Tyra Banks‘ Stanford class on branding will soon be in session, yes, you have read correctly, the former supermodel is going to teach.
Miss Banks, who is famous for wild and crazy phrases like “smile with your ears” and “kiss my fat a$$,” and for launching the America’s Next Top Model franchise, is now a teacher. Banks will take her knowledge to the prestigious Stanford University located in California.
The move is not all that surprising because, in 2012, the former Victoria Secret Angel took and completed a nine-week program for executives at Harvard Business School. At the time she said:
“For the first 30 minutes of the class, I’m raising my hand, I’m all into it, ’cause it’s kind of like theory and just like, the social part of the case. The last hour it’s all like Einstein and algebraic equations and craziness. And I’m just like, what the (heck) is going on? Please don’t call on me because it won’t be pretty.”
According to a press release, the 42-year-old will be collaborating next spring with Professor Allison Kluger on a course titled “Project You” that:
“will help each student realize: What is a personal brand and how can it be unleashed as a valuable, competitive advantage? Why do you need a personal brand? How do you differentiate yourself and create a brand identity and strategy? How do you use social and traditional media to enhance your brand effectively as well as measure the metrics of social media responses?”
It is only logic that her next step is to become a “professor” because like her or hate her, Miss Banks, who has a net worth of $90 million, knows how to make a brand successful. The little girl from Inglewood, California launched her modeling career at the age of 15 and became the first African-American woman on the covers of GQ and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She was a Victoria’s Secret Angel from 1997 to 2005. By the early 2000s, Banks was named one of the top-earning models in the world.
After retiring her wings, she created and began hosting the long-running CW reality television series America’s Next Top Model, which was picked up in several countries.