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What I've Learnt - Bettina Liano · WHAT I'VE LEARNT

0:02
SPEAKER_01: Who didn't have or want a pair of those flattering dark denim Bettino Leano jeans?
0:08
SPEAKER_01: They were the most coveted jeans in the 90s.
0:10
SPEAKER_01: And then there was iconic Bettina with her red lips and Italian style, whose clothes graced the runways, clubs, and cafes of our fashion-driven cities for years.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: And then she sort of vanished.
0:23
SPEAKER_01: But more on that later.
0:24
SPEAKER_01: She's now back with a vengeance.
0:27
SPEAKER_01: It's a hard road to tread, but fashion is her passion.
0:30
SPEAKER_01: So she's here back in the heartland of Melbourne's historical retail homeland, Chapel Street, South Yarra.
0:37
SPEAKER_01: The Melbourne designers' eponymous denim label, known for skinny leg, low-rise jeans, shot to cult status in the 90s before several turbulent years forced it into liquidation in 2011.
0:49
SPEAKER_01: The Sydney-based fashion conglomerate, the Apparel Group, bought the business in 2012, which ultimately led to Liana's exit from the label.
0:58
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't expecting to be cut out of the equation, says Liana.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: I would have settled for a small percentage of ownership or even a job.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: She claims her trademarks were not adequately protected, and she lost the rights to the Bettino Liano name.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: What I've had to endure is every creative person's nightmare.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: There is someone running around with my name.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: And what a name Liano is, associated with the quintessential Italian fashion family and also made famous by her sister, Housewives of Melbourne, Gina Liano, the fashionist debarrist to turn media star.
1:31
SPEAKER_01: But for Bettina, an icon in her own right, being back in her hometown with familiar faces and loyal customers, she's excited.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: And the designer who has dressed some of Australia's most celebrated bums with the best-fitting jeans in the business is hopeful.
1:47
SPEAKER_01: Yes, times have changed and denim is everywhere, made for every shape and size, a feature of almost every fashion range.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: But right now Bettina is back and she and we are ready.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: So Bettina, welcome to the What I've Learned podcast.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: Hi, thanks for having me.
2:12
SPEAKER_01: Pleasure.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think like most of the um people that came from Italy at the time, uh, there it was post-war and there was literally famine, and they were literally hungry.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: So the story goes that my dad he came out when he was 15 and it was this it was like the American dream.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was seriously that that's the parallel.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: So that's why they came, they came to enterprise, you know, to work and have a better life and have a and make a make a um make a foundation for the next generation as well.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: That was always really um instilled in us.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: That was also very important.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: So even though I never met my grandfather, I because he passed away just as I was born, you know that thing one comes in and one goes out.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we had that, I had that with him.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: So we went past each other.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: Um and he yeah, he would have wanted that for sure.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: He would have been, he would have been really proud.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: In fact, one of my cousins in Italy who remained behind couldn't up, couldn't even believe that I had a store in Chapel Street when I went over to visit them.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: She said, How on earth, how on earth do you have that?
3:39
SPEAKER_00: Because in Italy that's just not the same opportunity.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: That's that's what the American or the Australian dream is is about.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: It's about opportunity and it's about uh you know creating uh yeah, building a castle.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how else to put it.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: Home is everything.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: Dad made a lot of money, was very successful, and then he ran into some uh issues with around the mid around the time of the first recession, Gothwitland, uh, and the fuel crisis.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: And also he was selling Chryslers, he had a Chrysler franchise, and uh uh because of the fuel crisis, all the all the yank tanks, as they were known then, started to become really unpopular in Australia.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: But worse than that, it didn't affect dad so much.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: It was the fact that it affected his supply chain, which was Chrysler in Adelaide.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: So he was selling all these cars, but they couldn't deliver anymore and they ended up going under and being bought out by Mitsubishi.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: Dad told me everything.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: He we used to consult, I don't know, he'd like talking to me.
4:57
SPEAKER_00: I was the oldest, um, and I was very interested, let's put it that way, you know, like it wasn't like I found it boring.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: I was fascinated by business and manoeuvring things, you know, and and also working for myself, you know, because dad just didn't want to work for anyone.
5:17
SPEAKER_00: That was the thing.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: When he first came out, his first job was uh he drove a taxi, he saved up enough money to build a house in Blackburn, which I vaguely recall, and Blackburn was so out in the sticks, so I just remember looking out the back window, and there was just all vacant land.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: There wasn't like another house for ages, and the and the gradient of the block went down, so we we were up high.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: So we looked across.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: It was a nice block.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: He had good taste, my dad.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm obsessed with my dad.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: And what did you learn from your dad?
5:54
SPEAKER_00: So you're dad, daddy's girl, in a way.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: Mum taught me lots too, but dad taught me heaps.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: He I'll tell you the funniest story what he made me do, because I'm the oldest.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: He would come home with giant wads of cash, right?
6:08
SPEAKER_00: He was making a fortune, he'd chuck him on the bed, and I'd watch him and he'd look at me, my lies, eyes light up, and he'd say, Oh, that's the bank's money.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: And I'd be like, Yeah, yeah, I know, whatever.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: I just was idolizing it, right?
6:20
SPEAKER_00: One day he'd give me money every day to go to the tuck shop to buy lunch for all the kids because there was another three underneath me, right?
6:27
SPEAKER_00: So I was responsible.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm in grade two, I'm responsible, I've got my responsibility hat on.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: He said to me one day, he normally would hand me 20 bucks, which is a fortune.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: Then one day he said, No, I'm not giving you any money today.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, What?
