Born in Seoul, South Korea on May 26, 2000, Hwang Ye-ji (황예지) is the leader of South Korean girl group ITZY, which debuted under talent agency JYP Entertainment in 2019.

Successfully passing JYP auditions with her performance of TWICE’s October 2015 debut single “Like OOH-AHH,” Yeji joined JYP as trainee in that same year. Raised in Jeonju, she often found herself traveling back and forth between her hometown and Seoul after her school classes out of choice, in order to practice and improve her singing.

After becoming a trainee, Yeji appeared on several survival shows, such as the boy group survival show Stray Kids in 2017. Then, in 2018, Yeji was a contestant on SBS’ reality television competition series The Fan. Sadly, she was eliminated in the fifth episode after her performance of Dua Lipa’s June 2017 single “New Rules.” During her time on the show, she was given the moniker “JYP’s Secret Weapon” by 2PM’s Junho.

On January 20, 2019, it was announced that Yeji would be joining JYP’s new girl group. After three years of overall training, she debuted as a member of ITZY on February 12 of the same year.

Since her debut, on March 13, 2021, STUDIO CHOOM chose Yeji as their “Artist Of The Month” and released an introduction video on their YouTube channel. The video saw Yeji step out of her comfort zone, preparing a heels dance. She also voiced her worries due to people’s high expectations. However, six days later, the video of Yeji covering Bishop Briggs’ January 2016 single “River” was released and received generally positive comments and amassed well over fifteen million views.