As a teenager in South Korea, Elly Oh decided she needed to find out whether she could make it as a singer.
Then 18-years-old, she auditioned to be a K-pop star but was told she didn’t have the right look.
"They were telling me that I’m not good enough, in the face, to go on a TV show," she says.
"I told them, 'I'm very scared of plastic surgery and I think I'm pretty enough'. So in the end it didn’t work out."
Now in her 30s, Ms Oh says the K-pop industry has changed a lot since then but she has never looked back.
"Everyone must be unique and I’m proud of myself and what I look like," she says.
After the ill-fated audition, Elly's parents suggested she try classical music and it turned out to be a perfect fit.
"I fell in love with opera," she says. "Classical music is very good to know at the beginning when you're starting music."
Elly talks about the reaction she got from the K-pop industry:
Years later, Ms Oh was researching opera theatres around the world when she came across a picture of the Sydney Opera House.
"It looked amazing and beautiful," she says. "I was thinking I want to go there and I want to be an amazing soprano in there."
At 26, she boarded a plane and flew to Sydney. One of the first things she did when she got there was go to the Opera House and take a photo.
"It was way better than I thought," she says. "I went inside and I thought, 'I can make dreams come true in here. I just really want to stand on this stage.'"
The picture Elly took of the Opera House when she arrived in Sydney almost seven years ago. Source: Supplied
The Voice
When applications opened for popular reality talent show "The Voice" in 2014, Ms Oh considered entering but thought she wasn’t ready.
She was still learning English – when she arrived she could speak only a few words – and felt self-conscious.
But her boyfriend had other ideas.
“My boyfriend is really supportive and he was telling me, ‘You've got a great voice, don't worry about your English skills'".
It wasn’t until Ms Oh got an email from the show’s producers that she learned he had secretly sent an audition tape of her singing to the program.
Despite feeling nervous she decided to go, thinking it would be another opportunity to see if she could make it.
On the show - which sees contestants audition to a group of celebrity judges who sit with their backs to them so they can focus solely on their voice - Ms Oh soared through round after round and became a fan favourite.
"I didn't think I could go that far," she says. "When the Australian people were messaging me and saying, 'Elly, you have a great voice and we want to see you more.' I was thinking that people loved to hear me sing and after that, I started believing in myself."
Elly’s new-found fame as a pop singer also gave her opportunities and she eventually performed at a free event at the Opera House, realising the dream that brought her to Australia.
Ms Oh and Voice coach Ricky Martin. Source: Supplied
'I'll never forget where I came from'
On Australia Day 2016, Ms Oh was granted Australian citizenship. At the ceremony in Sydney, she performed the national anthem, as well as the debut single from her new album "12.12.12", which is due out in February.
The album title is a nod to a darker time in her life and a reminder of her commitment to music.
After arriving in Australia, Ms Oh struggled to make a living and decided to quit music, taking work in a David Jones store and a Japanese restaurant.
But one year later, she hit a turning point when she realised she wasn't happy.
Ms Oh went and got a tattoo – the date "12.12.12" on her wrist – to remind herself that she would never give up on music again from that day on.
"I realised that I'm really happy when I'm singing to people," she says. "And then I can feel I'm alive."
Ms Oh talks about what drives her career:
Ms Oh still has friends and family back in South Korea but says Australia is the place she sees her career taking off.
"After I finished The Voice Australia, I feel like I'm more this is my home," she says.
"[But] I won't forget where I come from. I'm never going to forget about it."
And she says the diversity of cultures in Australia has made the transition easier.
"Australia has such a big, multicultural society," she says.
"I think Australian people don't divide at all.
"They accept all."
This story was produced as part of the SBS series, First Day, airing on SBS World News throughout January.
