Tyra Banks: America’s Next Top Businesswoman? with Scam Goddess and Aida Rodriguez | 75

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You know that friend who's always pitching you a terrible idea for a new business?

Well, today on the big flop, we're talking about an absolute queen who sometimes turns her side hustle dreams into total nightmares.

And it brings me no pleasure to tell you it's none other than Tyra Frickin' Banks.

We're talking ice cream, book series, even a theme park.

But make it fashion.

Our guest is a super model and super businesswoman, and she does it all while being a mom.

I know what the public wants, whether it's ice cream or TV show or hosting.

Tyra Banks' new model theme park immersive experience called Model Land.

This was one of the weirdest things I've ever experienced.

Tyra Banks' MLM makeup line and how it massively failed.

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From Wondery and at Will Media, this is The Big Flop, where we chronicle the greatest flubs, fails, and blunders of all time.

I'm your host, Misha Brown, social media superstar who always wants to be on top at Don't Cross a Gay Man.

And on our show today, we have an absolutely fabulous comedian who recently started her own podcast called Say What You Mean, so you know she's here to tell it to us straight.

It's Ida Rodriguez.

Welcome to the show.

Thank you.

Also on our show, we have an amazing returning guest.

Listeners, you'll remember her from our Fire Fest episode.

It is the scam goddess herself, Lacey Mosley.

Welcome.

Hello.

Good to be here.

You are killing it these days.

Thank you.

Yes, you can watch Scam Goddess Now on Hulu and freeform.

So get soar.

Run to it.

So before we get into the whole Tyra Banks businesswoman saga, when you think about Tyra Banks, what comes to mind?

Tyra Banks was my TV auntie.

I always watched America's Next Top Model.

And that's how I learned like when I was in New York and I got a pop-up audition or something like that, pop into a Sephora, you know, use those samples, get your makeup ready and like, you know, do those things.

I learned how to do my mascara from Top Model.

I learned so much about just like being self-sufficient as a, you know, a pretty woman.

Cause, you know, I got to be in full drag, Misha, you know, I have to do that.

But everywhere I go, I have to be, you know, like,

Shantae, you stay.

So I learned a lot of that from Miss Tyra.

Yeah.

I think it's so funny.

You know,

sitting over here and now full auntie status,

Tyra Banks was signed by IMG.

And when I modeled, I remember I did a modeling competition and one of the.

Of course you modeled.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

I'm going to take that.

I'm going to take that.

You, Betty.

betty the internet is mean so i'm gonna take that

it is mean it is mean

it is but what i will say about her that i think inspires always inspired me the most was she had the fullest body and

i i'm i'm a hippie girl and i saw a a version of myself that I had never seen in modeling before because everybody was just so straight up and down.

And she was just this voluptuous, beautiful, tall, just full woman.

And I was, I just thought that she was everything.

You know, I want to preface this by saying that I am a Tyra fan and that we are not talking about Tyra being a flop herself.

It's just some of these little side hustles.

Speaking of side hustles, is there a time when you've had your own side hustle that maybe didn't work out quite how you hoped?

You're talking to performers.

Like, what do you mean?

Yeah,

exactly.

I was the worst bank teller on on the teller line.

I was a horrible travel agent.

I tried to be a reggaeton singer.

That didn't work.

Y'all, even Neo, Neo wrote a song for me.

And it worked.

Yeah, he did.

He wrote the hook.

He wrote, when he got into the studio, he did backup for me.

And I was like, I know I belong on the microphone, but I don't know if this is the way I'm supposed to be on the microphone.

This is the first time I've ever admitted that in public.

Well, today's episode is all about Tyra Banks, one of the biggest supermodels in the world and host of one of the biggest reality shows of all time, who just can't stop trying to start side businesses.

And those side businesses don't always work in her favor.

And as time goes on, it seems like she just keeps launching more and more of these side ventures faster and faster.

Now, We were rooting for you, Tyra.

We were all rooting for you.

Now, let's go back to the beginning.

Tyra gets her start modeling at age 15 in 1988, and she quickly becomes one of the biggest names in fashion.

In just two years, she gets a contract with Elite Model Management, one of the biggest modeling agencies in the world.

And by 1991, when she's just 18, she lands in Paris, where she does 25 fashion shows in just one year, a record.

In 1993, she becomes the main model for CoverGirl, and People magazine names her one of their 50 most beautiful people in both 1994 and 1996.

Side note, it feels pretty rude for people to call Tyra one of the most beautiful people in the world in 1994, leave her off of the list in 1995, and then be like, JK, you're looking good again, queen, in 1996.

What were they saying?

I don't know.

Fell off a little bit.

Get your eyebrows done and then we'll call you back in 96.

What?

so as all of this is going on tyra's also breaking barriers in 1996 she's the first black woman to appear on the cover of gq

and in 1997 she becomes the first black model to appear solo on the cover of the sports illustrated swimsuit issue Basically, in under a decade, before she's even 25 years old, Tyra has gone from high school student to full-on supermodel and trailblazer.

Really impressive.

