Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Leechin.
Hi Ashley, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
It all started in 2006 when I was scouted as a Taylor Swift lookalike. I was set to be a model & actor as a young kid but my childhood took an unfortunate turn & I left home at an early age. Fast forward to today, I am now married to my best friend & we have two beautiful children. I moved to Nashville in 2020 to pursue my dream as a trauma nurse and that is when it all changed for my family. I couldn’t go to a Target or Mall without getting stopped for the likeness to Taylor Swift. My patients, coworkers & random bystanders could not believe how much I looked like Taylor and since we were in a pandemic wearing masks, I was stopped much more (even with my brown eyes – I guess people don’t pay that much attention to those tiny details). My whole family got covid, so I decided to download the app TikTok in quarantine and that is when social media found me (TikTok Taylor). I thought it might be funny to make a video joking about me getting stopped in public & as soon as I posted it, it went viral. The entire platform thought I was actually Taylor Swift making the video. So that is how it all started. Now I have taken a mental break from nursing and have focused on a new passion of mine, which is acting. I have been in a few music videos & I do the Taylor Swift dress-up for my followers and it makes me happy to represent Taylor in this light. It brings others, as well as myself, joy.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. I suffered a lot physical and emotional trauma from my adopted family growing up. I was not the cool kid in school (my nickname was tswizzle) and I got bullied much of my middle and high school years. I always thought the bullying would die down after high school but once I discovered social media, I realized the damage cyberbullying could do. I recently experienced trauma from an individual who reached out to me & used Taylor Swift as bait. I was so caught up in everything and seeing the possibility of meeting my idol and I fell for this scam artist hard. But we live and we learn. This experience has made me stronger and less naive in this industry.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a registered nurse who did crisis travel nursing up until a month ago. I specialized in trauma and COVID crisis until I decided I needed a mental break. I am proud of everything I have accomplished in my profession. One of my biggest achievements was helping set up a field hospital in the US to help the Afghan refugees. This brought me so much joy to see how many families we helped. It was hard to step away but now I do social media full time as well as acting/modeling. I was told I had a gift to be a nurse and to help other communities but acting has been a passion for as long as I can remember. I am just taking it day by day. I thoroughly enjoy making my followers happy & if that means dressing up as Taylor and doing funny skits, I will do it because it is such a rare and unique craft.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/officialashleyleechin?r=nametag
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/traumarn13
Image Credits
Alex Valente
