at the core of dao's personality is her confidence and resilience. she knows what her capabilities are and believes in them. she doesn't let her surroundings and external factors affect her emotions. she's not wavered by a challenge and even under nervousness or pressure, she doesn't show it and puts on a relaxed but assured front as she seems to lightly brush off the shock or surprise instead so she remains unbothered when facing a mistake or problem in the middle of a performance.

 

somehow, whenever she's speaking out, you'll always be assured by the sense of certainty in her words. so, one may wonder why she was not given the captain role in SNS but dao would say that she knows her members who were given the role deserved it so she doesn't mind. she focuses on her strengths and is always hungry to improve herself. it's evident in how she's always asking feedback from hana whose known to give it to others straight. the more she receives input, the more she works to fix her weaknesses. 

 

it is due to her resilience that dao keeps herself moving and working like a machine. she is a tough individual and has a rather flexible and positive attitude when faced with hardships. she always controls her mind to separate the bad things that stress her out and seeing the world through the good things that bring her peace and motivation. "life is too short to stay down so before you throw the towel, you just have to get back in the ring and duke it out," she would always advice the younger trainees whenever they need the comfort.

 

a key to her resilience is to keep track of her emotions and environment. she always kept a journal that served as a planner and diary so upon becoming a trainee, she was delighted to have to write in a diary every day unlike others who found it bothersome. she always found it helpful to empty out her emotions at the end of the day to start the next one anew. she gets to know who she is, the pretty and all the ugly alike. she's not perfect and it's fine.

 

dao is one of those kids in your class that would easily go around and introduce herself to everyone, approaching others first before being approached. she always gets along with people around her and maintains her relationships well. she doesn't do this for attention or for quantity over quality; she just loves people and can't stand seeing people being awkward. she helps include others in the conversation and it became a known fact that she knows everyone who is anyone.

 

so, any SLJK trainee would be surprised when dao greets them suddenly if they bumped into her and she addresses them by their name correctly. how did dao know their name when they never really interacted? they'd be surprised again when dao approaches them and give them some warm words and a pat on the back or when she offers them a bottle of water or asks them about their conditions. how does dao know of all this as if by instinct?

 

she has her ways. dao is very aware of her surroundings and others' actions. she pays attention to the words and actions of others and takes note of them. even if you thought she wasn't paying attention, you'd be surprised by how much she knows through observing the room. dao is just quick with her eyes and senses and it helps her manage her relationships and punctuality on the daily. 

as praised by hana herself, dao is a quick learner. she may not understand things all at once but she remembers them quickly and tries her best to create her own comforming understanding of the new knowledge. when paired with her resilience, her quick learning and perception of the problem helps her catch up and go ahead of others.

 

dao knows well that she must always be alert, never letting her guard down. it can serve her good as she's more often than not aware of her surroundings and her emotions so she's always tuning in to the world and its noises but it causes her to lack the ability to slow down. her world keeps spinning and living such a hectic life as a trainee and later an idol, dao would be more likely to miss out on the deeper and quieter things in life that you can only see when you slow down.

 

dao's living pace is always so high that everything other than what's in her focus blurs out. having to invest so much energy, time and concentration towards her idol life, perhaps dao is wearing herself down without her even knowing it.

logic as a trait can be good for dao as she keeps her head and feet on the ground, taking realistic approaches to a problem and provides solutions based on real circumstances and facts so that she's always making full use of what she has in that moment. such a trait is very useful and much needed in times of crisis or solid problem-solving. however, it has its own shortcomings as she may not possess the same level of creativity or imagination as those whose heads are in the clouds.

 

she always sees things as they are and not what they can be so despite having confidence in being an important role in SNS and SOURZ's musicality, she somewhat feels that she does not have a significant role in the creative process of SNS and SOURZ. what's more is that despite wanting to follow her heart at certain times (perhaps when romance is in the mix?), she knows better than to do so. following the logical approach, she may have to let go of things that resonate in her heart and make her happy even if makes her less happy and hurts her as she knows, it's supposed to be the right thing to do.

 

what dao herself doesn't notice about her flaws is that she can't be restrained. she never saw herself as stubborn when others can definitely notice it about her. she has rather firm and unswayable stances and beliefs. dao is someone who knows what's best for her, causing her to be someone who cannot be controlled within the context of personal relationships rather than professional partnerships. she doesn't hold back on her opinions that lean on logic and facts, causing her words to sometimes express herself unselfconsciously without restraint.

