Aspire with Emma Grede

Monique Rodriguez built Mielle Organics from her basement into a billion-dollar brand and did it without a blueprint.

In this episode of Aspire, Monique shares the real story behind building one of the fastest-growing beauty brands in the world–from bootstrapping with her husband’s paycheck to risking their home, navigating criticism, and ultimately selling to Procter & Gamble while remaining CEO. 

But this isn't just a business story. It started with loss, a leap of faith, and a decision to bet on herself before she felt ready.

This is a conversation about what it really takes to build something meaningful… and what happens when you finally reach the other side.

In this episode, Monique shares:


Why you don’t need to feel ready before making a life-changing decision


How personal adversity can reshape your ambition and clarity


What founders get wrong about scaling too early


How to know when it’s time to bring in experienced operators


Why building with the end in mind changes how you run your company


The real risks founders take behind the scenes


How to navigate criticism as your company grows


What it actually means to lead after a major acquisition


How to protect your vision while growing at scale


Why success doesn’t always eliminate the feeling of having something to prove 

Monique Rodriguez’s story is proof that you don’t have to be ready to start, you just have to be willing.

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Allie K. Miller has been working in AI for nearly 20 years, and she says most of us aren't even close to using these tools to their full potential. Today, she's going to teach us exactly how to change the way we work, think, and operate with AI.

Allie built teams at IBM and Amazon, advises companies like Google, OpenAI, and Salesforce, and TIME named her one of the 100 Most Influential People in AI. Nearly two million people follow her because she's one of the clearest voices translating AI for people who aren't engineers, which is why she's the right person to have this conversation with.

In this episode, Emma and Allie get into the practical, actionable side of AI that most people never hear about—from the systems Allie has built to run her life and business, to the mistakes that keep most people stuck at the surface level.

You'll learn:


Why treating AI like a search engine is the biggest mistake people make and how to start treating it like an employee who works for you around the clock


The prompting shift from "senior analyst" to "CEO" that changes the quality of everything you get back


How to build a context document about your life, business, and beyond that makes every AI interaction more useful


The automated briefing system Allie uses to manage her calendar, goals, and priorities every morning


The study that shows how using AI the right way can make you more creative


What's driving the 25% gender gap in AI adoption and what women can do about it right now

If you've been holding back from using AI because this all feels overwhelming, or no one's ever taught you how to use it well, start here.

What's the first thing you're going to try with AI after this conversation? Drop it in the comments and come back and tell us how it went. For more conversations like this on business, leadership, and leveling up how you work, subscribe to Aspire with Emma Grede so you never miss what's next.

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In this episode, Emma sits down with financial educator and entrepreneur and everyone’s RichBFF, Vivian Tu to unpack why women are still the least likely to talk openly about money  and what it ultimately costs them. 

Vivian grew up translating bills for her immigrant parents and then went on to earn six figures on Wall Street before walking away from a $625K salary to build something on her own terms. She knows exactly what financial confidence looks like from the inside  and what keeps most women from getting there.

Vivian shares: 


How to negotiate a raise and actually win it


Why stability has to come before wealth (and how to build it)


The quiet ways lifestyle inflation erodes your progress


How to think strategically about benefits, taxes, and retirement


The mindset shift that separates earners from builders


Why women talking openly about money changes everything

This isn't a conversation about becoming rich. It's about becoming someone who knows what they're worth and stops leaving it on the table.

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Emma has known Rich Kleiman for 20 years. In all that time, they've never talked about where he actually came from, until now. What came next was one of the most honest conversations we've had on the podcast. 

The hardest story to change is the one you tell yourself. For Rich, it wasn't a lesson,  it was survival.

He grew up navigating a volatile home on the Upper West Side. With a mother battling addiction and no one to watch him, Rich was left to figure life out on his own.  Today he manages Kevin Durant's business empire, has built Boardroom from scratch, and is one of the most respected operators at the intersection of sports, music, and culture. 

In this conversation, he and Emma get into how chaos became his competitive advantage, what it really takes to build a partnership that lasts, and why legacy means more to him now than money ever did.

Rich shares: 


How growing up around instability shaped his instincts in business.


How his ability to navigate chaos made him a better leader.


Why notoriety and success aren't the same thing 


Why the stories you tell yourself matter – and how truth outways comfort. 


Why making peace with your past changes how you move through the world. 

What's the story you keep telling yourself? Drop it in the comments — we'd love to hear from you. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode of Aspire with Emma Grede.

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Sometimes you can reach a point in your career when everything looks right on paper, but feels completely wrong.  And wanting something different doesn’t make you ungrateful, it signals growth. 

But the next step is where a lot of people make emotional decisions. They quit without having a plan, waiting to feel ready before they make a move, or talking themselves out of it entirely.

In this episode, Emma talks about what a real career pivot actually looks like. Not the fantasy version where you walk away from everything and magically figure it out, but the strategic version where you build on what you’ve already done.

She gets into how to tell the difference between burnout and a real signal that it’s time to change, why the best pivots are usually closer than you think, and how to move forward without starting from zero.

You'll learn:


The Pivot Audit:  a framework for making big career moves strategically


How to de-risk a career change before you take the leap


Why being "too late" is a myth and what the data actually says

What's one part of your career you've quietly outgrown? Drop it in the comments — we'd love to hear from you. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode of Aspire with Emma Grede.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

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