Tyra Banks could have been devastated the day her modelling agency broke the news that she couldn’t be hired anymore. No, she was actually devastated, but she made a game changing decision that turned the odds in her favor.

Tyra Banks is a Business Mogul cum Super Model cum Body Activist cum Media Personality, but most importantly a Leader.

Her Journey To Being A Self-starter

Tyra Banks and her T-Zone kids back in the day

Tyra Banks went through an odd phase she terms ‘the ugly duckling phase’, where she was bullied and teased in high school for her looks. Even though this is now a thing of the past, it has shaped her in the way she has risen above body-shaming and now revamped the modelling industry standards.

She coined the term flawsome; meaning ‘having flaws, but staying awesome despite it’. She refers to her prominent ‘forehead’ feature as a ‘five head’. “I don’t have a four head, I have a Five head…more like six. Whatever number you wanna count to I totally accept that.”

“When I think about models, I think about features that are corky and interesting to them. I break down a feature like; look at those chick bones or she has a million freckles and they are amazing.” Tyra told Pretty Unfiltered.

[Tweet “@tyrabanks was initially considered unfit for modelling because she no more had a certain look”]

Tyra recalls being told that she wasn’t fit for the modelling industry because she no more had a certain look. “I started crying, I said Momma I don’t know what to do, what should I do? Should I exercise every day? Should I diet? And she said let’s figure out how to work with what you have to get what you want”

Truly Leading

[Tweet ““I like to do things differently” -@tyrabanks”]

“I like to do things first, think out of the box, and do things differently” she told essence that the one word that would describe her “that would be ‘Visionary’”.

Since breaking out of the mold Tyra has raised the bar. She was a break out model in her time and has gracefully bowed out to build multiple empires.

Her courageous attempt to lead the bandwagon has led to the creation of brands such as The Tyra Banks Show, America’s Next Top Model, T Zone, Flawless Ball, Type-F.com, Tyra Beauty, The Fablife.

Filling a Gap

Tyra Banks hosting her Top Model TV Show

In many ways she seeks to make people discover their beauty. Her personal mantra is “Seeing a Model in everyone.” Tyra knows better than to try to put everyone in a mold, she is the queen of “everyone standing out”

Through her works, she has discovered exceptional talents such as Winnie Harlow – a model with a prominent skin condition called vitiligo. She has given thousands of women a voice, thought them to embrace their beauty and rise above limitations.

Tyra Banks was termed unfit for modelling because she wasn’t the stereotype model, but she took this supposed flaw and turned it into a niche for herself, and paved a way for more generations coming after her.