There are interviews, and then there are conversations that make you put your phone down and really listen. Baby Phat founder Kimora Lee Simmons on the April 7 episode of Emma Grede’s podcast, Aspire with Emma Grede, was the latter.

Kimora, who is now going by Kimora Lee as she moves through the legal process of dropping both of her exes’ last names, sat down with Emma Grede, founding partner and Chief Product Officer of SKIMS and CEO of Good American, for one of the most honest, layered conversations about Black womanhood, business, and self-reclamation that you will hear this year.

And yes, there were receipts.

She Built a Billion-Dollar Brand. She Did Not Walk Away With a Billion Dollars.

Baby Phat was not just a fashion label. It was a cultural moment, a declaration, a whole era. Under Kimora’s leadership as creative director and president, it generated revenues exceeding one billion dollars at its peak. And when Phat Fashions was acquired by the Kellwood Company in 2004 in a deal valued at roughly 140 million dollars, most people assumed Kimora walked away well.

She did not.

On the podcast, she revealed she received around twenty million dollars from that sale, or less, despite Baby Phat being the centerpiece of the entire transaction. She shared that she had missed the preliminary deal conversations entirely, and was not made aware that those discussions were even taking place.

That is not a business lesson. That is a warning.

What she articulated so clearly is something that too many women, and especially too many Black women, have experienced: you can be the reason a room is full and still not have a seat at the table when the real decisions are being made. Being in the room is not the same as owning what happens inside of it.

She has Baby Phat back now. She reacquired it in 2019, and she is building it again on her own terms. This time, she knows what she is signing.

On Names, Identity, and Starting a New Chapter

One of the quieter but deeply significant revelations in the episode was Kimora’s discussion of her name. She has legally filed to change her name from Kimora Lee Simmons-Leissner to simply Kimora Lee, removing the surnames of both former husbands, Russell Simmons and Tim Leissner.

Born Kimora Lee Perkins in St. Louis, she is not returning to her birth name. She is creating a new one, and there is real power in that choice. A name is not just a label. It is a declaration of whose story you are living.

After decades of building under surnames that carried the weight of other people’s legacies and, in at least one case, considerable scandal, she is choosing to carry only what is hers. Kimora Lee. Full and complete.

The ANTM Documentary, Tyra Banks, and Some Hard Truths

With the Netflix documentary about America’s Next Top Model generating significant conversation, Kimora did not sidestep the topic. She confirmed she was not contacted to participate in the documentary, even though she served as a judge on the very first season alongside Tyra Banks.

She was measured but clear: the things portrayed in the lead-up to the documentary, the difficult moments, the toxic dynamics that have been described, she said were true. Very true.

She also addressed her relationship with Tyra directly. Banks is the godmother to her daughter Ming Lee, and they were once extremely close. But Kimora acknowledged that the two have not spoken in a very long time. No dramatic explanation. No mudslinging. Just the honest truth that even the most significant relationships can quietly grow distant.

She did not close the door on the franchise entirely, noting that she has been approached about returning as a judge in past seasons, and that she might consider it in the future. But it is clear that whatever chapter that was has turned.

What Emma Grede Does Best

It would be easy to credit the revelations in this episode entirely to Kimora’s willingness to be open, and she absolutely deserves that credit. But Emma Grede is an exceptional interviewer because she does not sensationalize. She asks the questions that matter to women who are actually building something, and she creates space for honesty without spectacle.

Aspire with Emma Grede is quickly becoming required listening for any woman who is serious about understanding how business, power, and identity intersect. Previous guests have included Gwyneth Paltrow, Mellody Hobson, and Jay Shetty. The Kimora episode belongs in a class of its own.

The Bottom Line

Kimora Lee built something extraordinary, lost more than she should have because she did not yet have the knowledge or the access to protect it, and then fought to get it back. Now she is rebuilding with clarity, reclaiming her name, and speaking her truth without apology.

That is not just a comeback. That is a resurrection.

Listen to the full episode of Aspire with Emma Grede wherever you stream podcasts or check it out on Youtube. And when you do, take notes.