The world’s biggest Desperado fan is also our Fan of the week. Everyone say hi to Tara!

1) Name and age?
Tara Turnpenny, aged 17.

2) Where do you live?
I live out the outskirts of Manchester, UK.

3) Occupation?
Currently, I have a part time job which I work on weekends. As well as being a full time college student studying law.

4) Number of times you’ve seen Rihanna live?
Unfortunately, none. Due to my age my parents only really started letting me go to concerts in 2014/2015 and because they didn’t really want to come with me it meant that I missed out on her previous tours….which sucks but I’m sure there’s many more to come to make up for it!

5) Are you attending ”ANTI WORLD TOUR”?
Yes!!! I’ll be attending Wembley, Coventry, Manchester and Malmo! Im super excited, with it being my first time seeing her live I’m struggling to contain myself. It’s been stressful planning but thankfully it has all worked out and I’m sure I will have the time of my life. It still doesn’t seem real that I’ll be meeting so many of my twitter friends who I’ve known for year whilst we all go and embrace what we love the most.

What does it mean to be a navy?
Honestly, it means everything to me. It doesn’t seem two minutes ago when I made my Stan account and started making so many friends. They’re all like my family. I couldn’t imagine how my life would be if I wasn’t a navy. It brings so much joy and happiness out of me that could never be replaced. I truly believe I’ve made friends for a life time and thats all because of Rihanna, and I don’t know what i’d do without them.

Will you share a personal Rihanna encounter with us?! Something she’s told you, taught you or done.
There’s quite a few that comes to mind, one that really stands out for me was when she followed me on Twitter a month after she had on Instagram back in 2014. I remember it so clearly, and it seems to be an hysterical moment within the navy. I just remember being in the car on the way to go see my horse and I was having one of those moments where I was praying she’d follow me back, and as I walked to the field to get my horse…literally as soon as I clipped the lead rope onto her my phone went crazy and thats when I saw it; and me being me of course lost the horse in the whole excitement of it and that was the first thing I tweeted. I laugh about it whenever I think about it.

A more recent one which really touches me is from February this year; I was having a really rough month due to an illness and it marked 6 months since I had to sell my horse after nearly 4 years of owning her. I really felt down and so I told Rihanna about it in her DM’s and she replied. It was my first DM from her, and I was just so glad and relieved that she knows about my illness and me losing my horse which was a huge part of my life for so long. I can honestly say that she helped me get through, her advice was so heart warming and now I can go about my daily business without that feeling of being lost. I really couldn’t thank her enough.

You’re kinda famous for editing videos in the navy. Is that something you wanna work with when you get older? And with Rih perhaps?
Yes! Editing videos is something i’ve enjoyed for so many years. It all began when I was around 10 and I used to edit videos of my horses that fitted with different music…I really fell in love with it. I really feel like i’ve progressed whilst being in the navy with the types of videos I produce, I mean I actually go through my old videos and I’m shocked at how much I’ve improved. I’m planning on leaving college and doing a film degree at university, focussing in on the editing side of it…although I’m not totally sure what career path I would go down as i’m stuck between music videos, tour visuals and other marketing campaigns, so I guess I’m just waiting for what works out the best!

My dream is to work with Rih, either on a music video, campaign or tour visuals…because i’ve been doing fan made videos for her for so long it would really be a dream come true for her to notice my work. I have many more unseen projects to come, and I’m so excited to share them with everyone.

You’re also (very) famous for being a Desperado Stan. What’s the deal about that song?!
Oh yes, Desperado is my song. My obsession with it is actually becoming laughable. I just don’t know what it is with this one song…it just does something to me?! It belongs in a art museum because that’s purely just what it is…Art. When I found out it was on the ANTI World Tour Setlist I honestly started fitting, I’ve never loved a song so much in my life until Desperado came into my life. I am so excited, yet scared to witness it live….i’m sure its a spiritual, out of body experience when she hits that high note but, I really don’t even think i’ll make it that far? I think everyone else is eager to see my reaction as much as I am to be honest!

In 10 years, what’s your dream life? Will Rihanna be a part of it?
In 10 years I hope to be enjoying life with my dream job of video editing, hopefully in the US which is where i’m eager to move to and study whilst at University. I’ll be 27 by then, and no doubt I will probably still have twitter, still talking about Desperado. I don’t know if things would change, I mean as I’m getting older my love for Rih doesn’t change so I’m more than certain I will still be up to my old ways doing what I love the most.