The couple behind some of the country’s biggest fashion and lifestyle brands talks about the importance of balance and the need to bring out the best in each other. While Bernie is the visionary, Alice is the pragmatist. Nearly 40 years on, they’ve achieved quite a healthy balance between business and family, work and love.
By ALEX Y. VERGARA
Although Bernie and Alice Liu both belong to prominent and respected Chinese-Filipino families in Cebu, it’s safe to say that their respective parents would never have forced them into an arranged marriage. It would have most likely failed from the get-go.
For one, both Bernie and Alice were already forward-thinking, strong-willed and, to a certain degree, independent at a very young age. Instead, unbeknownst to them, their folks, who did philanthropic work and further bonded together in church every Sunday, were hatching something more subtle to make the two fall for each other. And they eventually did!
Nearly 40 years on, Bernie and Alice, executive chairman and CEO of Golden ABC, Inc., respectively, the company behind such local fashion and lifestyle brands as Penshoppe, OXGN, Memo, Forme, Regatta and Bocu, are also the proud and happy parents and grandparents of three adult children and several grandchildren.
Penshoppe’s early days
It was sometime in 1986 when Bernie, whose family started in the clothes manufacturing business, decided to take the enterprise to the next level by taking a more active role in it, eventually turning it into a fledgling retail business with the opening of their first batch of Penshoppe stores in Cebu.
To generate much-needed buzz for the brand, the company tapped an elite circle of teenagers and young adults as its brand ambassadors. Dubbed Club Pen, its members attended events, modeled and participated in photo shoots wearing the latest Penshoppe ensembles. Apart from his many duties and responsibilities, the young, multitasking Bernie was also the campaign’s initial photographer.
And guess what. Upon learning that Alice, fresh from finishing a Business degree at Ateneo, had returned home from Manila, Bernie’s dad lost no time asking her if she wanted to join Club Pen. Since it was new to her, Alice said yes.
“She came in for a test shoot one day, while I served as the photographer,” says Bernie with a knowing look.
“Little did Bernie and I know that our parents had a hidden agenda to subtly set us up,” an amused Alice chimes in. “Bernie’s dad would remind him that I was a family friend so he should take care of me during those engagements.”
Bernie probably took his role a tad too seriously, picking Alice up and accompanying her to almost every Club Pen engagement. In no time, the two, who didn’t know each other before, became good friends. Before long, their friendship blossomed into love. Their parents had their way, after all!
What did they see in each other?
“Alice was more unconventional than the girls I had met at that age — and I mean that in the best possible way. She had this personality that saw unlimited possibilities and was progressive, displaying an ambition that was unlike any other,” says Bernie.
These qualities continue to show in her leadership style today. Despite being a privately owned business, Golden ABC is professionally run, which accounts for its ability to grow and adapt amidst a rapidly changing retail landscape.
“Alice’s progressive nature has been instrumental to that. Over the years, we’ve had to evolve a lot to be able to meet the demands of a modern organization,” Bernie continues. “She recruited Global C-Suite executives to join the company, implemented learning and development programs like company-wide lean six sigma training, instilled flexible work options like a structured hybrid work setup and the provision of wellness leaves, among other things.”
If Alice is “unconventional” in Bernie’s eyes, his then future wife saw him as “rebellious.”
“I think he’s what you’d call today a maverick. He wasn’t a troublemaker per se. He just wasn’t afraid to break away from norms and be a nonconformist. At the time we started dating, for example, it wasn’t typical to own or drive a black car. Most people were driving white cars, but he had a black car simply because it was what he wanted,” she says.
“His preferences and decisions aren’t influenced by external pressures. He’s always had a unique perspective on things, having an inclination not just for business but also for the arts. Some might not know it, but he’s a formally trained and licensed architect. This practice led him to appreciate the marrying of form and function, art and science — a principle he brought with him to the business.”
