In high school, Kim Tae-Hee picked

In high school, Kim Tae-Hee picked up the quirky nickname "Headbanger". This nickname came about because she would often study late into the night and in class would nearly drift off into sleep and then quickly snap out of it, resulting in her head making a headbanger motion - popular with heavy metal music fans.[3]
Kim Tae-Hee then entered Seoul National University, often mentioned as South Korea's most prestigious and most difficult to enter university, to major in fashion design. The reason she chose this major was that she admired other people who did creative work. During her college days, she was first asked to model for an ad designer who spotted her in the subway station. At this time, Kim Tae-Hee wasn't sure what she would do after college so she decided to take up the modeling work as a part-time job.[4]