Tyra Banks on Authenticity

Audio Source with transcript: https://mastersofscale.com/tyra-banks/ (11 mins in)

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BANKS: I gave myself one year to be successful in Paris, and that did not mean
supermodel. That meant direct bookings, meaning a client would just call and say, "We
want Tyra." Then you don't have to be a supermodel for a client to say that. I was like, "I
am not pounding the pavement with auditions for a year.”
HOFFMAN: With only days to go before she left the country, Tyra put herself through a crash
course on designer branding.
BANKS: I found a fashion library in downtown LA. And I took the bus to the fashion
library, and the library pulled all these tapes of designers, and books, and all this type of
stuff, and I studied, studied, studied, studied.
I was like, "Yves Saint Laurent loves their women with the hair in a bun. Red lipstick.
Very elegant walking. Karl Lagerfeld, curls, fun, big pearls, smiling on the runway."
HOFFMAN: Armed with this very specific information about Fashion Week designers and their
signature runway styles, Tyra hit the streets of Paris.
BANKS: So, what I did, Reid, is before I went into every single audition, I would go
either in the alley, or on the side of the building, or in the lobby, change my hair, change
my lipstick, my makeup, and then walk what the research told me that designer liked.
Within those two weeks of doing auditions for Fashion Week, I broke history. I was the
only model that booked 25 fashion shows her first season.
HOFFMAN: This is a perfect example of how authenticity and craft come together. At every
stage of your journey, it’s important to be very strategic.
People often misinterpret authentic as, “I shouldn’t change a thing about me, no matter who I’m
talking to. I’m me, deal with it!” But I do not recommend that as a strategy when pitching
investors or onboarding clients.
A critical part of authenticity is being so confident in who you are that you don’t mind meeting
someone halfway on something simple.
Tyra didn’t change anything about herself that couldn’t be undone in the lobby of the next
building. And her willingness to do the research demonstrated a core competency that was
instantly valuable.
We don’t always discuss it, but branding is a two-way conversation. It relies on the beholder as
well as the beheld. You can still be YOU and adjust to your audience. That’s just smart selling.

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BANKS: 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.
HOFFMAN: No, I'm also aware about how crazy the world is. 120 pounds is too big,
you're like, "What?"
BANKS: “Really?”
HOFFMAN: "Okay."
BANKS: If I was 120 pounds now, you guys would be like, "Go give her a sandwich.”
My mom gave me this list, and I start crying. I was like, "I don't know what to do. I gave
up college for this. Okay, I guess I need to like eat super salads for breakfast, lunch, and
dinner.” And my mom just shook me. She took my arms, and she shook me, and she
says, "I will be damned if my baby starves for these b*tches in black." Because she used
to call the fashion people “b*tches in black.”
And then we went to a pizzeria in Milan, Italy, and the pizzeria had a tablecloth. You
know the tablecloths that are made of paper, and she put a pen in my hand, and she
said, "You write down every client in this industry that likes ass." I was like, "What do you
mean ass?" "Write down who likes ass."
And I was like, "Victoria's Secret?" "Write it down." "Sports Illustrated? Swimsuit
Edition?" "Write it down." And so then I had a list of 10 clients that it was okay if you had
curves, and then she drew a line down the paper, and she said, "On this side, write down
who has an ass." And I was like, "What do you mean? Everybody has an ass." "A thicker
ass. Who got a thicker ass in your industry?"
And I was like, "Cindy Crawford?" "Write it down." And I was like, "Claudia Schiffer?"
"Write it down.” And these are models today that's not curvy. Back then, it was curvy.
And so then she said, "These are your future clients, and these are the careers that you
can be inspired by, but you're going to make it your own."
HOFFMAN: This is great advice. This wasn’t like when Tyra was auditioning in Paris and
changing hair and shoes in the lobby. Her industry was asking for something both fundamental
and harmful. They wanted to chip away at what made Tyra stand out, and her self-image along
with it.
This is where true authenticity becomes critical to developing the startup of you. Every industry
has compromises that don’t quite sit right. You have to know how to decide where to draw the
line.