6:43
SPEAKER_00: And I went, Why?
6:44
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Because I want you to go to the tuck shop lady, and I want you to tell her that you don't have any money today, and ask her if you can pay if if you can pay her tomorrow.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: And I was I was not afraid because I just went, oh okay, right.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: So that night he asked me, did you what what happened?
7:07
SPEAKER_00: I said, I asked the tuck shop lady if I could pay tomorrow, and she said, Yes.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Well, here's the money.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: You make sure you give it to her, and now you know if you're ever short, right, you can go and see the tuck shop lady, and she'll she'll she'll help you out.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: So it was an early lesson, and what do you think he was trying to teach you?
7:35
SPEAKER_00: Oh, just basically about honor in business and paying your bills and treating people, you know, be a man of your word, you know.
7:45
SPEAKER_00: My word, if I give you my word, then you know.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: You were seven, but your dad obviously saw you as quite the protege, and certainly Oh, you must have.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: He must have been hindsight, right?
7:57
SPEAKER_00: He just must have, because I was fearless.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: I said, Okay.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: Like my I mean, I was shocked a little bit, but I just went ahead and did it.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: I just said, I don't have any money today to the chunk shop, late.
8:09
SPEAKER_01: Like do you think your dad?
8:11
SPEAKER_01: So that's great, because you think the the lesson he was trying to teach you was to be honourable, to to follow through on what you've done.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: And have the confidence to ask because you need to ask if you don't ask, it says a lot of things, very wise, it's very survival.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think what you learn from the that uh that rural uh European culture is survival, right?
8:35
SPEAKER_00: So it's all about survival, but at the same time having a fabulous life.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: So, what does a fabulous life involve?
8:42
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful food, beautiful, you know, nice shoes, you know, a nice bag.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: That's beautiful.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: You got everything then, family.
8:52
SPEAKER_00: When I first sold my first dress and first started selling my clothes, the first dress I made was a bed sheet getting to the Melbourne scene.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: A bed sheet out of uh I was all chopped up, but I'll tell you that story.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: But the dad's story was I showed him the dress, it was high fashion, he didn't understand.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: He said, Oh my god, what's this?
9:16
SPEAKER_00: He sort of smirked, he didn't put me down.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: He said, What do I do with this?
9:19
SPEAKER_00: Clean the cars, right?
9:20
SPEAKER_00: As a joke, kind of stirring me, and that was all fine.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Oh, okay, so you want to do this, you know, folly thing, you want to go off and be fashion designer, whatever.
9:31
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Yeah, dad, I do, I really do.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: I really want to be one.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, he said, whatever, whatever you think.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then, but then when I I did a collaboration with Lindy Lane.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember Lindy Lane?
9:46
SPEAKER_00: This is a few.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: I know Lindy very well, Lindy Hammersfield.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: Lindy Hammersfield, and she gave me a break, actually, really, and I knew it, and and I was I was, yeah, but I figured I must be good.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: I remember they Lindy Lane, everybody was wearing Lindy Lane, and then they also um then obviously Melma, her her mum went on.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: I know, I know the whole family, I love them, and Melma was such a uh mentor as well.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: But we didn't start with her, like I've always gotten along really well with Melma.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: I had a studio in her building, I see her every day at one stage, and the way she started her business was really inspiring.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: But Melma is one of the most incredible women I've ever met in my life, and Lindy's amazing too, they're all amazing, but just Melma, I don't know.
10:35
SPEAKER_00: What did you learn from Melma?
10:36
SPEAKER_00: What did she teach you about fashion or about life?
10:40
SPEAKER_00: Um oh, just make it work, make it work, you know.
10:44
SPEAKER_00: Just um, I don't know, she worked so hard and she did such a good job, right?
10:50
SPEAKER_00: So I moved into her building in High Street when she was still doing Metallicus, all the bolos and she rented me a room, uh, and that was my studio.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: Gosh, this is so long ago.
11:07
SPEAKER_01: But it was it was very iconic.
11:09
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Metallicus was very iconic, and for us young people, it was really good because it was really giving us what we wanted, and we just wanted stuff, and it was hard to get things, and and that's what inspired me too was I wanted to make things that young people wanted because I wanted them too.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: And I remember being really inspired by an interview with Donna Karen in the 80s when she first broke away from Anne Klein, right, and first started her label, and there was an interview with her in WWD, and they said to her, What is your philosophy?
11:43
SPEAKER_00: What happened?
11:44
SPEAKER_00: You know, how where did you come from?
11:46
SPEAKER_00: She said, I went to my cupboard and I thought about what I want to see in there, and I figured if I want to see it, then so do a lot of other people.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: And it was a lot about comfort.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: The whole point is, she wants something, she can't get it, so she goes and makes it.
12:04
SPEAKER_00: And so there was for me at the time, Metallicus, getting back to Metallicus, that was um, yeah, she was serving us young people with what we wanted, and it and we love and we adored it, and there wasn't much of that going around in those days, you know.
12:23
SPEAKER_01: There's a very strong work ethic there that I think resonates both with your dad, yourself.
12:27
SPEAKER_01: The work ethic is huge.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: Work is everything, and you know, and uh if you can get paid to do something that you love, and there's no reason why you can't actually, and this is key for young people, just follow your nose because you should be paid for doing what you love, because then you've half won the game of life.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: That's how important it is, right?
12:53
SPEAKER_01: I would agree a hundred percent.
