you’ll hear:How Rachel built a world around her name and the decisions she would make differently todayWhat younger builders get wrong when they try to engineer a personal brand without the work to back it upWhy she regrets going into business with her husband, and what she wishes they had put in place from the beginningThe financial structure she now believes every woman should have, married or notWhere the money comes from in the Rachel Zoe business todayWhat Rachel is building her next chapter around, and why she believes it's her most exciting one yet

Most of us have been taught to see conflict as a sign that something has gone wrong. Today’s guest, Priya Parker, sees it differently. After more than two decades working in conflict resolution, she believes the right kind of fight can bring us closer, make our teams stronger, and help us understand each other better. In her new book, The Art of Fighting, Priya gives us the language and the skill set to do it well. Priya joins Emma Grede to talk about why so many of us choose what she calls “unhealthy peace,” and what we lose when we avoid saying what we really think. They explore how our families and cultures shape the way we fight, why some disagreements are worth staying in, and how to tell when it’s time to let go. This is a conversation about what healthy conflict can look like in practice and how our differences can ultimately bring us together. In this episode, you’ll learn:The questions to ask yourself before deciding whether a fight is worth havingWhy calming your body can change the way you show up in a difficult conversationHow leaders can make it safer for people with less power to speak honestlyHow Slack and digital tools have changed workplace culture Why humor and play can help people move through conflict without losing connectionSpecific examples from Priya’s work in conflict resolution, from boardrooms to restaurantsThe simple language Priya uses to start a hard conversation with someone she cares about