{"id":216930,"date":"2025-06-26T21:52:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T21:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/216930\/"},"modified":"2025-06-26T21:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T21:52:10","slug":"emma-grede-partners-with-coco-gauff-ups-to-mentor-emerging-entrepreneurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/216930\/","title":{"rendered":"Emma Grede Partners With Coco Gauff, UPS to Mentor Emerging Entrepreneurs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEmma Grede <\/a>is partnering with UPS x Coco Gauff<\/a> to support small business owners in elevating their performance success. A new campaign entitled \u201cUPS Unlocking Potential\u201d introduces Grede as a new mentor to three emerging entrepreneurs \u2014 Classy Casita, Petrova Chocolates and Anima Iris.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs part of the initiative, Grede held one-on-one sessions with each small business owner, and a sit-down with UPS to discuss the importance of mentorship for small business owners. UPS Virtual Consultations give entrepreneurs across the country a chance to ask tough questions and receive actionable advice. The sessions were captured and will be released in phases throughout Gauff\u2019s tennis season, with Gauff and Grede guiding these small business owners.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Emma<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tEmma Grede, Coco Gauff<\/a> and UPS have teamed up to help small businesses. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy image<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a Zoom interview, Grede, who is the cofounder and chief executive officer of Good American<\/a>, founding partner of Skims<\/a>, cofounder of Safely and Off Season, and the voice behind the podcast \u201cAspire with Emma Grede,\u201d spoke about her newest role.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHonestly, I love mentoring,\u201d said Grede. \u201cI don\u2019t feel that far away from when I first started. I know how useful having a mentor can be if it comes at the right time in your business trajectory.\u201d She said mentorship can change what you know and the trajectory of your business. \u201cSo that\u2019s the main reason I love doing these type of things. You know, I didn\u2019t have a mentor,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tGrede said she went around making people her mentor, and she would have client meetings and then during the last 10 minutes, she\u2019d start asking questions that would be useful to her. \u201cI\u2019d be like, \u2018you\u2019d be a great mentor\u2019\u2026,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tGrede said she feels passionate about small businesses and young founders. \u201cAnd when I was asked to be a mentor, it was a no-brainer. Plus I\u2019m a huge fan of Coco [Gauff],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe companies were narrowed down to three founders from UPS businesses who represent a wide range of industries and backgrounds. The three founders who were chosen had unique stories of entrepreneurship and stood out in conversations from pre-interviews when discussing their business goals and aspirations. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe \u201cUPS Unlocking Potential\u201d campaign from UPS x Coco Gauff.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe three companies are Classy Casita, a curated selection of artisan-crafted home goods and plant care products sourced from makers around the world; Petrova Chocolates, hand-crafted chocolates, and Anima Iris, a handbag brand inspired by African art and paintings. Anima Iris recently launched tennis totes and racquet bags. The line is sold online and at stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\n\tGrede said she\u2019s coming on board for this year\u2019s campaign as part of a longer-term program that Gauff has had with UPS. The UPS x Coco Gauff partnership started in 2023 when Gauff became part of the UPS \u201cBe Unstoppable\u201d campaign. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked what areas of business young entrepreneurs need the most help, Grede said, \u201cIt\u2019s really about stress testing your ideas and knowing what to avoid, when I speak to founders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s about how can you avoid complacency, comfort and conformity. And I said those three things because you get so much unsolicited advice.\u201d She said that listening to one\u2019s own gut and intuition is really important. \u201cAnd I would say even more for female founders because you\u2019re coming at business with a whole different point of view,\u201d she said. When you\u2019re getting so much unsolicited advice, she said, some things you\u2019d do well not to conform to.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou\u2019re going to be uncomfortable\u2026 And so when we talk about it, manifestation is fantastic, but manifestation has to be coupled with really, really hard work and going outside of what might be your comfort zone. And so I try to talk to people about those things,\u201d said Grede.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe also pointed to the decision of whom you surround yourself with. \u201cIt\u2019s really important to know what you don\u2019t know,\u201d she said. \u201cSurround yourself with people that know what you don\u2019t know. Those decisions are crucial. You know when you\u2019re a start-up founder, that the number-two, number-three and number-four hire are crucial to your success.\u201d She said she often talks to people about bringing the right type of people in at the right time.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe said of the three businesses she\u2019s working with, they each have their unique problems.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe is also doing a podcast, which is a way for her to scale mentorship because people are always getting in touch with her. \u201cI try to take a call almost every morning on my way into the office with a founder,\u201d she said. She launched her podcast as a way to find a way to get to as many people as possible. \u201cAnd ultimately, I think what I would like to do is inspire a whole generation of women to live up to their potential and share everything I\u2019ve learned,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe said she\u2019s trying to create a platform that is honest and talks about all the difficulties she\u2019s had in business and all of the complexities \u201cbecause that\u2019s not what you usually share.\u201d She said she\u2019s trying to be really honest about what it takes and the advice that she wants to give. Among some of the guests have been on the podcast are Gwyneth Paltrow, Mellody Hobson, Michael Rubin and Mark Cuban. She does a new podcast weekly.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think in this challenging environment, this kind of stuff is needed more than ever. You need trusted voices. We need truthful voices and we need to support one another. I really believe in the power and strength of community,\u201d said Grede. <\/p>\n

\n\tShe said she wants to take everything she has learned and everything she\u2019s known and help a lot of people. \u201cPeople want to be able to take their life into their own hands. And I think when there\u2019s uncertainly out there, you want to be able to galvanize what you can to live a life that you know\u2026I think that proximity to information is difficult when you don\u2019t know anyone, right? I\u2019m going to use what I\u2019ve learned and everyone that I know and pass it on,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emma Grede is partnering with UPS x Coco Gauff to support small business owners in elevating their performance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3094],"tags":[51,6740,3134,44751,54198,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-216930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-coco-gauff","10":"tag-entrepreneurship","11":"tag-people-companies","12":"tag-skims","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114751887492016768","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}