Rachel Zoe on Making Your Next Act the Best One

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 today What younger builders get wrong when they try to engineer a personal brand without the work to back it up Why she regrets going into business with her husband, and what she wishes they had put in place from the beginning The financial structure she now believes every woman should have, married or not Where the money comes from in the Rachel Zoe business today What Rachel is building her next chapter around, and why she believes it's her most exciting one yet