 

what's more is that the more dao tries to keep herself tidy and in line, the more she's just setting more restrictions for herself so the one time she bursts, it strikes fear in everyone around her. to explain this, for instance, 99 times out of 100, she's "the dao that's always nice and looks out for everyone and learns quickly" but the 1 time out of 100 is "the dao that throws caution to the wind and just bursts." containing herself and her emotions from emerging in front of others (writing it down is not included) causes her to eventuallly just unselfconsciously do things that are "unlike the usual dao"

 

despite behaving the best she can to be perceived as a peacemaker within the trainees, dao's stubbornness shows when things need to be sorted out. considering her resilience, the one time she bursts will cause her to have a mind that's ready to duke it out with another trainee, get into a bit of a verbal exchange and forgive and forget if it means that a bit of conflict will make things better. of course, these actions will have very fatal repercussions so all the other trainees can do is pray that dao is always on her 99 out of 100 side because honestly, who would want to fight with the dao?

 

the reason why dao is so concerned with keeping herself in line and putting all these limitations for herself (ones that she puts upon herself personally, different from what the agency and staff puts upon her) is because she is strict on herself. as the other trainees may have noticed, she doesn't give herself a break or time to slow down and lets her world keep spinning even when it's not mandatory.

 

dao is not strict on others, only focusing on herself as she knows she cannot urge others to change. she whips herself to keep going and demands a lot from herself. she knows no human can be truly perfect as that is a criteria befitting only to a god in her opinion so what keeps her demanding more from herself is that she wants to be labelled suitable or "incredible" in the criterias of others without having to justify herself. you would assume that this is a positive trait but at the end of the day, it takes a toll on dao mentally, emotionally and physically because she puts so much effort. she's just too good at hiding it.  

 

there is a reason why she is friends with hana and it is because she is someone who pays attention to details. it feeds on to her strictness on herself regarding what is right or proper or "appropriate". every angle, every step, every beat has to be precise in order for her to be satisfied. she is inclined to think that doing less than that is not enough since she's careful, perhaps too careful when it comes to having an attitude that "does everything correctly" and "exactly as it should be done". someone needs to help her relax for once, honestly but the reason why nobody has tried to do so is because well, dao just can't stop.

why? since, when it comes to her inner demons, dao is in a lone fight against herself. nobody can help her from the outside as everything she struggles with comes from the inside, not affected by the world around her. she has to be the one to fight them and win from the inside.

TRAINING 

  student-actress under GMMTV  2017 - 2018

having been a part of the musical theater club during her time in high school and in university, she found out that she actually enjoyed acting and singing on a stage. there was a sense of thrill and achievement after every curtain call of her performance in a musical. the stage was a place she never feared in being. she had always enjoyed singing and only started to learn how to dance after being a part of the musical theater club, though others would say that they would never have thought she never knew how to dance because of how quick she learned choreographies. it caused her to be contacted to appear in the music videos for matang's good music for the heart and pluem purim's don't hurt before going on auditions to dramas under gmmtv (one of the biggest television production companies in thailand).

dao managed to play "princess karin" in the 2017 drama "u-prince: the badly politics" as well as "ainam" in 2017 drama my dear loser: edge of 17 (as well as a cameo/guest role in ep. 12 of my dear loser: happy ever after). of course, her most memorable role was when she played "mon" in 2018 drama the gifted, a drama that was very popular. as an actress who was also a student, dao put a lot of effort in balancing her life, considering the fact that she would be graduating soon. she remembered how she would see her freetime on set or after filming to finish her bachelor degree's thesis. by the time filming for my dear loser: edge of 17 ended in february, she was ready to graduate in april. she used a lot of that free time to do all the practice she hasn't done in her dancing skills by partaking in classes and her vocals by practicing alone in the facilities provided by GMMTV. 

 

  general trainee at SM ent.  april 2017 - 2018

after becoming a trainee at sm entertainment, people knew that she was fit to be a part of SM just from her looks alone. learning from references like lee taeyong, lucas and minho, she knew she had to train harder to be on par with the talented kids and due to her personality, she was able to perservere and improve from the girl who was amateur level at best compared to the others. she saw herself quickly climb the ranks due to her improvement and her personality. she always left a warm and friendly impression to others and since she couldn't reveal her identity of being a trainee at SM, she and her family had to tell those around her that she was undergoing an intensive language program in korea (which is not entirely wrong, in theory). 

 

she was still able to partake in filming for her most memorable role as "mon" in the gifted as SM and GMMTV made a deal on the conditions in which she will partake in filming that SM would gain a lot of profit from. she did not disclose to anyone on the filming set of her being a trainee, just saying that she was learning korean in korea. the filming spanned from november 2017 to december 2017 in which she participated in several interviews that were part of pre-production (many would notice that she was absent from the interviews shot after the drama aired but there was no official announcement on it). after the filming ended, in the first week of january, she returned to the sm training centers in korea to resume her training.

it was since then that she caught the eyes of madame kang who heard of the one female trainee who had put everyone to work as she partook in a television drama even before her debut (not that it's not possible). dao was easily spotted by madame kang who had called for her in the middle of her vocal lessons to follow her to her office. little did she know, lee sooman was also seated in the office. dao was taken aback at the sight of SM's founder.   