The precursor to the present-day Golden ABC was a garment factory Bernie’s mother used to run. When he began helping her manage it, he started to introduce more progressive management concepts to the business. It was, in a way, unexpected because it wasn’t typical among Chinese-Filipino families to change or question conventions, especially those that were put in place by their elders.
“But that’s just who he was and is as a person — he’s always been a visionary, ahead of the curve, undeterred by the opinions of others. He was also fortunate to have been mentored and encouraged by both his parents who were also very business-oriented,” says Alice.
From dates to factory rounds
After going out on dates, Bernie would ask Alice if they could drop by either the factory or the department stores to check in on staff who were doing overtime. Early on, Alice was already very supportive and showing signs of an entrepreneurial streak. When she was in college much earlier, for instance, Alice would show samples of flat shoes to her dorm mates.
When she had gotten enough orders, she’d take the bus from Ateneo to Baclaran to purchase the merchandise. She’d then use the little money she earned to go out with her friends during weekends. When Bernie learned about it later, he admired Alice even more for being independent and unafraid to follow her intuition.
“After we decided to go steady, we saw each other every day, save for one day when Cebu was ravaged by a strong storm. We were married within a year,” Bernie shares.
“In fact, we were married exactly a year later on the very same date we officially became a couple. Bernie loves to joke about it. Now, he only has one date to remember daw,” Alice says with a laugh.
Their practice of going on company-related rounds continued as a family. When their kids were growing up, they would usually spend every Sunday hearing Mass before going on store rounds.
“It was also our way of exposing them to the business and having them understand the kind of work we did,” says Alice.
In due time, the business started to expand nationwide. Bernie and Alice had no choice but to fly out of Cebu and stay in Manila during most days of the week. By Friday night, they’d be back in Cebu before flying back again to Manila Monday morning.
“Although it was difficult, it was what we needed to do at the time,” recalls Alice. “Some days, of course, were harder than others. There were times, for instance, when we’d be abroad on a business trip and all we wanted to do was to come home and take care of whichever one of our kids had caught the flu.”
Thanks to an extended family system, which involved their parents, certain relatives and close friends, they were able to manage the situation. But once the weekend rolled in, she and Bernie were full-time hands-on parents.
The proof of the pudding, they say, is in the eating. Despite such an unconventional arrangement, the couple was able to raise level-headed, hardworking and productive children who have all chosen to join the family business.
“In our family constitution, we have three requirements for our kids to join the business: they must be willing, able and available. We don’t believe in forcing them to join us. Just as we strive to inspire enthusiasm for work in our employees, we aim to instill the same excitement in our children. Luckily, our kids were all willing to join the business as they came of age,” says Bernie.
Disagreements between couples, he continues, are a given. “It’s how you react that matters. Over the years, Alice and I have learned to manage friction by talking things out. She’s really my best friend, and we have a deep respect for who the other is. We try to spend time together, just the two of us, to nurture our relationship and speak to each other without distractions.”
Five fingers
If it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to run a successful company. On the importance of complementing each other, Bernie draws on what his mother, Golden ABC founder Dame Norma Liu, used to tell him and his siblings — just as the fingers on our hands aren’t of the same length, people, including couples, have different talents.
“My strengths complement hers and vice versa,” Bernie says of Alice.
“Even before she was appointed as CEO, I always said she was my secret weapon and very own CEO — Chief Emotional Officer. She’s always displayed a profound empathy, being able to connect with all sorts of people in and out of the company. In our years of managing a workforce of over 5,000, Alice has always possessed a unique, human-centric perspective. This not only enabled the business to thrive, it also ensured that our people were happy in their jobs.”
“Echoing Bernie, yes, definitely, our differences complement each other — and this isn’t something that’s true for all couples,” says Alice. “We’ve been told by friends and peers alike that not all couples can work together the way we do, or even at all.”
While Bernie is the visionary, Alice is the resident pragmatist at Golden ABC. Outside of work, she acknowledges that he’s still the head of the family. They balance each other out. And, so far, nearly four decades on, they’ve managed to achieve quite a healthy balance between business and family, work and love.
