her family moved to the Philippines to start a trading business.  

Park joined ABS-CBN's entertainment stable called Star Magic in the wake of her success in the show, with her projects ranging from commercial endorsements to television appearances.

Park also embarked on a musical career that led to the release of her self-titled six-track album that contained the novelty dance hit "In or Out", a song that parodied her experiences on Star Circle Quest.

In December 2004, YG Entertainment's Yang Hyun Suk offered Park workshop classes in South Korea after seeing the ABS-CBN Documentary My Name Is Sandara Park. In March 2005, Park went ahead with the workshops, putting her career in the Philippines on hold. After six months, she resumed work in the Philippines, starring in several movies. She left the Philippines show business industry and returned to South Korea with her family on August 1, 2007. YG Entertainment announced the following day that Park had signed a contract with them.

2NE1

Main article: 2NE1

YG Entertainment announced that the new group would consist of four members and debut sometime in May 2009. The company stated that the group had trained for four years, and that their debut album would contain songs produced by 1TYM's leader, Teddy Park and G-Dragon of Big Bang. The group's name was initially announced as "21"; however, due to the discovery of a singer with the same name, the group was renamed "2NE1", which "NE" is the abbreviation of "New Evolution". Sandara was placed in 2NE1, alongside Bom, Minzy and CL.

Solo activities

Before her debut, she was featured in a TV drama The Return of Iljimae as Rie, and she also appeared as the lead actress in Gummy's music video for "I'm Sorry", together with labelmate T.O.P, one of the members of Big Bang.