 

  SLJK elite training program  february 2018
madame kang said nothing as she walked in front of dao on the way to her office and it made dao very nervous but dao tried her best not to show it. she couldn't in front of madame kang.

 

"is it you, daorueang sasik-" madame kang felt her tongue slowly twist and turn as she tried to read out dao's full name written on her trainee file. why was it such a tongue twister?

"you can call me by just dao, madame, sir," dao said as she did a full korean bow while also doing the wai. instantly, madame kang and lee soman was impressed by dao's manners.

"alright, dao, let's keep things short, shall we?" lee sooman said as he glanced at madame kang who walked to sit at her desk.

"we want to sign some papers for you but we want to be entertained before that," madame kang sharply said.

"i heard you could sing and act, is that why they allowed you to act in a drama even before your debut?" lee sooman asked, his voice noticeably softer than madame kang's sharp tone before.

dao nodded, noticing madame kang's stern gaze on her through the corner of her eye. it was then that she let out a firm sentence, "then, sing us a song and then show us a bit of your acting." lee sooman added by saying, "what song would you like to sing?"

"christina perri's a thousand years, sir and madame." madame kang nodded to dao's answer and the music. dao was not startled at all by the abrupt beginning of the song and went with it, singing to the song perfectly beat by beat. as she continued to sing, her mind had to keep thinking about what to reenact afterwards in order to showcase her acting.

the music stopped and so did her singing. she did a full bow and the wai to madame kang and lee sooman, the latter clapping for her while madame kang seemed to wait for her acting.

"i really enjoyed watching goblin and there's a scene that i cried over. i will reenact that scene," dao said as she slowly got immersed in the role of kim go eun's ji euntak. despite being nervous, she was able to successfully articulate the korean words and cry in front of madame kang and lee sooman. as she finished her reenactment, she heard madame kang say, "i seem to understand why our team went into a frenzy to get you to act. do you not agree with me, mr.lee?"

lee sooman nodded, offering dao a tissue for her to wipe her tears before agreeing with her, "i told you she will be an asset."

"then, i'll have those papers prepared quickly so that this asset of ours can start lessons before the end of the week. miss dao, you can leave now," madame kang cooed and dao bowed with the wai once more before making her exit from the office.

after dao exited the office, madame kang spoke to lee sooman, "so, we are going to have to debut her so we can get her to enter the thai market for us, sir?" lee sooman smiled, "yes and judging from her looks and skills, it should be a successful feat."

 

 the training was challenging but dao loved the adrenaline and burning motivation that came with it. she loved to improve herself and the environment supported her thirst for such things, especially in her dancing skills and in her knowledge of korean. she quickly befriended kang hana, liam kim and cameron lee (kazuki as well, eventually) who were the first trainees in the program and perhaps, being the oldest trainee out of the bunch, she's seen as a "mom" or "cool older sis" figure to the others. in short, she's popular amongst the other trainees either way. 

 

PLOTLINE SNS center, sourz main vocalist

POSITION main vocalist, visual

TALENT TWIN(S) 

  vocals/composing  minnie, g-idle [x] [x] [x] [x] 

a very unique voice, perhaps one of the most distinctive in the whole agency as she has this dreamy air to her singing and technique that makes her soft voice become a voice that's easy to recognize, not just due to her korean pronounciation. her korean pronounciation is actually quite clear and good compared to most foreign trainees so her singing in korean does not have any noticeable accents to listeners. even with the softness and flowy voice, she can hit highnotes as well as sing in a deeper note. she has a very versatile voice.

 

  dance  minnie, g-idle [x] [x] [x]

considering that dance is not something that comes natural to her, you could say that dao's dancing style is something that suits her; fluid, detailed and efficient. she knows when to put power and when not to thus making her movements look like they're easy when in fact, she puts a lot of thought into them. she works best with choreographies that emphasize her body line and arm movements rather than just pure power and speed. she makes sures to have her movements seem more light and more floaty as opposed to just pure sharpness.

having confidence in her movements is something that she showcases in dance practices or performances and despite not being a strong dancer, she just learns things quickly so that when put in a group, her skills don't bring the group down.

 

  acting  napasorn weerayuttvila (puimek)

 

 madame kang and mr. takashi almost put dao into GEMS but heechul sternly said no to that and bugged them into scratching that idea because honestly, she'd stand out more in a korean/k-pop based group.

 fans often attribute her kindness, warmth or motherly aura in general to her origins and age as thai people are known to be welcoming and kind so knowing that they welcome this, she often gives a lot of positivity and confidence to fans who may need it while playing her daily mixes in the background and having it seem as if they're having an intimidate one-on-one late night conversation with one another.