12:56
SPEAKER_01: You talked about just touching back on your dad and the business.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: You also saw how volatile and fragile business can be, and you saw your dad go through a tough time.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: I thought I learned heaps, and then I kind of made very similar mistakes, which is weird.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: But I was only 13 when it happened.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: And your daddy was a different one, and he also he was pretty fruit and veg dad.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: He had a pretty um uh his business was a lot less complicated than a fashion brand, you know.
13:29
SPEAKER_00: Because he used to tell me, why don't you just write a book and put your stock?
13:33
SPEAKER_00: He had the stock book, the almighty stock book.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: I actually worked for him too for like three years, which is hilarious.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: So he'd he'd get a car in and you'd have to write it up in the stock book, and and then you had to do all these other things.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: He had this system, you know, he was really into his system and he couldn't waver.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't I didn't want to waver, but he'd say to me, Why don't you why don't you use that system?
13:56
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Because dad, it doesn't apply to my business.
14:04
SPEAKER_00: And he was like, Yes, it does, applies to all business.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you know, I I understand how it fundamentally does, right?
14:12
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, so but I the the parallel with dad would be I struck a a financial, I struck a um global recession, bad timing.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: The bank recalled their money, which is what happened to dad.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: Business was my only thing, I'll I would have worked it out for sure.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: But I trusted people, uh supposedly had advisors.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: Um when you talk about what have I learned, one number one lesson, uh my instincts were right.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: I should have never listened to anybody, right?
14:49
SPEAKER_00: Almost nobody.
14:52
SPEAKER_00: I got uh, I think as the business grew, I became, I felt more and more like a shadowy, a shadowy figure.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, and people kept me in the dark as well.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: And time goes by and you you meet you you mean to tend to certain things and then the GFC hits.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, what do you do?
15:14
SPEAKER_00: Don't get me wrong, the business was fine.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: The business didn't take a hit at all.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: It was just the bank got nervous.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: I have a theory that maybe that could have stemmed from a disgruntled senior management member, but that's another story because I don't know why they turned on me.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: But it was pretty because I'd borrowed millions and millions of dollars from the ANZ bank and paid them back for 28 years.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're talking millions here, you know, it's not like but suddenly they moved me to the dark corridor, not sure why.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: Um don't care to really.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I understand.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: I I mean, I guess I trusted the bank.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: I thought that they wouldn't give me things that they didn't think that I could afford.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: And actually, in essence, there was nothing to uh to show that I couldn't afford it.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: It was just a decision that was made.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: One of my business mentors said to me, ah, uh, his name is Maury Fishman.
16:15
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you remember him from Miss Louise.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: I do, yes.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I know the family very well.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: So it's so kind that he gave me advice.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: It was so cute.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: He told me, he told me one day that I I had, because he's gone now, I really miss him.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: He he said to me one day, I knew I'd made it when Maury Fishman said to me, You've got really good merchandise.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: Look at that.
16:42
SPEAKER_01: And it's interesting, you talk about these beautiful mentors, whether it's Melma or Maury, but but in a sense, it was a community and and that that era of uh retailers were all very connected and very united.
16:56
SPEAKER_01: And then a lot of a lot of them got hit, not dissimilar to the COVID um impact on a lot of retailers now, different issue, but same impact.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: Did you learn from your dad on because he'd been through the same trauma for a different reason?
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Well, no, he took a hit.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: Everyone takes a hit, right?
17:15
SPEAKER_00: It's just a matter of, you know, the hit's coming, it's coming every five minutes.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: Like, you don't think I've seen the wall in 30 years of business, right?
17:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's part of being a businessman is to continue to take risks, right?
17:30
SPEAKER_00: All the time.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: I got caught out by the GFC, I wasn't ready.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: It was bad timing, honestly.
17:37
SPEAKER_00: And that started the whole thing.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: So that led to me making certain decisions and yeah, and gosh, really bad advice, like really ganged up on by lawyers and accountants en masse, right?
17:51
SPEAKER_00: Like, not just one, like four.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: I was going to um board meetings at major accounting firms, and I'd walk into a room full of men.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: I would play um I'd play hip-hop really loud in the car on the way, just to build me up.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: Right.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: And then I'd get there and and they, I don't know, they just didn't care what I understood and what I mean, they I mean all I wanted to do was just keep trading.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not afraid.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, I know what my business was worth.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: I knew how to operate.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: I just wanted, yeah, I just needed to be, but that recall, the bank recalling all its money created mass panic, right?
18:36
SPEAKER_00: And I was the only one not panicking because I had 90 people working for me there then.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: So I had a bit of a management structure, unfortunately, and they were panicking.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: They were the ones that were pushing me and around in circles, go talk to this one, go do that.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you must do this.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: And Maury, getting back to Maury, just said, ah, just give them their money back.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: And I went, right, we'll do.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: So did that and came out fine, didn't have you know heaps left, but enough to go keep going.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: Well, well and truly enough to keep going, and then uh I uh licensed my brand for a manufacturer.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: I learned the saying which I'd never encountered, being completely an independent financially and 100% owner and successful.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: I I always uh there are two things that people used to tell me, they're common things that people will say about it's not about how much money you make, it's about how much money you can hang on to.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: And the other one is um a contract is not worth the paper it's written on.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's interesting, right?
19:46
SPEAKER_00: But that always resonated with me, and it's true.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: That's what I learned.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: It's true.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I ideally I would like to never ever sign a contract again as long as I live.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: And I would recommend that uh most people yeah, try and uh live by that because I swear to god, they're they're just manipulating they're like um insurance policies, they're they're like make a mockery of the English language.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: If somebody wants to go after you, they will, and a contract is not going to stop them.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: So that's point in case.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: So that's what happened with me.
