Usually when someone tells you that they love your outfit, it can add a little pep to your step—but what if it changed everything?
Well, that's what happened to model Nanga Awasum after she was spotted on the streets of New York City by supermodel Gigi Hadid.
On Thursday, July 16, Gigi shared a snap of the 23-year-old model—just out enjoying what she thought was a normal New York day—to her Instagram Story writing, "Shoutout to my NYC inspiration of the day: this queen." The photo featured the back of Nanga walking away, with Gigi noting she was drooling too much over the look "to get a pic of the front, but she was major."
Once word got back to Nanga that she unknowingly made it to Gigi's Instagram, she then took to Twitter to respond with a pic of the front of her fashion-forward look.
She captioned the tweet, "It's the way @GiGiHadid would've changed my entire life if I was only facing the right way." Gigi then responded to her, which inadvertently kickstarted the road to Nanga's dreams coming true.
"You were facing the right way exactly where you were headed," Gigi tweeted back. "Sunshine! Sending biiiiig love, Nanga!"
Ironically, Nanga told E! News the chic outfit that the 26-year-old star praised her for was actually far from her first choice that day.
"I woke up that morning and I threw on this outfit and I really, really didn't like the outfit at all, but I had 30 minutes to get to work and I had to get on set," she explained. "I was like, God, I hate it but I have no more time and I just ran out of the house."
In fact, Nanga said she stopped by Zara to pick up a new ensemble when she was approached by two girls who recognized her from Gigi's Instagram Story.
"I'm blank staring at them because the words just aren't processing," she described of the moment. "Not because I'm in shock that it's true, but because those words just have never come together before for me."
Well, thanks to Gigi's love for her ensemble, not only is the model booking more gigs than ever before, but she's also already heard from a couple of agencies ready to represent her as well.
Among the jobs she's in talks for: A coveted gig with Maybelline and even a possible brand ambassador partnership with Nasty Gal.
And that's not all. Nanga also said that people on Twitter are actively campaigning to add an appearance on the HBO Max reboot of Gossip Girl to her fast-growing resume. The NYC based model has expressed interest in the show on the social media platform before.
"I've been told I was ugly, I've been turned down by so many agencies, I've been turned down by so many jobs and just to have someone like her see me and tell me that I was pretty and tell me I was major, it changed the trajectory of my month," she told E! News.
Nanga continued, "After this, anything can happen. I have full faith that my life could actually work out and my career could actually go somewhere. That's really, really made me so happy."
—Reporting by Alli Rosenbloom