Tyra Banks launches a new book and talks business and beauty

Fans of RuPaul’s Drag Race will recognize the phrase “the other Tyra” — a reference to Season 2 champ Tyra Sanchez. And there really are two Tyras … only both have the last name Banks.

The first Tyra is the supermodel — the first African-American woman to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition, the host of America’s Next Top Model who popularized terms like “smizing” (smiling with your eyes) and all manner of variations on “tooch” (booty, poochie, juicy), and who held headshots like Oscar envelopes. The second Tyra is Ms. Banks — the entrepreneur who took a course at the Harvard Business School for running an empire … which she now does, while teaching her own class at Stanford.

So which one am I talking to today?

Of course, I’m talking to both… and a mother, daughter, author (of, among other, her new book Perfect Is Boring: 10 Things My Crazy, Fierce Mama Taught Me About Beauty, Booty and Being a Boss) speaker and all kinds of other qualities that make Banks so identifiable and attractive to millions of her fans.

A few thousand more will get to experience Banks in person next week, when she launches a book tour with a live onstage conversation about her life. (Tickets to the appearance include a signed copy of her book.)

We called up Banks — she was eating Chinese food and taking care of her son while we chatted — to get a preview of her event, her book and her life as an imperfect businesswoman.                

— Arnold Wayne Jones

Dallas Voice: What’s the professional accomplishment in life you’re most proud of? Tyra Banks:  I’d say it was being “first” in so many different things — whether the first black woman to have a Victoria’s Secret contract, or be on the cover of Sports Illustrated or the female model of any kind to be on the cover of GQ, even [to create] the first fashion-based reality show. Those “firsts” mean a lot to me, which I didn’t realize until I went to Harvard Business School [for a three-year program on entrepreneurship] and my marketing professor did a case study on me. Of course, being first means you make a lot of mistakes. I’ve been first on things that didn’t work. Fortunately, people tend to forget about those. 

Your mother was the inspiration for your book, and will be appearing with you in Dallas. What’s your relationship been like?
We really are close. There’s no such thing as a taboo subject with her — she even embarrassed me a lot by bringing up [discussions] on boys and sex and relationships. Usually a kid doesn’t want to talk about something, so her being so raw and real helped me not experiment with sex and other things too early. She’s hilarious and at times can curse like a sailor or be the holiest person in the world. On that part she’s always been a very good friend. But she doesn’t go to the clubs with me and she doesn’t like me to talk back!

She was also your manager when you started modeling at 15….
Yes, she was the one who told me to plan to leave modeling early, because I wasn’t going to be some hot supermodel forever. She was my Kris Jenner  — she guided me a lot and protected me.

You’ve been a long outspoken ally of the gay community. How did that passion develop?  Maybe being in the fashion industry Starting when I was very, very young. To see so many people disenfranchised and abolished from their households or excommunicated while I was holding Thanksgiving dinners for those “orphans.” Then it ballooned into something bigger. Perhaps being a black woman and understanding the struggles made me feel a kinship [with the gay community]. I also have gotten credit for stuff I took from the gay community, like saying “fierce,” which the gay community in New York started! I just [popularized it].

You have created a host of catchphrases, though, like smize. They do seem tongue in cheek to an extent, but also you treat them so seriously … although maybe mock-seriously?  A lot of the things I do on America’s Next Top Model I am in on the jokes. I say it’s like the Flintstones vitamins of my childhood, which taste so good, but there are vitamins in it, so it’s good for you! There’s fun and camp with “smize,” a word I trademarked but introduced it in the most camp way: SuperSmize was a superhero — pretty Wakanda thank you very much! —and I had a cape and laser beam eyes. I knew it was ridiculous but I also knew how to make it stick. Over time, I knew it wouldn’t be as much of a joke. I overhear people talk about smizing in bars now!

Will you be doing another cycle of ANTM? Any chance men will be coming back?  How great was that? That was so fun. We have a new partner with VH1, who wanted it to be just girls, but I hope I will be allowed to bring men back. ANTM I’m sure will be coming back, along with America’s
Got
Talent
, which I’m hosting again, starting May 29. And in 2019 I have some pretty massive things I will be launching. So I may be talking to you again next year!