Up close with… Dione Song, CEO of Love, Bonito

In this series, TODAY journalists meet people from the front pages of newspapers.

In this installment, Natasha Meah talks to Ms. Dione Song, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of retailer Love, Bonito.

Song, 33, joined the company as chief commercial officer in 2017 and was promoted to chief operating officer in 2018. She became CEO in April 2021, a first in the 11-year history of the company, previously run by a team of co-founders and directors.

Previously, at the age of 26, she became managing director at e-commerce company Zalora and spent time at Sephora Digital, leading its e-commerce business in Australia and New Zealand and digital marketing in Asia Pacific.

Here, Ms. Song addressed TODAY’s questions about her career, love story, Bonito’s success and the importance of empowering women.

Portions of the interview have been edited for length and clarity.

Natasha: Tell me about your youth. Have you always wanted to go into business?

Dione: No. Actually, never. When I was growing up, I thought I would pursue a creative field, and in middle school, I thought I would become an architect. I got into architecture school, but I got cold feet because the course lasts six years. I finally decided on general studies, so I kept my options open. And that’s how I ended up studying business.

I then began my career in finance in various positions, from investment banking to stock sales. I didn’t like it very much… I realized it wasn’t really my passion. Then I reconnected with an old friend from college who introduced me to the world of e-commerce. It was in 2011 when e-commerce and many tech giants first entered Southeast Asia – Rocket Internet, Zalora, Lazada, Food Panda.

I discovered it and thought, “Hey, this is pretty interesting, really exciting, really fast,” and then I just took the first role I was offered, which was in-house analytics at Zalora. And then I just found my way.

Natasha: What attracted you to this industry?

Dione: In 2011 we started to see a transformation. Because I studied in the United States, I had already seen the rise of many (technology) companies, just as Spotify was already huge. Fab.com, the home appliances website, was huge. When I returned to Southeast Asia, the market was still in its early stages, but on the cusp of evolution and transformation.

So it was a very exciting time. I just wanted to be a part of it. I didn’t know to what extent and I didn’t think I had the skills. So I kept a very open mind and interviewed (Zalora) and asked them, “Where do you think I would fit in if I could just give it a try?”

Natasha: At the age of 26, you became the managing director of Zalora. How did you feel taking on such heavy responsibilities at such a young age?

Dione: Even before I became managing director (when I was named) CMO, it was definitely scary. Suddenly you have a team of over 10 people and you are thrown into the deep end.

And the first time, many (of my team members) were either my age or older… It was terrifying. Nobody teaches you how to be a manager, how to communicate with people and manage people who may have more professional and life experience than you.

Honestly, I don’t even remember the first few months. It was just so fast. You just start doing, doing, doing, doing and trying to find your way through the mistakes, learn to survive and create your own toolkit of how you should react in certain situations.

I think probably until last year or two years ago, I didn’t consider (leadership) to be something that came naturally to me. From my early days at school, I wasn’t a natural team captain or sports team leader… I always shied away from leadership roles.

When I was first promoted to CMO, I was still wondering if I wanted to be the only contributor and maybe move to the product management team that reports to the technology team because I’ve always liked the strategy, planning, and user experience side of things.

And then I talked to the then CTO at Zalora and he pushed me – oh, just do it and see what happens, because opportunities like this don’t come around very often in life!

Natasha: Many clothing retailers are struggling. For example, in Singapore, international brands such as Topshop and River Island had to leave the market. Why do you think Love, Bonito is still going strong?

Dione: I think even when Love, Bonito started, its value proposition was extremely clear. Why Love, Bonito even existed was because the founders saw a gap in the market.

There were a lot of international fast fashion brands and high street brands… but they didn’t really suit Asian women. The problem was design sensibilities – Asian sizes, proportions, even material, as we live in a more tropical climate.

We have also always operated on a direct-to-consumer model. We have established contacts over the last 10 years. We didn’t just collect bills, we collected data – we know your email address, we understand your preferences, we understand your stage of life. And that’s why I think we understand our consumers so well.

And if we take a step back and look at the entire fashion industry, it is often divided into age segments… So we asked ourselves, why can’t there be a brand that caters to the needs of women from different generations? I think these are a few reasons why we’re stuck here.