20:24
SPEAKER_00: So I signed a deal, a licensing agreement, and um yeah, I've got to be very careful what I say now.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, yeah, but Bettina, it's interesting because when I interviewed you back, I don't know if you remember this, but when I interviewed you back uh many years ago, I've actually got the article from The Age and I was looking at it.
20:45
SPEAKER_01: And do you know what you said in one of your opening paragraphs?
20:48
SPEAKER_01: You said in that interview, no, it was very, very um uh prescient.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: You said, the one thing that I fear is losing everything and my business.
20:59
SPEAKER_01: And you were it's really surreal and ironic to look back at that.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: It's as if, first of all, as you rightly pointed out, obviously fashion is fickle, business is fickle, but as what happened to you and to lots of people was quite extreme as a result of the GFC.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: You're right, everybody did panic.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: But it's interesting because you've survived, you're okay, you're on a journey back, but I know that you've been through a difficult time.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: Can you talk to me a bit about what resources you drew on to get through that time?
21:29
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: So the bad time, it's all materialistic, right?
21:34
SPEAKER_00: My only problem was money.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: Uh, my only problem is everyone's only problem is money.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, I never got depressed.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: Uh I came to a point where I realized that uh, hey, you know what?
21:48
SPEAKER_00: I I don't get depressed, right?
21:50
SPEAKER_00: Like this isn't remarkable.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: But I think I I wanted to tell you why.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: Um a couple of reasons.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: One is that I check in on myself all the time.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: And I ask, ask myself, you know, you know, you're feeling bad, don't feel that bad, right?
22:11
SPEAKER_00: You know, like I'm conscious of it.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: Then, but also this is what my mum told me, taught me, because she's now a psychologist, ironically.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, and but she was always interested.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: So she uh sent us all to we did a lot of counselling when we were growing up, mum, and it's unusual back in the old days because why was that why was it?
22:37
SPEAKER_00: Well, not everyone was moved on to mental health, but but why did she why did you do a lot of why did you do a lot of counseling?
22:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think she she naturally, well, because dad, because we went through the exactly the same scenario of dad, dad lost his job and his business, and and um we went from driving the rolls source to some old bomb valley and or whatever, and mum was tormented.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: We didn't care.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: See, that's the thing as kids, you we didn't care, right?
23:05
SPEAKER_00: We thought it was fun, um uh whatever, but mum, mum, oh mum, apparently she lost all her friends and you know, all that kind of trauma, and people asked me, oh, it's a you know, did you lose all your friends?
23:20
SPEAKER_00: And it was like I've been picking up losing and gaining friends my whole life, right?
23:26
SPEAKER_00: Like you lose some, you win some.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: Whatever the reason, it's it's their business.
23:31
SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't just don't take it on board.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: I went to 13 schools and I learned very young as a child not to literally give uh can I swear a little bit, rats asked about what anyone thinks.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was that was a good thing.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because I just early therapy.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: So that early therapy that your mum got you girls was probably something that helped you and equipped you for this next year.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: Now, now, yeah, because I asked myself said it's a spiral, look out, because she went through it.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: She ended up in a in uh a hospital.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: They wanted to give her a lobotomy in the 70s because that's what they used to do.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: And um, she what she snapped out of it one day and she realized and she told me all about it, but she said it's a spiral, and you've got to look out that you don't go down too far, and you've got to pull yourself up because it'll get you.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: That's all it is.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: She says uh it's like undertow when you stand in the water and and the wave comes on you.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: It's it's just undertow, you can't, yeah.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and so how do you do that?
24:43
SPEAKER_00: Uh one really good way, change channels.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: Think about something different.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: I can't say that to my children remote control, you have control.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you have control.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: Stop thinking about it.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: It's uh every day is different, and do you know what?
24:59
SPEAKER_00: Good things take time, that's the other thing.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: You have to be patient.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: So um, you might be in in the shit right now, but tomorrow just looks the same as today, right?
25:10
SPEAKER_00: That's the annoying bit, and even next year might look like last year, but eventually things do do change if if you focus and you and you uh stay on track, not even stay positive.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: That annoys me because I don't think it's about being positive the whole time at all.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: Right?
25:30
SPEAKER_00: I like a bit of negative.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: I'm I would I like I love it, right?
25:34
SPEAKER_00: I think it's fabulous.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: It's not about being positive all the time.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: Um what what what's so good about being positive all the time?
25:43
SPEAKER_00: Like it's boring.
25:45
SPEAKER_01: I agree with you, and and actually what you're saying though is you know, sometimes facing the music or or accepting that things aren't perfect is part of the the challenge, and accepting that it's not 100% is okay.
25:59
SPEAKER_01: Well, because all that counselling, you know, um, and group therapy and so tell me, three sisters.
26:09
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure you're all fought over clothes, by the way.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: I have no doubt because I know I've got two sisters, and we all yeah, we didn't have any clothes at one stage, and then I started making them, and that's when Gina found my dress.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: She was wearing it down the street.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: I made a dress for a fancy dress party, um, and it was Cinderella in rags.
26:28
SPEAKER_00: This is when I got discovered like a movie star in Chapel Street, right?
26:32
SPEAKER_00: This is what happened.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: Tell me, yeah.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: I made a dress, and I made a dress out of an old bed sheet because it was my one of my friends was turning 21.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: I was 19, and it was the 21st, and the theme was fairy book, fairy, fairy tale character, and it was 1984, and so I um said I'm gonna go as um Cinderella in Rags, and it happened to be the height of fashion, um, which I knew that because of I was into music because music is always the indicator for everything for me.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: So I'm into Madonna, Malcolm McLaren, right?
