One Direction wasn't just a boyband to me. They were the catalyst for my entire career in the music industry.

In this episode, I'm discussing the fangirl era that started it all: the chaos of running a fan account with over 200k followers, the friendships built across different countries, and years spent in fan spaces that shaped a professional skill set I wouldn't recognize until much later.

Being a One Direction fan became my entry point into the industry itself, and that entry point would eventually lead me to hearing music before the world did and working with people they worked with.

However in college, I wanted nothing to do with One Direction. I didn't want anyone to know about my fangirl past, which made it all the more ironic when a paparazzi photo of me and Harry ran in a magazine for two years.

Years later, when ...