Early life When Verbeke was 13, her parents divorced. She lived with her father but kept in touch with her mother. Her two sisters died in their youth. Her younger sister, Véronique died at home at age 11 due to carbon monoxide poisoning, and her older sister Isabelle died in a car accident at age 21. Her father died of lung cancer at the beginning of the K3 breakthrough. After completing secondary education, she studied to be a teacher (
regent) for
Dutch,
history and
economics. Before meeting the other two K3 members
Karen Damen and
Kathleen Aerts in 1998, she worked as a bank clerk in
Laarne and performed in an homage to
Ann Christy together with
Robert Mosuse,
Andrea Croonenberghs and Pascale Michiels. She also sang as a backing vocalist for
Niels William, who later became the discoverer and very first manager of K3.
K3 William introduced Verbeke to Damen and Aerts, and suggested they participate in the
1999 Eurovision Song Contest. They then entered the preselection's with the song "Heyah Mama". Verbeke herself helped to choose her successor in a televised competition to determine the new K3. Verbeke was then appointed as the new manager of K3 by Studio 100. After two years in this position, in June 2017, she announced that she was stepping down as manager of K3 to make more time for her family and focus on other projects. In 2016, she presented
Generation K for
Ketnet, an educational program broadcast by
VRT. In 2021, she presented the TV program
Zorgen voor mama, a docuseries about single parents in poverty. Verbeke grew up poor herself and has been putting this topic on the agenda. The first season of
Zorgen voor mama was nominated for the Prix d'Europe in the best documentary category. In the spring of 2021, she rejoined
Sven De Ridder in the theater comedy
Proper Lakens, while also starting to record the second season of
Zorgen voor mama. == Personal life ==