Tyra Banks: From Model to Mogul
Watch how the beauty transforms into a business woman.
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Brains and Beauty - Throw a graduation cap in the air! Tyra Banks officially matriculated on February 17 from Harvard Business School's Executive Education program. It’s a big accomplishment for the “bankable” star who dropped out of Loyola Marymount University at 17 to pursue her modeling career. With an Ivy League degree to put a stamp on her already massive business empire, Tyra’s ready for a takeover! BET honored the multi-faced beauty with a “Media Award” in 2008, but she continues to impress us! Take a look back at some of the milestones from her career. (Photo: AP Photo/courtesy of Carolyn London)
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In the Beginning... - Tyra began modeling at 15, but she got her big break at 17 when she was signed by the largest modeling agency in the world, Elite Model Management, in 1990. She booked her first print shoot for Seventeen that year. After graduating high school she decided to forgo college when the agency offered to send her to Paris to model. During her first runway season she booked a record 25 shows at Paris Fashion Week! (Photo: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library)
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She Got Her Own - Although Tyra was taking the industry by storm, she has said it was still difficult to be a Black model in an industry dominated by white models. After noticing that she didn’t make as much money as some of her counterparts, she formed a corporation in 1991 called Tygirl Inc. to manage her own career. (Photo: Courtesy Elle Magazine Germany)
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Breaking Barriers - In 1996, Tyra became the first African-American woman to appear on the cover of GQ as well as Sports Illustrated’s coveted swimsuit edition. The next year she became the first Black woman to appear on the cover of a Victoria’s Secret catalogue. (Photo: Courtesy Sports Illustrated Magazine)
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Spread Your Wings - Tyra goes down in history as being one of the original Victoria’s Secret Angels. She got her “wings” in 1997 and she strutted her stuff for years in their annual fashion show. Her curves, though not an “industry standard,” helped her stand out in the lingerie company: “I made my living being 20 or 30 pounds heavier than the average model,” she has said. “And that's where I got famous. Victoria's Secret said I sold more bras and panties than anybody else, and I was traipsing down that runway with 30 pounds more booty than the other girls.” (Photo: GettyImages)
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Acting Out - Tyra made her acting debut in 1993 with a seven episode stint on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as Will Smith’s love interest “Jackie Ames.” Her first movie opportunity came the following year after Boyz in the Hood director John Singleton saw her on the June 1993 cover of Essence and thought she would be perfect. She’d go on to star in her first film, Higher Learning (1994), alongside Omar Epps. (Photo: Courtesy NBC)
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Girl Power! - In 1999, Tyra founded TZONE, an organization to help inspire young women “to believe in themselves and take control of their lives.” It began as a series of week-long camps that reinforced leadership and empowerment, but in 2005 TZONE expanded to a public charity, The Tyra Banks TZONE Foundation. “TZONE is not a place — it is a commitment to empower girls to be fierce, focused and in control of their futures,” Banks has said. (Photo: Courtesy TZone Foundation)
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Wanna Be on Top? - In 2003, Banks stepped into reality TV-land and created, produced and hosted the UPN show America’s Next Top Model, a competition for “girls-next-door” vying to be in the modeling industry. The show was an instant hit and became the network’s highest-rated program for the first five seasons, and when UPN became The CW in 1996, Top Model was chosen to headline the network. The show is currently casting for season 18. (Photo: Courtesy CW Networks)
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Just Tyra - In 2000, Tyra became the youth correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show, but in 2005 she got her own eponymous show in 2005. Though many have compared the two media giants, Tyra recently spoke to an audience at Harvard Business school and said, “The comparisons are extremely flattering, impossible to live up to and inconsistent with my goals.” (Photo: Courtesy CW Networks)
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Book It - Tyra penned her first book (with writer Vanessa T. Bush), Tyra’s Beauty Inside and Out, which was packed with personal anecdotes from the model, as well as makeup tips, dating advice and other hot topics for young adults. In 2011, she signed a three-book deal with Delacorte Press to publish a young-adult fantasy series called Modelland. The debut novel hit the New York Times bestseller list in 2011 and Tyra has said that it might be turned into a movie. (Photo: JLN Photography/WENN.com)