27:16
SPEAKER_00: So and the vibe was we called it, we called it deconstruct the fashion vibe.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: It was the first time you saw a raw edge anywhere, right?
27:26
SPEAKER_00: Like it this was like un unheard of.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: What exposed overlocking?
27:31
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, right?
27:33
SPEAKER_00: Like you can't, you can't you can't let a garment out.
27:37
SPEAKER_00: I don't I can't I can't look at the overlocking.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: What do you what do you mean it hasn't got a hem, right?
27:42
SPEAKER_00: Like, and so this was uh speaking of bad and good timing, this was very good timing because I didn't know how to sew, right?
27:50
SPEAKER_00: So it suited me perfectly to just grab two bits of fabric and sort of stick them together somehow and let them drape over the body and and look fabulous.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: And then I painted it up, right?
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Went to the party.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: I first I looked at myself in the mirror, I put a big rag in my hair.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: Very 80s, big rag, giant Madonna thing in my hair, and I looked in the mirror and I said, Oh my god, you are so trendy, right?
28:24
SPEAKER_00: Literally, that's what I said to myself.
28:27
SPEAKER_00: Then I went to the party, took the dress off, never gonna wear it again, whatever, dumped it on the floor.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: Gina looked at it and said, Oh, I like that.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna steal it off my sister's bedroom floor and I'm gonna wear it.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: And I wasn't home.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: We met in Chapel Street.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: Teresa, the middle sister, um she took after dad the most because she was a gun salesperson, so she got the salesman streak.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: So she at 17 landed the best job in Chapel Street at the best, most expensive, fabulous boutique, which was called Solito, right?
29:05
SPEAKER_00: I remember Solito, and he had four or five stores in a row, and he was it was the emporio, the bazaar of Melbourne.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: There was no one was doing better than him.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: He he was he had everything, Jenny Bannister, yeah, you know.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: Um I was thinking of Jenny Bannister then these days because I was in awe of her.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, um, so we go meet Teresa on Friday because Friday night, because every Friday night we met to have dinner.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: I was working with Dad in the car yard in Coburg at that point.
29:42
SPEAKER_00: Um we'd meet up, and um I go and Gina would come and Gina starts walking down the street.
29:49
SPEAKER_00: She's got my dress on.
29:51
SPEAKER_00: And first of all, initially, I'm like, what do you think who wait a minute, that looks really good actually.
30:03
SPEAKER_00: Actually, um anyway, hi, how are you?
30:06
SPEAKER_00: Didn't look just sort of didn't really get into it much.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: So we meet up and we go walk into the shop where Teresa works because there were five of them, and Teresa alternated stores, but she sold the evening wear, actually.
30:19
SPEAKER_00: That was her job, was evening, right?
30:23
SPEAKER_00: Um and Joe happened to be there, and I saw Joe was go, hi Joe.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: Joe was really sweet, he loved us, girls, right?
30:32
SPEAKER_00: Actually, um, he thought, you know, he thought we were like, he just thought we were amazing.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, because we kind of were um stylish, elegant, Italian, cool girls.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: I remember.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what we were.
30:45
SPEAKER_00: We just had that attitude or something, I don't know what it was.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, and there were three of us, we were all mess, you know, we were a whole gang.
30:51
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, so we walk in and go, hi Joe.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: And I saw Joe do a double take and looked at Gina's dress.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't the Gina, it was on the dress, and I thought, wow, what you be looking at, right?
31:06
SPEAKER_00: Kind of thing.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: And he um he was looking at the dress, and he looked at me and and I said, What are you looking at?
31:15
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how to put it.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: And he said to Gina, where did he couldn't even take his eyes off it yet?
31:21
SPEAKER_00: Where did you get that dress?
31:23
SPEAKER_00: Like almost as if something's going on, and I don't know what it is.
31:27
SPEAKER_00: And I laughed because I was quite shy and never been uh you know big headed or anything like that.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: And I laughed and I said, Oh Joe, that's I I went, that's my dress.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: I made that dress, an old bed sheet.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: Actually, extraordinary story.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: And he looked and then he looked at me and he's like, because he's really Italian too, actually, Joe Selector, looked at the dress to me and went, I want you to make me one for the shop.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: And I went, oh get out.
32:02
SPEAKER_00: And he said, I said, really?
32:04
SPEAKER_00: And he said, really, and I'm like, like burrowing, like looking, are you serious?
32:11
SPEAKER_00: Serious, because I'm like a kid, right?
32:13
SPEAKER_00: At this point.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: And he said, I'm serious.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: And I went, oh my god, oh my god, oh my goodness, oh what?
32:21
SPEAKER_00: And I sort of felt like I was cartwheeling out of there, like you know, uh, I saw a path.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: I said, Wow, this could be the beginning of something really great, but we don't want to know how to start.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: I just had a vision, I had a feeling you know, there's a as a Stevie Nicks song.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: I certainly do, but I know them all.
32:46
SPEAKER_00: Stevie Nicks has got her song, and I went to her concert, and it's about uh gypsy.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: Gypsy, right?
