From singing “You Belong With Me” at 8 years old to founding a college course about Taylor Swift’s cultural and economic impact, Crystal Haryanto has never underestimated the power of being a Swiftie. A 2023 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied economics, cognitive science, and public policy, Haryanto now works in economic consulting. But she’s also become a voice for Swift’s influence as both an artist and entrepreneur.
There has been a wave of Swift-focused college courses in recent years, most of which lean heavily on Swift’s artistry, such as Makayla Dublin’s “Themes in Literature: Literature (Taylor’s Version)” at the University of Missouri and Stephanie Burt’s “Taylor Swift And Her World” at Harvard. But Haryanto saw something overlooked in all the academic narratives around Swift, one that she wanted to share with the world: “Her business savvy, her strategy, her mind, how she packages products and has built this entire musical universe,” she tells Her Campus in an exclusive interview. “I was thinking, ‘What if there was a different way that I could do it, from the perspective of economics and business?”
Haryanto launched her class, “Artistry & Entrepreneurship: Taylor’s Version,” in UC Berkeley’s spring 2024 semester, and it’s now entering its third semester with a rotation of facilitators and guest speakers. The course is open to all students and enrolls on a first-come, first-served basis for the fall 2025 semester.
The course isn’t just for die-hard Swifties. “We get a lot of people who were fans when Taylor was at the beginning of her career and they kind of dropped off and then came back,” she says. Others take it because their partners or friends are fans — or simply because they’re curious. “I want to make this a learning opportunity for everyone, whether they’re the biggest Swiftie or just Swiftie-curious,” she says.
This was also Haryanto’s approach when writing her book, The Glory of Giving Everything: The Taylor Swift Business Model, which was released July 16, 2025. For Swift fans, Haryanto wanted to get them thinking about how Swift’s influence extends way beyond songwriting — and to see the strategy behind her empire. And for entrepreneurs, she includes lessons about the longevity of Swift’s career and how she’s tackled every phase of a business life cycle.
Although Haryanto had already succeeded in establishing her course on the economics of Swift, publishing a book on the subject wasn’t something she necessarily had in mind. The opportunity came about from what she calls “the best cold email I’ve ever received,” in which her now-publisher asked her to write a business book about Swift after learning about her class. “I might not have even thought that this was worth putting into a book on my own volition,” Haryanto admits.
Blending a traditional discipline with a modern, or even “trendy” topic may seem intimidating, but for Haryanto, it was the cross-section of two of her areas of expertise, making her uniquely qualified to go for it. “It was because of my love for economics that I was able to then extract and adapt it to my passion outside of that,” she says. Her advice for current college students who want to do the same? “Be diligent about the traditional studies first,” she says. “I never dreamed that I would get to spend so much of my time talking about Taylor Swift in a context that is, like, publishable and verifiable in curricula.” To Haryanto, it’s all about mastering the fundamentals before bending the rules. “Understand all the ins and outs of it, and then you can marry it to something you love. So many people want to skip this first part, but having that fundamental understanding of it first is so rewarding. Once you’re able to, adapt it to something that you love completely.”
Like many in this fandom, Haryanto has experienced some anti-Swift criticism. But despite the occasional “bad email” or negative social media comments about her course, Haryanto isn’t fazed. “Everyone who matters has supported it,” she tells Her Campus, pointing to the encouragement she’s received from faculty, students, her publisher, and even strangers — like a grandfather who emailed her a poem about his granddaughter’s love for Swift.
Still, she’s all-too-aware that focusing on a pop star, especially a female one, in academic and economic spaces can stir doubt. During a Canadian radio interview, she was caught off guard when a male economics professor was brought on without her knowledge to argue that the Eras Tour had no real economic impact. Haryanto says she felt flustered in the moment, but instead of brushing it off, she took the debate back to her classroom. “It helped me realize this is the other side of the argument,” she says. “In class, I broke down what the other side was saying.” By breaking down the flawed assumptions that economist made, Haryanto turned it into a teachable moment that created even more value for her course.
More than anything, Haryanto sees Taylor Swift’s success as a mirror for the kind of education she believes in — the kind that makes you think critically about yourself and the world around you. In blending pop culture with policy, fandom with finance, and songwriting with strategy, Haryanto proves that there’s room in academia, and in business, for the things you love.