Vera Wang's career tip? Do something meaningful

To call Vera Wang the reigning queen in bridal market is almost an understatement. The designer, whose fashion empire sprawls from wedding gowns, accessories to even home decor, is one of the most successful businesswomen in fashion retailing.

Ranked the 29th among Forbes’ richest self-made women this year, with an estimated US$630 million fortune, Wang said it was luck and dedication that brought her to what she is today.

“To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to be lucky and you also need to have a dedication,” Wang said in an interview with the South China Morning Post on Monday. “It has to be something that means a lot to you. If it’s just something you do to fill your time, you won’t be able to do anything.”

Wang is one of the star attractions at the 2017 Global Conference on Women & Entrepreneurship in Hangzhou, organised by Alibaba Group, which also owns the Post. At a job fair in the US last month, Alibaba’s founder and chairman Jack Ma Yun said hiring women is the company’s “secret sauce” to success, because women care for others more than men do.

“Women are going to be very powerful in the 21st century,” Ma said during the Gateway ‘17 job fair in Detroit. “Because last century, people compared muscle; this century, people compare wisdom.”