32:53
SPEAKER_00: And she's standing in a room with uh uh lace and paper flowers.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: So apparently that lace and paper flowers place was when she was 17 and she was doing a gig supporting Jimi Hendrix, and they're in San Francisco, and there was this boutique that she aspired to that had all these beautiful clothes in it that she couldn't afford.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Janice Joplin was a client, and you know, probably not Joan Baez, but you know, whatever anyway, because I can't, yeah, she wasn't really that fashionable.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: She had she was great, but um anyway, and she stood in this store and she looked at all these amazing.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: This is her speaking.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: Stevie said this on stage.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: It's in her book, yeah.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: It's also in her book this year.
33:42
SPEAKER_00: All these amazing garments, right?
33:45
SPEAKER_00: And had this feeling for this moment, right, that something amazing was gonna happen, right?
33:53
SPEAKER_00: That she was that something great was gonna come of what she was like 17 or it was one of her first gigs, and they got support with Jimi Hendrix.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine?
34:03
SPEAKER_00: That would have been huge.
34:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, amazing.
34:05
SPEAKER_01: And and also, so you had that feeling, is that what you're saying?
34:09
SPEAKER_01: Is that what you're getting to?
34:10
SPEAKER_01: That sense that you saw that.
34:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I had a sense about it, even though I couldn't sew.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: I didn't really think I just had a sense.
34:18
SPEAKER_00: Some felt like a knocking, like a something.
34:22
SPEAKER_00: I made the dress and I sold the that dress, I remodeled it.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: It I spent about 27 hours on it, right?
34:31
SPEAKER_00: Remodeling it, because it was it's literally a bed sheet, right?
34:35
SPEAKER_00: Screwed up bedsheet, and I finally finished it, and I very shyly went to Teresa, who was talking to a girl, whoever this girl is, I'd love to meet her again one day, right?
34:47
SPEAKER_00: She was a Merton, a Merton Hall girl, um, and she was chatting with Teresa because Teresa was very good to chat with, still still is.
34:57
SPEAKER_00: Um and I said, Teresa said, Oh, have you got the dress?
35:00
SPEAKER_00: And I had it in a bag, and I went, Yeah, all shy, right?
35:03
SPEAKER_00: And she said, Show me, show me, quick.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: And I pulled it out, and the girl, the school girl, looked at it and almost did the same face as Joe Salito had done like a week before.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: I remember that.
35:15
SPEAKER_00: And said, I I really want that dress, how much is it?
35:18
SPEAKER_00: I didn't even know how much it was.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: I didn't even get a chance to show it to Joe.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: I ran in looking for him in all the stores.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: Where's Joe?
35:27
SPEAKER_00: Where's Joe?
35:28
SPEAKER_00: I said, Joe, this girl, I can't even show you my dress, I've already sold it.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: This girl wants to buy it, how much is it?
35:33
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, How much is it?
35:35
SPEAKER_00: I didn't even know how much it was.
35:37
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, Okay, we'll make it$80,$40 for you, 40 for me.
35:42
SPEAKER_00: And I went, cool.
35:43
SPEAKER_00: Went back to the girl, said$80.
35:45
SPEAKER_00: She pulled the cash out of her pocket.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: Done.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: And I I didn't even get to hang the dress up or anything.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, if someone's not trying to tell me something, I followed my nose.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about the bad times, what happened there, but with with that, uh yeah, that was magical.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: I don't feel like I'm anything special, can I just say, having experienced that?
36:09
SPEAKER_00: I feel like maybe it appears to most people.
36:13
SPEAKER_00: This is my theory.
36:14
SPEAKER_00: It appears to most people.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
36:17
SPEAKER_01: Maybe, maybe I well, not to everyone, but I think I think what you're pointing out rightly is in a way you followed your dream, and and really you saw the opportunity.
36:28
SPEAKER_01: And also, I think it is telling that you know it it touched something, your creativity came to light, and then you spent years and years creating ranges and as I said, dressing everyone I can think of through that era.
36:43
SPEAKER_01: I mean, everyone had Batana Leano jeans.
36:45
SPEAKER_01: But in terms of the next phase for you, obviously fashion is at a turning point.
36:51
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we've got, I mean, the bricks and mortar.
36:54
SPEAKER_01: I noticed that you've, as you know, because I came into your store.
36:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, you set up a bricks and mortar store, you've also got online.
37:00
SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
37:01
SPEAKER_01: Do you think Chapel Street can recover, revive, and do you think bricks and mortar can survive the next decade, if not the future?
37:11
SPEAKER_01: What do you think of it?
37:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, well, the uh bricks and mortar are the reality of the equation.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: I think people still need to connect somehow.
37:20
SPEAKER_00: They always will.
37:22
SPEAKER_00: There'll be a renaissance.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: One once people get sick of virtual crap, yeah, right, they're gonna want it for real, and they're gonna want it for real en masse, it's gonna be huge.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: And it might take, I hope it happens in my lifetime, but it might take a while.
37:37
SPEAKER_00: But technology's moving really fast, and yeah, it's great, but it's really got nothing to do with us in a way, you know.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: I mean, people embracing it like uh like in adoration, whatever.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, there it's necessary and it's great, and it might save the environment, hopefully.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm hoping it would that's what will end up happening, but at the end of the day, um, we have senses, and this cannot replace my sense of smell, my sense of textile.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
38:11
SPEAKER_01: It's interesting that, Betina, because you know, um, I I love a shopping strip, and I think that many of us who grew up, you know, doing that browse down Chapel Street or Bridge Road or wherever it is, it's just nothing like it.
38:23
SPEAKER_01: Stop, have a coffee.
38:24
SPEAKER_01: It's just a beautiful experience.