Also, can you imagine like being that young and like doing all of these things and like getting all of those accolades?

It was a time too.

So we didn't have social media.

And, you know, the type of modeling that they were doing where, you know, now a lot of people are models on Instagram, no shade.

When you're like surrounded by Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford and Evangelista, you see these supermodels rising in a way where you see women making money and becoming household names.

It was, it was iconic.

It was very iconic.

Plus, where were all these body positivity people?

I ate a chicken breast for six months straight with cabbage and a gallon of water, and I was like 120 pounds.

There was no body positivity people at that time.

I needed you then.

We all did.

Yeah, seriously.

Like, there was a time where it was bad to have a big butt.

Like, that was like an insult.

If you had a big butt, they would be like, get out of here, fat ass.

Guys, I asked.

And it was literally talking about your ass.

And it was like, now it's like everybody's injecting their butt.

It's, it's wild.

Well, Miss Tyra, she doesn't want to just be a supermodel.

She is incredibly ambitious and wants to be a multimedia mogul and businesswoman.

One producer who works with her says that she wants to be the next Oprah.

Very big shoes to fill.

So from the very beginning, Tyra's looking for ways to expand her career.

It's really difficult to make a long-term career out of modeling.

And there are so many cases of women being forced out of the industry when they are still very, very young.

Basically, Tyra doesn't want to put all of her eggs in one basket, especially when that basket has a track record of leaving women over the age of 25 high and dry.

Only Naomi can model to the grave.

Only Naomi.

Yeah, I left because of that.

First of all, I developed a really bad eating disorder.

I was, I was anorexic.

Being 5'11, I was told by an agent in Miami and one of the bigger agencies that rep me that could I get down from 117 to 100 pounds?

And I was like, uh, what do you want me to lose?

My breast fat?

Like, I have nothing else to give.

But I realized that, you know, you have to become something else.

Otherwise, you're just a walking hanger.

There are hundreds of girls on the runway whose names you don't know.

You know, you know, the ones that pop out.

Yeah, absolutely.

Okay, here's a question.

if you were tyra what strategies are you going to try to build a career outside of just like your one thing like your modeling work I feel like you first have to go to something that is adjacent to the brand.

You know what I mean?

So if you're a model and you're in beauty, then you have to find something within the beauty industry that you can branch out with and hold on to.

I mean, you know, you see Cindy Crawford.

Have you seen, have you stayed up at 3 a.m.

and seeing Cindy Crawford selling them

melon beauties?

What is it?

Impossible beauty?

Something like, she's like, I found a melon in the Alps.

Y'all are never going to be able to afford to go over there, but I can bring you this melon and y'all can look like me.

And if a white lady ages well, that's when you really believe it, okay?

Like, I love Angela Bassett, but her selling oil of Olay ain't getting it for me.

I'm like, you got melanin since that's genetics.

But this white lady aging well, I'm like, okay, give me that impossible beauty melon.

We'll give it a go.

What do I do with it?

Yes.

I think the journey is for a lot of people who've been models, they get stigmatized as being basic and not intelligent.

And I think there's always this pushback where some of the models who are okay with don't care about that.

They're like, we'll do makeup, we'll do beauty products, we'll do fashion.

But Tyra went to school and was like, I'm going to go to Harvard.

Her company went from being Tie Tie Baby to Bankable Productions.

I know, that's right.

I'm smart too.

I can be the next Oprah.

I can do a talk show.

I'm smart.

I'm going to bring bring my nemesis, Naomi Campbell, on and ask her why she was made to me.

Well, one way Tyra branches out from modeling is by getting into acting.

And she appears in movies.

She makes guest appearances like on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air as a romantic interest for Will Smith.

We've actually got a clip of one of these guest spots.

So let's take a look.

That's it.

I didn't come all the way here from Philly to hit.

I'm Tyra.

No meal.

Okay, so how would you rate Tyra's acting chops on a scale from one to Meryl?

Okay, we have to remember this is multicam.

It's the 90s.

So, you know, she was giving what the girls were giving on multicam in the 90s.

It's going to be a little big and melodramatic, but I don't mind that.

I was entertained, and that was what it was about.

I agree with you.

I think she fulfilled the assignment.

Well, Tyra's working hard to make sure that she has options.

And in 2003, her career goes to the next level when she co-creates and becomes host and executive producer of a little show called America's Next Top Model.

So, are we fans?

Looking back, like television in that era was just problematic in general.

Yes.

But I was very much here for it.

It was like Janice Dickinson just being frozen and bitchy.

But look, yeah, I loved it.

I learned so much, but also, she's real wild on this show.

It was like recreating the abuse that she experienced.

I agree.

It was triggering for me.

I didn't watch the show with frequency, but I

will tell you, there ain't no such thing as smizing.

I was like, you know what?

I love when somebody just make up some random shit and capitalize on it.

I smize.

You, there ain't no, that's just how you look.

You know how many years we spent trying to smize?

And nobody ever looked at a picture like, do you see how she's smizing?

This is iconic.

Really?

Have I been scammed?

Because I've been trying to smize my whole life.

