Hong Kong-based singer Maria Cordero is a familiar face in the city's entertainment scene, having hosted numerous programmes and served as a judge on the reality singing competition Midlife, Sing & Shine!.
But before finding success in showbiz, the 72-year-old worked as a labourer for two years and seven months to make ends meet.
Recalling that difficult period in a recent video, Cordero – who was born in Macau – said she worked at a moving company near her home.
Her job involved carrying three bags of flour at a time, with each bag weighing 50lb (22.6kg).
"I had no choice. If I couldn’t carry things, my six children would have nothing to eat," she said.
Her duties also included feeding flour into a machine to be sifted, taking it out for mixing and then repacking it into bags.
The work often left her covered in flour from head to toe, earning her the nickname "flour lady" among her peers.
Outside work, Cordero also had to run the household and care for her six children.
Each morning, she would prepare breakfast and iron her children's school uniforms before heading to work.
Instead of resting during her one-hour lunch break, she would rush home to cook and feed her young children.
After her shift, Cordero would hurry home again to do the housework, prepare dinner and supervise her children's homework.
The physically demanding labour also took a toll on Cordero's body, leaving the skin on her hands cracked and damaged.
"Washing clothes hurt so much that I'd cry out in pain. After finishing the laundry, I'd apply some Vaseline and put plastic bags over my hands before going to sleep. Then, I'd wake up the next morning and head straight back to work," she said.
The experience left such a deep emotional scar on Cordero to the point she still takes a detour whenever she passes her former workplace.
Looking back, she said she was able to persevere through sheer determination.
Cordero was previously married to a Filipino pianist who was 22 years her senior, but they divorced in 1989. She had to become the sole breadwinner when they were married after he lost his job.
She later married Portuguese environmental engineer Rick da Silva in 1999, and they remained together until his death from lung cancer in 2020.