38:26
SPEAKER_01: I have to say, there's something quite beautiful, like even wandering into your store and you were sitting there and we were chatting, and there's something very personable about that one-on-one.
38:36
SPEAKER_01: And yes, you can have it obviously in the shopping centres as well, but that shopping strip is quite iconic, it's quite historic.
38:43
SPEAKER_01: I think the other thing that's really interesting, just on a completely logistical note, you know, if you buy online and you've got to send a refund or an exchange, it's such a thing.
38:53
SPEAKER_01: You've got to staple this to that to this to that to get it back to you know, the boxes.
38:59
SPEAKER_01: Oh like I just want to walk into the store and say, here's my, you know, can I just swap this?
39:04
SPEAKER_00: So everybody wants to do that, but now they're not compelled to do that.
39:09
SPEAKER_00: That's the only difference with retail.
39:10
SPEAKER_00: There's something going on with the hours that we're keeping.
39:14
SPEAKER_00: It's almost like we need to drastically reduce our hours.
39:18
SPEAKER_00: Economically, we all do.
39:19
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't open every day for this reason, right?
39:23
SPEAKER_00: Because it's not cost effective, you know, or we stay open 24 hours a day and compete with the online uh window.
39:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's near impossible to do.
39:37
SPEAKER_00: And and so now you've got this extra option, but but this whole people advise me, I get the same advice like a broken record, and I just don't believe it's actually key to success.
39:49
SPEAKER_00: You know, the influencer thing and the Instagram thing and and getting these followers and and stuff.
39:55
SPEAKER_00: I understand how it works, but I don't think it's so new.
39:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't think any of this is so new and so daunting and so different.
40:03
SPEAKER_00: I think it fundamentally applies to it's just it's like um are you gonna paint the painting with oils or acrylic?
40:13
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
40:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like it's just it'll be slightly different painting, but um, I don't know, there's just a different medium, you know.
40:23
SPEAKER_01: Well, in a way, we've always had a boutique, and that word boutique, you know, it's a bespoke version.
40:30
SPEAKER_01: Like you can come in, and I know that speaking to you, you can order jeans, you can get them made, you'll fit, you know, very personally.
40:36
SPEAKER_01: There's a sense of that that very and it's actually that old fashion artisan back from Europe, really, the tailor that's gonna look after you in a very bespoke way is part of your appeal.
40:48
SPEAKER_00: But I may be into customer service, but the scale of the scalable version of my business is not going to be me sitting there making you a pair of jeans.
40:57
SPEAKER_00: No, exactly.
40:57
SPEAKER_00: But my point of difference is in my products, right?
41:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
41:01
SPEAKER_00: And also customer service is seriously the most important thing to me.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: Happy customers, right?
41:08
SPEAKER_00: Happy, happy customers.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's go into why I call myself by Bettina Liano.
41:14
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Bible?
41:17
SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't like Bible so much anymore because it's not as important as by Bettina Liano, and it might be confusing.
41:24
SPEAKER_00: I like Bible, but maybe people will bring it up later.
41:28
SPEAKER_00: But at this point, when people don't really know where I've gone, like you said in your entry, she just I just want business as usual.
41:35
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what that is.
41:36
SPEAKER_00: It is, does it mean um just expanding the range, dressing celebrities?
41:41
SPEAKER_00: Right?
41:42
SPEAKER_00: Who are you dressing anyone?
41:44
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you've dressed a lot of people over time.
41:46
SPEAKER_00: Well, I haven't reached out to my girls yet, you know, my Paris Hilton and McKinney Kardashian and all those chicks.
41:55
SPEAKER_00: I haven't reached out yet.
41:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm just waiting for the right moment.
41:59
SPEAKER_00: Brittany, Grace Jones, who else?
42:03
SPEAKER_00: Um I um I can't remember.
42:07
SPEAKER_00: Delta Goodrum too, or the Aussies, but the American ones, it's so long ago now, too.
42:13
SPEAKER_01: Who would you like to dress next in the next up and coming with your new range?
42:18
SPEAKER_00: I love um, I I just love all the pop princesses, right?
42:22
SPEAKER_00: I like I love Beyoncé, I love um Taddy B.
42:27
SPEAKER_00: I love, you know, I'd love to what about her?
42:30
SPEAKER_01: Did you have you seen her?
42:31
SPEAKER_01: She won the Grammy.
42:33
SPEAKER_01: Oh, she was dressed for that.
42:35
SPEAKER_01: Oh, beautiful.
42:36
SPEAKER_01: Um, so Bettina, so just to just to finish off, I just am curious what is next for you and what are you hopeful for?
42:47
SPEAKER_00: I just want to I just want to grow my business.
42:49
SPEAKER_00: I want to have a much bigger range.
42:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, I want to do more fashion.
42:54
SPEAKER_00: I would really love to be able to do suiting again, shoes, handbags, everything.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: Just make everything.
43:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
43:02
SPEAKER_00: I I'd love to design everything, anything to do with that.
43:06
SPEAKER_00: Also make videos again and do amazing photo shoots, amazing models, you know.
43:14
SPEAKER_00: Just all that stuff I used to do for years, year in, year out.
43:18
SPEAKER_01: You started this by saying that family was very, very important to you growing up, and I know how important family is.
43:25
SPEAKER_01: The Italians, the Jews were similar.
43:27
SPEAKER_01: Family is everything.
43:28
SPEAKER_01: There's a very strong sense of um of love for you, two beautiful daughters, Olympia and Haley.
43:37
SPEAKER_01: Is that correct?
43:39
SPEAKER_01: And what would you like to see for them?
