Prone to reckless debauchery, young heiresses have become a focal point in this age of celebrity for magazines, tabloids, books and other media. But not every rich Daddy’s girl is a Paris Hilton; some are more like Macau Tatler’s leading lady Veronica Chou. You may have seen her at parties about town, but she’s no third-generation wild child: she knows the value of money and hard work. At just 24 years of age, Chou has achieved more than most girls her age would dare to dream of. She is president of Iconix China Limited, a NASDAQ-listed company that brings foreign fashion brands to the Greater China region. 

The company already boasts a stellar portfolio, including Rampage, Badgley Mischka, Starter and Ocean, but Chou is not one to rest on her laurels: “The next brand to be launched is London Fog, which will open 15 stores around the region all at once later this year, and this will be followed by the launch of Rocawear, owned by rapper Jay-Z, in early 2010.” On the side, she is also planning the launch of a V-neck T-shirt business with long-time friend and photographer Victoria Tang.

Born in Hawaii, Chou was educated at Hong Kong’s leading Diocesan Girls’ School and prestigious Connecticut boarding school Choate Rosemary Hall before going on to complete a degree in communications and business at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. With her fluency in Cantonese and Mandarin and international upbringing, she slipped comfortably into a job at JP Morgan on her return to Hong Kong, before doing a stint at Smith Barney, a division of Citigroup Global Markets. But with a hunger for more and an eye for style, she leapt at the chance to combine business and fashion: “I saw an opportunity in the consumer market in China, and was presented the chance of bringing the Iconix brands to China.” 

Some would call her move into this business a natural succession as the family business is in knitwear: her grandfather Chou Kuang-piu was the first to open an organised knitters factory back in 1962, while her father, Silas Chou, was responsible for bringing luxury brands Tommy Hilfiger, Karl Lagerfeld, Pepe Jeans and Michael Kors to Asia. But Chou is determined to be recognised in her own right: “Iconix China is really my business. While I’m very fortunate to have my family when I need help, in the end, I execute, I do my job and I get things done, and people understand that.”

Chou is a professional through and through, taking this cover shoot as seriously as any of her other projects. It’s not the first time she’s been in this position, having made her international debut in a dazzling Zac Posen gown alongside Princess Costanza della Torre e Tasso, Angela Mellon and Countess Magdelana Maria Habsburg-Lothringen at the Crillon Ball in Paris in 2007, and it shows: she is at home in front of the camera, knows her best angles and strikes elegant poses in the gleaming Cartier jewels. 

When not bogged down with work, the My Chemical Romance-loving Chou plays ice hockey and goes wakeboarding and snowboarding. She confesses, “I’m rarely in Hong Kong, I travel way too much.” With so many achievements already under her belt, Chou could very well sit back, relax and ride the wave of her success, but her passion for fashion and zest for work suggests this is only the very beginning of a long and fruitful career: “I’m not even 25 yet, the sky’s my limit!”