Host: Reid Hoffman
Guest: Tyra Banks, Model & Entrepreneur
Category: Biz & Tech | 👩🔧 Founder Stories
Podcast’s Essential Bites:
[9:44] “Modeling happened to me, but it wasn't my dream at all. On the first day of high school, this one girl comes up to me, and she's like, "Are you a model?" […] And I had never heard that. It was the weirdest thing to me, but she took me under her wing, and we became best friends, and she taught me so much of what I know today.”
[17:04] “Over time, I gained some weight, if we want to talk about the booty. And every season there were less and less designers that wanted to use me because my body was changing. My agent gave my mother a list of eight designers that said, "We're not using Tyra because she's too big." By the way, I was 120 pounds, but back then it was too big.”
[19:59] “Then we got real strategic. […] Yes, there's been models with curves that are Americana, girl next door, but not a Black one. Black models at the time were more exotic, and gorgeous, and slinked down the runway. […] But we realized that everything that was open to take was that girl-next-door, just happened to be Black, and that was our strategy.”
[24:25] “I was offered millions of dollars to wear furs. I'm not the person that's throwing paint on people, but I just don't want to wear furs, real fur. Millions of dollars to sell alcohol, always said no to that. I did one Drink Responsibly campaign, but I was like, it has to be a Drink Responsibly campaign. My grandmother died of lung cancer when she was 50 years old, so I said, no cigarettes. So those are my three main categories of no and also the three main categories that paid you the highest. So I always would say no. And my agents were like, "Are you serious? Do you understand what you can make in four days is what you can make in four years?" I'm like, "I know, but I'm just not going to do that." But through that, there were just so many no's. […] There's so many that I look back on, and I feel like as precious as I was about personal brand, I think there was a lot of protection there […].”
[29:00] “[P]ersonal brand is not just protecting your own image, but it's also about being truthful and real to yourself. I teach my students that the easiest personal brand is the one that you don't have to act. You don't have to pretend. […] I want to talk about how this is a hair weave. I want to talk about this push-up bra. I want to talk about my cellulite. I mean power of voice. Power to lead. Power to be transparent.”
[34:43] “I am so inspired by Steve Jobs, having an unofficial uniform. He had the black turtleneck and the jeans. He didn't have to think because that takes time out of your day. I know that sounds crazy coming from somebody that's from the fashion industry, but the idea of having to think about clothes for me, I just hate it.”
[43:04] “I used to fear losing relevance and all that type of stuff. But I think what guides me now is legacy. When I am no longer here, what the hell do I stand for? What can I leave so that my son is walking this earth, and he is proud of what his mom has left behind. Whether it's a business that he is continuing to have a part of, whether it's just the legacy of expanding the definition of beauty worldwide, that leads me more than anything now. And I'm sure there is some ego in that, and there is some altruism in that, too.”
Rating: 🍎🍎🍎🍎
🎙️ Full Episode: Apple | Spotify
🕰️ 48 min | 🗓️ 03/09/2021
✅ Time saved: 46 min
