Aspire with Emma Grede

Law Roach is the image architect behind some of the most talked-about red carpet moments in the world. Raised on Chicago’s South Side, he built his career working with stars including Zendaya, Celine Dion, and Ariana Grande. Along the way, he became a star himself, with a name and reputation that carry value beyond the clothes. But reaching the top also brought a breaking point, and his very public retirement changed what he was willing to say yes to.
In this episode of Aspire, Law joins Emma Grede to talk about his journey to the center of fashion and how he turned his talent and taste into a business. He shares what it took to earn millions a year from styling alone, and why walking away from it at the height of his career gave him the freedom to decide what he wanted to build next.
Today, you’ll hear:
Why a bold public persona only works when it’s backed by a professional reputation built on trust and follow-through
How Law and Zendaya made sure his contribution was recognized and paid for in her fashion deals
Why Keke Palmer fired him, and why being the best at your job doesn’t always mean you’re the right person for a client
How gratitude and looking after other people’s interests build relationships that last
Why Law uses fashion to tell stories about Black history and the women who shaped him
What it takes to build a business that can grow beyond your own time and talent

Malika Andrews and Taylor Rooks have two of the most visible jobs in sports media. Malika is the face of ESPN's NBA coverage, hosting NBA Today and NBA Countdown. Taylor hosts NBA on Prime and is a major presence across Thursday Night Football. Between them they're speaking to millions of people every week — and interviewing some of the most famous athletes in the world.
They’ve also had a front-row seat to each other’s rise. And while they’re both incredibly ambitious and competitive, they’ve learned how to let someone else’s success push them without allowing it to diminish their own.
Emma sits down with both of them to understand what it actually takes to become that trusted at that scale — the preparation nobody sees, how you get an athlete to tell you the truth, and what it costs to do a job where every word, every question and every mistake gets picked apart in real time.
In this episode:
Why preparation gives you the confidence to perform under pressure
Trust as a daily deposit: accurate, honest, and fair
How healthy competition can raise your own standard
Why asking for what you want can change the trajectory of your career
How to negotiate from a place of knowing your value
Why credibility is built through small, consistent actions
How to tell the difference between feedback worth hearing and noise
Why longevity, not the next job, is the real ambition
For more, subscribe to our weekly newsletter at emmagrede.com.

Everyone has an opinion about Nara Smith. Very few people have asked her how the business works. At 24, with four kids under six and one of the most recognizable formats on the internet, Nara is running a company she plans to keep growing for the next 50 years.
Emma and Nara get into the moment a viral format turned into income, and why she left the modeling agency that had represented her since she was 14. Nara explains how she uses brand partnerships to test what her audience will buy before launching her own consumer goods brand, and why she still films and edits every video herself. They also talk about the money rules her dad drilled into her and what it takes to stop letting the comment section decide who you are.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
How Nara turned a recognizable content format into a multimillion-dollar business
Why knowing when to lean into what’s working can be more powerful than starting with a perfect strategy
How she and Lucky approach money, shared wealth, and maintaining their own individual businesses
What the internet gets wrong about the “tradwife” version of Nara Smith
How she stops other people’s assumptions from becoming her identity
How Nara is planning to build an empire that lasts well beyond social media

Vanessa Van Edwards has spent nearly twenty years studying what makes some people easy to talk to. Her argument is that conversation is a skill rather than a personality, and that most of us are simply out of practice.
She joins Emma to talk about how to prepare for the conversations that matter, what to say when you meet someone who could change your career, and how to handle feedback and disagreement without damaging the relationship. She also explains what happened early in her own career, when she lost a television deal during the small talk before the pitch and nobody ever told her that was why.
In this episode:
How to prepare for conversations that could change what happens next
The three questions you should always be ready to answer
Why talking about how busy you are makes people think you're less competent
How to raise a problem with someone more senior than you
What the way someone tells their own story reveals about them
Vanessa Van Edwards's new book, Conversation: How to Connect with Anyone & Make Every Interaction Count, is out now.

Ari Emanuel is one of the most powerful people in entertainment and the real-life inspiration for Ari Gold on Entourage. He started in the CAA mailroom before co-founding Endeavor with three other agents and very little money. Over the next three decades, he merged the company with William Morris, acquired IMG and UFC, and helped reshape the modern entertainment business.
In this conversation, Ari and Emma examine the qualities behind that extraordinary career. Ari opens up about growing up with severe dyslexia, being bullied, and using the anger he carried from those experiences to drive himself forward. He explains why you have to say what you want, how he works until he finds the yes, and why curiosity only becomes valuable when you act on it.
They also explore the harder side of success. Ari reflects on the rage and aggression that helped him build his company, the moment he realized those qualities could no longer take him forward, and the work he has done to become a better leader.
They get into:
Turning dyslexia and rejection into emotional endurance
Why nobody will advocate for your future more fiercely than you
What Ari learned from starting in the CAA mailroom
His relentless approach to calls, rejection, and finding the yes
How he turns curiosity into relationships and opportunities
Why company culture is shaped by the behavior leaders tolerate
What founders misunderstand about how long success takes
Knowing when the qualities that built your career need to evolve
Why Ari ultimately values a life of meaning over a traditional legacy
Ari’s new memoir, Roll the Calls, is available now.