Last month at the American Music Awards, Rihanna received the inaugural Icon Award for her impressive resume. The Barbados-born star has sold over 10 million albums in the US alone, and she is a mere 25 years old. Rihanna is both the youngest and quickest singer to achieve 13 number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

During the award show, you saw Bill Mahar present RiRi with the honor and Jay Z speak highly of the artist he signed when she was a teenager. Justin Timberlake also decided send props Rihanna’s way during his acceptance speech for one of the three AMAs he took home.

What you didn’t see on the broadcast was Rihanna paying the support forward to the next generation, just as the aforementioned celebrities had. The “Umbrella” singer entered the press room after the AMAs for her victory lap. As Rihanna exited she spotted 17 year-old Zendaya Coleman. Zendaya is simply known by her first name; another product of Disney (“Shake It Up”) who competed on “Dancing With The Stars” and released a self-titled album. Her lead single, “Replay,” is currently played on radio stations across the country.

Amidst the madness of entourages and media members and security guards, Rihanna halted the procession to say hello to Zendaya and let the “Replay” singer know that she has a very famous fan.

“(Rihanna) was just so sweet and so kind,” a clearly star-struck Zendaya told “The Ralphie Show” after the encounter. “That was so cool to see, you know what I mean? You see a superstar like that and you’re just like… you just want to meet them yunno? To see that she was such a kind, sweet person – that was really cool.”

Rihanna remarked about how tall Zendaya is (5’10”) and called her, “awesome.”

“She met my parents! My parents met Rihanna!” Zendaya continued. It was clearly all hitting her at once. “(My parents) love her.”

At least for one night, Rihanna was kid tested and mother approved.