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Gigi Hadid has proved that it really does pay to dress for success.
The supermodel, 26, spurred the career of another young model this week by posting a photo of the woman on Instagram.
Hadid snapped a pic of a then-unknown woman she spotted on the streets of New York and uploaded it to her Instastory, heaping praise on the woman for her stylish outfit.
“Shoutout to my NYC inspiration of the day : this queen,” Hadid wrote in a caption over a photo showing the woman from behind. Hadid explained she was too in awe of the stranger’s style to capture a pic of the front of the outfit in time, but told her followers, “she was major.”
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The stylish woman in question turned out to be a model herself: Nanga Awasum. Awasum eventually caught wind of Gigi’s post and responded on Twitter.
“It’s the way @GiGiHadid would have changed my entire life if I was only facing the right way,” she wrote. Awasum included a screenshot of Hadid’s Instastory and a selfie showing off the full fit.
It’s the way @GiGiHadid would have changed my entire life if I was only facing the right way. pic.twitter.com/vzRUG1OP0o
— nänga. (@seIfiedump) July 15, 2021
It wasn’t long until Hadid saw the tweet and wrote, “You were facing the right way exactly where you were headed. Sunshine! Sending biiiiig love Nanga !”
You were facing the right way exactly where you were headed. Sunshine! Sending biiiiig love Nanga ! https://t.co/Eh75E0eL0p
— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) July 15, 2021
The pair also exchanged DMs on Instagram, sharing nothing but love as BuzzFeed reported.
Not surprisingly, Awasum could hardly contain her joy. “I am not too cool for this,” she tweeted. “I am losing it.”
I am not too cool for this. I am losing it. https://t.co/mioZUMzfVd
— nänga. (@seIfiedump) July 15, 2021
Speaking with E! News, Awasum revealed that, surprisingly, she didn’t love the outfit that drew Hadid’s praise when she first got dressed.
“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 said. “I was like, God, I hate it but I have no more time and I just ran out of the house.”
She added that she only found out about Hadid’s post because some girls approached her while she was shopping at Zara, recognizing her from Hadid’s story.
“I’m blank staring at them because the words just aren’t processing,” Awasum recalled. “Not because I’m in shock that it’s true, but because those words just have never come together before for me.”
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“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 added.
“After this, anything can happen,” she said. “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.”
The model has already seen an increase in the number of gigs she is booking and is in talks with a few agencies who are interested in representing her. She’s also on the verge of landing a job with Maybelline and may become a brand ambassador for Nasty Gal.
Summing up the entire experience, Awasum tweeted, “My life completely changed overnight.”
My life completely changed overnight
— nänga. (@seIfiedump) July 16, 2021