Going it alone in life may be faster and less complicated, but as Ton and Karen again reaffirm, doing things together as a committed couple allows you to go further, enabling you not only to complement and rely on each other’s strengths, but to also bring out the best in each other.
He calls himself “an entrepreneur who’s also become an artist,” while she swears “the artist in me has also become an entrepreneur.” And both Ton and Karen Concepcion credit each other for tapping into and allowing another side of their respective selves to shine.
Today, Karen, an accomplished painter and creative director of the family’s businesses, co-manages with husband Ton 15 SMEG stores, a 25-year-old Jollibee restaurant and Karen’s Tindahan, an online fashion store that sells products made by Filipinos living in the provinces.
On the other hand, Ton, the son of former industrialist Raul T. Concepcion and CEO of SMEG Philippines, after marrying Karen, began seeing art in a different light, expressing his artistic bent on beautifully shot photographs.
Married for 31 years now, the former neighbors and carpool mates are blessed with five children and two grandchildren.
Karen, who’s nine months older than Ton, used to call him “baby brother,” pairing him with other girls. Ton wasn’t interested in any of them because he secretly had his eyes set only on Karen. At last, he summoned enough strength to tell her. Only then did she stop calling him “baby brother.”
Love eventually blossomed between the two. So serious was Ton that at one point in their young lives, he excused himself from joining the annual Concepcion family vacation to Baguio to look after a sick Karen.
She shares: “Before we got married, Daddy (Raul) wrote me a letter. I still have that note from him where he said: ‘Dear Karen, You know, we’re going to Baguio and Ton’s staying. And I hope you’re going to be better. It must mean something for Ton to stay. Love, Tito Ronnie’.”
After a three-year courtship, they finally set their altar date in 1993.–Büm Tenorio
Read the full story in PeopleAsia’s latest issue, coming out next week.
