This is a tale of a woman who had everything and then had nothing; a woman born into a family of great wealth but who turned her back on them and decided to create her own fortune the hard way. A woman who challenged the most conservative tenets of her society – and succeeded.
Her name is Sung-Joo Kim, the Chairperson and CEO of Sungjoo Group, one of the most important retail and luxury businesses in South Korea.
Ms Kim’s family is the dynasty behind South Korean energy giant Daesung Group, an extraordinarily power- ful Asian conglomerate. As a daughter (the youngest of six children, three boys and three girls) she was excluded from inheriting any of the family wealth, in line with Confucian tradition. Instead she was expected to marry into a similarly wealthy family and devote her life to hus- band and children.