Marg Lee is a Los Angeles-based attorney. As a child she and her sister were in a band called T.T.Ma ("Taste The Maximum" or "To The Maximum"). Her experience as a professional pop singer is interesting in that it demonstrates how big the industry is in Korea, and how quickly the large entertainment companies shuffle through its performers. Born and raised in a small town outside of Dallas, Lee’s family moved to Korea when she was in the eighth grade. It was soon after arriving that she was approached on the street in the neighborhood of Apgujeong (where Psy’s "Gangnam Style" video was shot] by a talent agent.

"The next day," Lee says, "I gave the card to my mom and I explained what happened, and my mom thought we should call him." Soon, the whole family was at a karaoke joint, where Lee and her sister auditioned for a place in a pop group the agency was putting together. "I can’t really sing that well," she admits, "but I guess they still wanted me in the band because I can speak English and they liked my look." Both sisters were asked to join, and soon after that auditions were held to fill the three other positions in the group.

After a year of dance, rap, and singing lessons, the group’s debut album, In The Sea (1999) was released. "Over the course of our career, we did interviews, radio shows, game shows, music shows, concerts, festivals, all that stuff. We toured Shanghai, we filmed our music video in Thailand." The experience was like that of an eccentric after-school job for the young student. "I’m actually glad that I was really young when I did it," she says, "the entertainment industry can be really corrupt... [but] because I was so young, everyone in the industry looked out for me."

After two years, when her contract was up, Lee left the business to concentrate on school work and the SAT’s.

"K-Pop is scary!" Says Ellen Kim, a dancer and choreographer also based in Los Angeles. "If I was an artist in Korea, I'd be nervous. The pace of the popularity of the music is quick. You got one song that can last for a week, and that's it... that's really scary. You put so much work into one song, but yet it's going to get old quick. Korean people want something new every week, and I think that's the hardest pressure, probably. To come up with something catchy all the time, a hit all the time, and you've got tons of artists and the lifespan of one song is so short. It's pretty hard."