There appear to be two Christine Seto Mi-hars, the hard-working businesswoman and the Cantonese opera artist just bursting to break free.
When asked to strike a few opera poses, her entire facial expression and body stance change for the camera.
For Seto, 50, Cantonese opera is an obsession.
Even as a child, she listened to opera excerpts on the radio: 'I love stories, and for me, listening to Cantonese opera is like listening to stories - with melody,' she says.
But a lack of family support and money meant her passion remained just that, until 2009 - the same year Cantonese opera was recognised by Unesco as an intangible cultural heritage - when Seto finally got the chance to realise her childhood dream.
Having immersed herself in work over three decades - the last five years of which were spent building up a successful household culinary trading company - she had both the money and time to enrol in a full-time Cantonese opera diploma programme at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, which she has just completed.
The mother of two has signed on for the two-year advanced diploma in the same department, starting this September, which will prepare her for a new four-year degree programme in Cantonese opera that the academy will launch in 2013.
