First-time mother, writer, and Ever Bilena lady boss Denice Sy-Muñez on motherhood, being her father’s daughter and becoming her own woman.
Glowing with the Times
In most companies, being the “COO” or “Child of Owner” almost always commands automatic respect. For Filipino-Chinese business scion Denice Sy-Muñez, it first meant learning how that respect was earned at every level of the business. “I wanted her to know what’s going on in the day-to-day operations, and be in touch with what’s happening in the company.” Says her father, Dioceldo in a previous interview.
And so Denice, who gave birth to her first baby – Jake Dean Sy-Muñez just a little over a year ago, had to learn the basic functions of the company her father birthed 37 years ago. “My first job at Ever Bilena was key accounts supervisor,” she recalls, “I handled a chain of convenience stores, kept asking questions, kept learning about the business, until (Ever Bilena) added supermarket accounts, department stores, and drugstores.”
She’s discovered a few of Ever Bilena’s quirks. As an example, fresh from her 2014 graduation from The University of California, Berkeley, Denice had to learn that Filipinos are typically allergic to the in-your-face approach of American business culture. She fondly remembers adapting, to ‘make lambing’ – “having to use the words ‘ate,’ or ‘kuya’ and ‘pasuyo’ when requesting something from more senior staff, Denice says, referring to the tagalog terms for ‘elder sister,’ ‘elder brother,’ and ‘please,’ respectively.
But if there is one word she’s most aware of – it’s ‘successor.’ “There’s a lot of pressure, especially with the weight of that word – ‘successor’” – but I just focus on the work that needs to be done,” she resolutely states, “Nothing can better prepare you other than doing the work itself.”
Putting the ‘Success’ in ‘Successor’
Currently serving as chief of sales and marketing head for one of the Philippines’ most well-known beauty brands, Denice has been feeding the company’s appetite for growth. She’s implemented a slew of projects since her on-boarding – including an aggressive push towards social media, the introduction of new shades under Ever Bilena’s cosmetics line, and the releasing of new fragrances.
More recently – 2019 not only saw her giving birth to her adorable son (who recently appeared on TV), but also saw The Philippine introduction of Hello Glow – a gentle, nourishing, line of skin products aimed at customers conscious of their long-term skin health. “We aligned with dermatologists, other skin experts, and our sales people themselves,” cites Denice, whose direct sales channel approach has brought the company dividends.
“We’ve been very successful so far. We were able to sell 300,000 sets (of Hello Glow) in our first three months of business, despite the ECQ, and we’re looking at another 300,000 this June so far. We’re keeping up continuous production just to meet demand.” These projects are of course made under the watchful purview of Denice’s father, who increasingly spends more time with his first grandson, and whom Denice credits with several key pieces of advice.
“The first one is to stay grounded,” she states straight from memory, ”when you lose touch of the ground is when you lose touch of reality. The next one is to never fall in love with a plan. Experiment! Find ways to keep the company afloat and generate revenue.”
This bit of advice, along with “working hard, harder than anyone else,” would be very applicable during the time of Covid – when everyone found themselves wanting a piece from a smaller pie.
Her Own Sunrise
Keen to keep their revenue engine running, Denice reveals she was “torn when my dad first told me that (Ever Bilena) would be covering full salaries for a month.” The heiress to a beauty empire, with the full knowledge that cashflow is a company’s lifeblood, tended to be more tight-fisted with the company’s money, and so advised caution. But in the end, her father made the call – one which Denice eventually understood as the correct one. When the extended general community quarantine was called, Denice says her first concern was “the livelihood of our employees – over 1800+ Ever Bilena family members (trapped) in a 46-day quarantine period.”
And so like any good mother in lean times, she adapted. Quickly marshaling Ever Bilena’s resources, Denice swiftly re-assigning roles for employees, and drawing plans for new products. “Due to Covid, we saw that there was a heightened awareness towards hygiene so we have been incorporating additives that have anti-viral ingredients – for increased customer protection.”
She’s also redoubled efforts on a home-based/corporate hybrid model for sales, whilst keeping to Ever Bilena’s key mantras. “Sa bawat sulok ng mundo, sa bawat tahanan, may Ever Bilena. (In every corner of the world, in every home – there is Ever Bilena)”
Moving forward, Denice aspires for international reach, saying “our heart is Filipino, but we want to be a brand that everyone will appreciate.” Til that time, this busy career mom (who says she’s “very lucky to have a group of people whom she can count on and trust) – hopes for “the best for everyone’s health and mental well-being, but above all the economy as a whole has to recover.”
She wishes “everyone can make ends meet” – a prayer not so much from a future CEO’s projection of a healthy bottomline, but from a mother whose end goal is an unquantifiable state of wellness.
And while her entrepreneurial star is yet to fully shine (unlike her father’s) – if her current actions are any indication – it may rise sooner than anyone suspects.
Follow Denice Sy-Muñez on Instagram and Facebook.
For Hello Glow updates, follow its official Instagram account and Facebook page.
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