Never in her wildest dreams did Ayesha Khurram think she’d grab the attention of pop superstar Taylor Swift. But she has and now she’s got a smile on her face and she can’t shake it off.
“I literally could not believe it. It was like this guardian angel that kind of popped in and said, ‘Hey, you have troubles, but now you don’t have troubles anymore,'” explained Khurram from her Mississauga home.
“You never think she’s going to see something like that.”
The 20-year-old has been belting out T-Swift songs for nearly a decade and saying she’s a fan is almost an understatement. Khurram’s dedicated a Tumblr page to Swift and is a pillar in “Taylor Nation.” So when she found out she’d be about $5,000 short for her tuition, she said she vented to her friends online and what happened next brought teardrops, albeit happy ones, to her guitar.
“She is honestly the kindest most genuine, most loving caring person I know. She really is everything she appears to be,” said Khurram, adding Swift always has such positive messaging.
“Be good to people, be kind to people, pay it forward.”
Khurram is studying accounting and financial management at the University of Waterloo. Recent cuts to Ontario’s student loan program meant that she would be short on funds for school, her parents both work minimum wage jobs and it was already quite tough making ends meet in the household.
“It would’ve been pretty tough I had no idea how we were going to do it,” said the 20-year-old.
“I didn’t really realize the impact of it until I calculated my funds and I realized it didn’t cover my student housing and the tuition itself.”
After news of the story broke, Paypal matched Swift’s contribution. Khurram said she is going to send the money from Paypal to her parents to be put in a savings account.
This isn’t the first time their two worlds have collided. Last year Swift’s team reached out on her fan page and invited her and her friends back stage to meet the singer.
It was an act of kindness Khurram said she will remember for the rest of her life. She said she loves Swift and all that she stands for. Khurram said “Lover” is her favourite song, which widely drops on Friday.
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