43:42
SPEAKER_01: What sort of future would you like to see for them?
43:44
SPEAKER_01: I know they've gone into different areas, but not unrelated, some of them.
43:48
SPEAKER_00: No, they're in fashion, both of them.
43:51
SPEAKER_00: I just like to see them be happy more than anything.
43:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, and um and and get paid to do what they love.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: But you know.
44:01
SPEAKER_01: Do you think it's going to be a better world for our daughters?
44:04
SPEAKER_01: Do you think it's going to be a better world in terms of opportunity?
44:08
SPEAKER_00: I just think the world is fantastic.
44:10
SPEAKER_00: I would like to stay here as long as humanly possible.
44:13
SPEAKER_00: I've no interest in leaving ever.
44:16
SPEAKER_00: I think there's always been problems with the world.
44:19
SPEAKER_00: And I think that we've got to stop uh getting bogged down and what the trouble is now.
44:24
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's different.
44:26
SPEAKER_00: But you know, those Italians starving in Italy, that was hell, that Mussolini stuff.
44:33
SPEAKER_00: That was a nightmare, you know?
44:36
SPEAKER_00: And just think about, I just think about World War II.
44:38
SPEAKER_00: Instead of my father used to tell me about it, he was a little kid.
44:41
SPEAKER_00: He used to tell me how horrific it was, you know.
44:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, Hitler and I mean, for God's sake, and we think we've got a problem there.
44:50
SPEAKER_00: Imagine if there was, I mean, there could be Hitler running around, but there isn't really, is there?
44:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know what I mean.
44:56
SPEAKER_01: No.
44:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, what you're saying is we need to be grateful for our opportunities in Australia in particular.
45:02
SPEAKER_01: And hopefully, for your daughters for the next generation, um, I mean, you've been a very strong role model for them because you've shown that as a woman you can work, you can have children, you can, you know, get that life work balance at times, maybe up, down, and roundabout, but then that's for all of us.
45:19
SPEAKER_01: Um hopefully they'll learn as much from you as you learnt from your dad and your mum, because I know your mum was a great inspiration too, especially in the fashion sense.
45:30
SPEAKER_01: Um, do you hope that your what would you like to pass on to them as the ultimate, I suppose, the lesson of life?
45:40
SPEAKER_00: Well, just win, just win, try and try and um chavita, try and have a nice life.
45:49
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the the problem with the world now is that they're making it harder for the average Joe to have a nice life.
45:56
SPEAKER_00: Like they just seem to be onto everything.
45:59
SPEAKER_00: It's like if they put an extra piece of cheese in the cheese box, they're gonna charge you another dollar.
46:06
SPEAKER_00: It's like if there's an extra square foot in the apartment, they're gonna they're gonna hit you.
46:12
SPEAKER_00: It's like it never used to be that way.
46:14
SPEAKER_00: That's a problem.
46:15
SPEAKER_00: Disparity is the issue that the world is.
46:18
SPEAKER_00: That's the new crisis.
46:20
SPEAKER_00: The gap between the haves and the have nots is absolutely massive.
46:28
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, I could start crying.
46:31
SPEAKER_00: It's it's a real, it's a real issue.
46:35
SPEAKER_00: That is our our apart from the environment, that's our next big problem.
46:40
SPEAKER_00: Why can't we share?
46:42
SPEAKER_00: You know, I love money, I want to be rich, right?
46:45
SPEAKER_00: But that's not that's not something to be ashamed of.
46:49
SPEAKER_00: That's because I want to I want to be able to share.
46:53
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to all create and give, and you want to also create security.
46:57
SPEAKER_00: You want security.
46:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for other people in their jobs or whatever it is, I'm a responsible person, and I'm willing to take that responsibility on board where I'm going to distribute funds, right?
47:10
SPEAKER_00: It's a big responsibility to be a company director.
47:13
SPEAKER_00: It's not a joke.
47:14
SPEAKER_00: I never treated it as much.
47:17
SPEAKER_01: You know, like and so for your daughters, you're hoping that they will have opportunity, that they will be generous, and that they will have a sense that they can pretty much do anything just like you have.
47:30
SPEAKER_00: They can survive, yeah, that they can survive and that they can dream, and there's nothing wrong with dreaming, and that everyone will tell you no.
47:40
SPEAKER_00: And like I said earlier, one of the things I've learned is that honestly, in my mind, I reflect on things and I realize that I actually had the answer, but I listen to other people, and I can't tell you how many people can tell you no, right?
47:57
SPEAKER_00: It's really bad.
47:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why people say no to each other so much.
48:02
SPEAKER_00: It's really mean.
48:04
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know what?
48:05
SPEAKER_01: On that note, Bettina, I would like to say thank you so much for being the dreamer that you are, for creating the fashion that you have, and for continuing on the journey because we all look forward to seeing what you do next.
48:19
SPEAKER_00: You're welcome.
48:20
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
48:21
SPEAKER_00: It was really cool.
48:22
SPEAKER_00: I loved it.
48:23
SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
48:23
SPEAKER_01: Me too.
48:24
SPEAKER_01: Take care.
48:32
SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for listening.
48:34
SPEAKER_01: The What I've Learned podcast will now be coming to you weekly with new episodes released every Tuesday.
48:40
SPEAKER_01: I'm blessed to have so many wonderful guests coming on the show.
48:44
SPEAKER_01: So check out my What I've Learned Instagram for updates.
48:47
SPEAKER_01: Meanwhile, stay tuned, kind, and curious.
48:50
SPEAKER_01: Love dear.