Pioneering businesswoman Emma Grede defends the work-life balance honesty which has ignited recent online debates, and shares her passion for getting more women talking about money and power.

Emma is the Co-Founder and CEO of Good American, a B-Corp certified brand setting new standards for inclusivity in fashion, and a Founding Partner of SKIMS, now valued at $4 billion and recognised as one of the world’s most influential apparel brands. She also serves as Chairwoman of The Fifteen Percent Pledge, leading real systemic change to support Black-owned businesses. She’s the first female judge of colour on ABC’s Shark Tank, a guest investor on the UK’s Dragon’s Den and host of her incredibly successful podcast Aspire with Emma Grede.

Emma also invests deeply in young people in the UK, recently announced as an ambassador for The King’s Trust, joining their Destination Unknown campaign to help young people into employment. Earlier this year, she visited her old school in East London and hosted a workshop with Milk Honey Bees, inspiring young Black girls through creativity, entrepreneurship and self-expression.

Her debut book, Start With Yourself is a bold, no-BS guide to building meaningful success on your own terms. Part memoir, part playbook, it’s packed with the mindset and tools that helped Emma defy the odds to become a serial entrepreneur, co-founder of culture-defining global brands, and non-profit champion – all while raising four children.

Emma’s book choices are:
** The Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton
**Mindset by Carol Dweck
**What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey
**Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
**Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Holly Jackson – aka the “Taylor Swift of books” – tells Vick about how she laughs at her bad reviews, her love of funny books about murder and what fans can expect from the second series of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

Holly is a superstar of crime fiction. She has sold over 10 million copies of her books worldwide, with translations in 45 different languages, a loyal following and a highly engaged global fanbase. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder has spent over three years on the New York Times bestseller list and the series is now a major BBC and Netflix production, with season two due for release in late May. Holly’s other novels include Five Survive and The Reappearance of Rachel Price, and the paperback of her adult fiction debut, Not Quite Dead Yet, is published on 7 May.

Holly’s book choices are:
**The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
**Beloved by Toni Morrison
**Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
**My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
**The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Chef, broadcaster, and food and travel writer, Romy Gill, tells Vick about her experience as a first generation immigrant to the UK, the food that punctuated the 24 hour train journeys of her childhood, and how Nigella Lawson’s cookbooks inspired her own writing.

Born in West Bengal, India, Romy first learned to cook from her mother – famous for her aloo parathas and using every unloved scrap of plants and vegetables long before zero-waste became a trend. Romy moved to the UK in 1993, and began her cooking career hosting dinner parties and running cookery classes before opening her own restaurant, Romy’s Kitchen, in Gloucestershire. Since then, she has released her debut cookbook Zaika - Vegan Recipes from India which was followed by On the Himalayan Trail: Recipes and Stories from Kashmir to Ladakh. This second book wove personal essays, travel photography and explored the history of the region through its food and culinary traditions. Her most recent cookbook Romy Gill’s India - Recipes from Home features family recipes that celebrate her Bengali and Punjabi roots. In addition to her writing, Romy is a much-loved presence on radio and TV, regularly appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Food Programme, Ready Steady Cook and Celebrity Masterchef.

Romy’s book choices are:
**The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
**The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
**The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
**How to Eat by Nigella Lawson
**Managing Expectations by Minnie Driver

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.