On Negativity, Ambition, and Building a Serious Business (Tory Burch)
4/28/20261 hr 8 min
Tory Burch started her company in 2004 with a single store on Elizabeth Street in New York City, a friends and family round of funding, and a belief that purpose and business belong in the same sentence. Twenty two years later, she has 400 stores in 70 countries. And she still hasn't had lunch. In this conversation, Tory sits down with Emma to talk about what it really took to build one of the most recognizable names in American fashion — navigating criticism, surviving a lawsuit that threatened everything she'd built, and rediscovering the creative spirit that reinvigorated the brand. Tory shares: Why ambition is still a complicated word for women and why she refuses to shy away from it How she maintained ownership and control of her company through a very public divorce and lawsuit What she learned about scaling a brand without losing its identity How stepping back from the CEO role unlocked her most creative chapter yet What would you build if you stopped letting other people define your ambition? Drop it in the comments — we're reading. And subscribe to Aspire with Emma Grede so you don't miss what's next. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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First 90 secondsEmma Grede· Host0:01
I am so excited to share my debut book with you all, Start With Yourself, which is available now. You might have seen the headlines, you might have seen the social, but this book is exactly what I intended, a conversation that will make you think, and it's a blueprint for anyone who wants success without the toxic positivity. Start With Yourself is about self-leadership because wherever I go, women ask me how I got to where I am. But what you really wanna know is how you can get there. So I'm doing what I do best, sharing and never gatekeeping what's worked for me in the hope that you can borrow from a philosophy that has served me so well. The truth is, I'm not an expert. I've just lived it. I've made the mistakes, I've had the failures, and I've learned what actually works. It takes a lot. It takes the most. And this book is for anyone who's tired of feeling like a passenger in their own life. It's about taking responsibility for your thinking, managing your emotions, and getting clear on your ideas, and then knowing your next step. It's about picking yourself up after failure, being accountable, but also forgiving yourself, pushing for wins, and never, ever apologizing for your ambition. It's also about challenging the rules that you've been told. There is no perfect time. Balance isn't the goal. Alignment is, and there's nothing wrong with you wanting more. I'm precisely sure that the reason I've been so successful is so I can share it with you. Start With Yourself, my debut book, is available now. Visit emmagrewe.com to purchase the book, also available