When she was eight, Denice Lam's grandfather gave her a scepter and asked her to smile for the camera. Little did any of them realize how prescient that pose would be.
That little girl would go on to be crowned Miss Hong Kong 2022.
"My grandfather dressed me up and taught me how to hold a scepter with the right hand on top," she recalled. "My grandma missed me every day and put this photo in her favorite handbag until her last day."
Although she entered the pageant, Lam never expected to be crowned queen.
When the host announced her name, "I was completely shocked and surprised," she said.
Many little thoughts were going through her mind. "I could not believe it and worried about how I would represent Hong Kong."
After it sank in and she accepted the situation, Lam talked to some relatives and received advice from them.
Most importantly, she knew that she had to work hard to respond to the recognition of Hongkongers.
She also saw it as an opportunity to raise the profile of a cause close to her heart.
Having come from a single-parent family, she hopes to help people with similar experiences.
"I've always wanted to do volunteer work and establish charities but I didn't know where to start," she said. "Entering the pageant was a great way for me as it put me in touch with people from different levels of society."
Her parents divorced when Lam was a baby and she was brought up by her mother in subdivided housing.
It has always been her dream to create a charitable organization.
"I'm targeting two groups," she said. "One is the single parent and children experiencing abuse. The second one would be people who are homeless and living in subdivided flats."
Lam is in a good position to set up charities - in university, she majored in business.
After graduating with a higher diploma in business administration, she worked in different companies but soon realized that officework was not for her.
"I felt bored and would fall asleep while typing at the office," she said.
So she pivoted to becoming a model instead. The career change gave her enough diversity and flexibility to keep her going. There was no more sleeping on the job.
In 2016, she entered showbiz and appeared in TV plays, talk shows and films. Despite a lack of professional training, Lam tried her throw herself into the acting process.
"One of my first roles was of a girl possessed by four spirits," she recalled. "That was crazy, but I did it by watching many movies and learning from that."
Much has been made of the fact that her father is Wilson Lam, a well-known actor in the 1980s and 1990s who was once dubbed "one of Hong Kong's most handsome men.
But that actually did not influence her decision to go into the industry.
After her parents' divorce, she didn't have any contact with her famous father again until she was 15.
Having a famous actor as a dad, though, is something she sees as good exposure rather than a burden. "I was born in 1994. People of my age may not know me. But I'm lucky that my father was a famous actor so that people from his generation know and support me."
When she decided to throw her name into the hat for the pageant, Lam went to her father for advice. "I was a bit hesitant about joining. I'm 27 and have to prove anything. My dad wasn't supportive initially. But after I entered, he changed his mind."
During the training, Lam's father told her to enjoy the process. "He told me to relax," she said. "But it was challenging for me as I felt tense during the whole period."
Lam's parents were surprised as they didn't think she could deal with the pressure and make it past the three-month training. "I'm proud of myself, and I think they are too."
She was one of the oldest contestants in the pageant (the cut-off age to enroll is 27, which she made by the skin of her teeth).
But while she initially experienced confidence issues going up against women younger than her, she now believes age is just a number.
"The older you are, the more experienced and knowledgeable you are," she said.
For her, everyone is unique. She hopes her experience can motivate more people to believe in themselves.
This is the attitude that helped her through the gruelling three months of beauty pageant training. And it is the advice she wants to give women everywhere.
"Believe in yourself and trust you can do anything," she said.
