When former nurse Miriam Yeung Chin-wah entered the 14th New Talent Singing Contest in 1995, she did so well that the aspiring singer herself was mightily impressed.
She knew her career had to move in a new direction.
'It was perhaps the break I had been waiting for,' the 24-year-old singer-actress said.
'I entered for fun but was surprised to be one of the three winners, earning an intensive three-month music course in San Francisco,' Yeung said.
'I had the will to accomplish a great deal, but I still considered singing in the studio as singing karaoke. I didn't take it seriously until I returned from the United States.' Yeung's career has been thriving ever since.
'I suppose the musical training I received there is paying off,' she said.