 SLJK! LIVE can also be viewed as "dao's improvement in korean compilation" as in every appearance, she seems to continue improving her korean to the point where hana, liam or cameron would go and point it out loud, "wait, you're speaking korean so well now?!"
 fans and netizens noticed that she does the thai greeting (the wai, ไหว้) to everyone, even to the camera that is installed for SLJK! LIVE videos so they often say that she was born to be a part of SM entertainment because in korean expressions, it's as if manners and politeness is engraved within her body like all the other SM artists.

fans started calling her "kim daoh" as she kept improving every day in her korean and everyone kept calling her by that nickname in most SLJK! LIVE because they'd say "well, since dao's surname is long, she started calling herself kim daoh."

 due to her acting experience, whenever anyone needs a main or supporting role for pranks (birthdays or graduations and the likes of such), they'll include her to act out the scenario until the where she gets angry or the atmosphere becomes really tense before everyone else comes in for the grand surprise with the cake. unexpectedly, liam and her make a quite formidable acting duo.

 honestly, she doesn't give too much care about what happened between liam and cameron as she respects their privacy and it's normal for people not to get along (e.g. key and minho during the early years, any super junior conflict ever spoken about). she does sense the tense air between the two and tries her best to keep a neutral ground, keeping close ties with both but deep down, she always prayed that they would just talk it out with each other off-camera.

 everyone whose anyone in SLJK and the fans all know of the legendary incident of dao being in hyoyeon's hot seat (as said by dao herself) for about ten minutes only to impress her with the improvements regarding her dance a few days later. it was when she just recently started to understand her own way of dancing and her interpretation of the movements but hyoyeon perhaps didn't see enough power in her so she made dao stand in place for ten minutes by herself.

 everyone in SLJK seems to be envious of the fact that she actually has experience of life as a college student and whenever dao offers a fun suggestion, gives great advice or makes everyone laugh, they'll all applaud her and look at her in awe as they say "as expected from a college graduate".

 during pre-debut videos, she was often seen wearing bucket hats or baseball hats while having an iced chocolate in hand and if she didn't have one in hand, she'd often say it out loud (most of the times, to hana) something similar to "let's grab some iced drinks later", causing fans to call her "choco hat".

dao's eyes lost its focus as the question was given to her, a sign of her being nervous. very unlike her, however she tried to overcome it by smiling and introducing herself with a loud voice, "hello everyone, my name is dao and i'm from bangkok... i'm part of SNS, it's very nice to meet you all!" dao's face showed a grin as she finished one question of the interview before she realized that she forgot something, "oh, i'm a vocalist and i'm also taking acting lessons, hehe."

 

"the reason is quite mediocre, but!" she pressed the pronounciation on the last word of her sentence before continuing, "in theory, it's my birth date and my birth month put together backwards. i had a feeling everyone was going for the smaller numbers so i went with a bigger one... so all the ones before me are able to pick the numbers they want."

 

there was a pause before dao answered, taking a few moments to think about it. it was a good question, one that everyone behind the camera was looking forward to hearing the answer. dao smiled, "still here with everyone. together, while doing our own activities. i can see myself still here with the agency, doing some acting and variety. i think everyone would love that, too, wouldn't they? if i wasn't around, i do not know if they can cook in the kitchen... without breaking something."

 

dao could see from the end of her line of sight that the others and madame kang seemed to enjoy the twist in her answer, especially many of the girls watching her murmuring their agreement to her statement. 

 

that was a tough question for dao because well, the artists under her entertainment are all people she respected and was a fan of at some point in her life. "ah, that is a hard one but i remember going to an exo concert in bangkok once before coming here and i got chills hearing d.o [sunbaenim] and baekhyun [sunbaenim] singing live right in front of my eyes... i can die happy knowing that i went to their concert," dao suddenly put out a vaguely emotional expression as she pretended to stare into a far away place as if to reminisce the old days.

 

it caused her surroundings to burst into laughter, even the interviewer could not hold their giggles as they observed dao's expression. she could also see cam and hana nod at her answer.

 

as if an instant reaction, dao could see herself replaying that day like it happened yesterday. scared, nervous, very intimidated, she couldn't stop from rubbing her palms onto her sweatpants. her palms were sweating like hell from the nervousness. she never felt anything like that before. she had her first vocal lesson with a trainee named kang hana who praised her pronounciation and that caused dao to feel less nervous. not until, she had to go into dance lessons and feel overwhelmed at the amount of talent hana had at dancing but nevertheless, dao was certain that the single compliment from hana that day really helped her out for the remainder of the day.

"the most nerve-wrecking day ever! i was scared, nervous, intimidated all at once but i remember hana praising me the first lesson i ever had on that day so... it really helped settle in the nerves. thank you, hana-nie!" dao said before making a heart with her finger and aiming them to the girl behind the camera.