I really thought I was doing it.

Wait, hold on.

Ooh,

10 out of 10.

You see that?

Marketing.

That's it.

Okay, so for the listeners who might not know what Smize is and who couldn't see Lacey give us an example of it, SMISE is the mashup between smiling and eyes.

So it's basically smiling with your eyes.

It's the fierce look Tyra loves in a photo.

I think I was smizing.

Rebrand it.

Rebrand it.

Let me smang her.

Not smanger.

I'm about to make my own words smanger.

We see the smanger in her eyes.

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How hard is it to kill a planet?

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When you see what's left, it starts to look like a crime scene.

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Well, America's Next Top Model, albeit with some problems, is a massive hit and it becomes the most popular show on the CW network.

And it's not just huge in America.

Dozens of different countries wind up making their own spin-off versions of the show.

As executive producer of America's Next Top Model, Tyra is incredibly hands-on.

She has high standards for the show and she comes up with the ideas for photo shoots.

She works with the show's stylist to personally approve contestants' looks.

And she works long hours to get things to where she expects them to be.

But there's also a negative side to Tyra's extremely high standards.

Contestants on the show talk about feeling manipulated and exploited by Tyra and the show in the drive to get bigger and bigger ratings.

And there are even cases of models getting injured while doing challenges for the show or even just getting their makeup done.

I think the tricky thing when a show becomes successful is that you want to keep the momentum going and that creates a certain amount of fear.

And so when that fear comes into play, you start making decisions that may not be the best or are from, you know, a place of panic.

And so, she's pushing people further and further to get television ratings.

These are now props and pawns, and what Ida said earlier, like hangers.

Like, she started treating them like hangers.

And so, she's like, Y'all got to do all this stuff so that my show can continue to be successful.

And now, you're not seeing the humanity of the people that you're working with anymore.

I agree.

I think it's a very interesting thing to watch

being where I am in my career and being in the presence of people who ascend to this like superstar status.

I think it's very interesting to see those people behave the very same way they complain that people treated them.

You know, I saw Tyra Banks cry because she said Naomi Campbell was so mean to her.

And then to turn around and be a mean girl to some of those innocents that were coming just out of sheer adoration.

You know, I try my very best to treat people the way I want to be treated.

And you can't forget that when you get a HBO special or a TV show or a book, that's when it's most important because that's when you have more impact on more people.

So America's Next Top Model.

It could not be a bigger deal for Tyra.

It truly makes her into an icon, but once again, she's not going to rest on her laurels.

As we know, she's driven, she's ambitious, and she wants to continue to diversify her portfolio, which seems to me to be a more businessy way of saying that she's basically just going to throw business ideas at the wall to see what will stick.

In 2004, she tries to break into the music industry and she drops a single and a music video for her very own song, Shake Your Body.

She also then makes contestants on America's Next Top Model do a challenge to promote the single and makes them appear in the song's music video.

Shake Your Body Body, move forward.

I forgot about it.

Tell somebody about it to buy my album.

Yes, Tyra is hoping that if Shake Your Body is a hit, it will be her ticket to making a full album.

But rather than launching her singing career, it becomes a weird, nearly forgotten piece of bonus material for America's Next Top Model.

Even Tyra looks back on her attempt to become a pop star as a huge mistake.

It was a J-Lo thing.

It was everybody was like, if she can do it, I can do it.

Everybody was trying to do that J-Lo thing.

Now, and we're also seeing some of our other queens like really take from Tyra's playbook here because like RuPaul's drag race is like, it is a huge self-promotion for Ms.

RuPaul.

You know what I mean?

She always got a new song that she's having the girls lip sync.

Yes.

So thanks, Tyra.

But this flop doesn't slow Tyra down.

After all, basically every celebrity made a completely cringe-worthy music video in the early 2000s.

Remember, it's the era of Paris Hilton's Love is Blind.

This is when I was consuming all the media.

Yes.

Even when the stars are blind.

I mean, that was, it was kind of cute.

That was a kind of cute one.

Yeah.

And then she left it alone.

Well, in 2005, Tyra gets her very own talk show, the Tyra Bank Show, which goes on to win two Emmys.

So

that's not a flop.

She also retires from modeling, which means that the pressure is going to be on for Tyra to expand into new fields.

But everything seems to be coming up, Tyra, at this point.

So what could possibly go wrong?

Well, in 2011, Tyra launches her next venture.

It's a project called Model Land.

What do you think Model Land is?

Sorry, that was an evil laugh.

Oh, no, no, I know what it is.

It's a book.

Oh,

it's a book.

We had it at school.

I've read parts of Model Land.

She was trying to be the next JK Rowley child.

What is going on?

All right.

Everybody buckle up for this saga of Model Land.

Yes, Lacey, you are correct.

Model Land is actually a young adult novel.

In 2010, she signs a three-book deal with Delacourte Press.

But what is Model Land actually about?

Well, the plot of the book is ridiculously complicated.

Even the Amazon page seems to have a hard time explaining it.

Ida and Lacey, can you go back and forth doing a dramatic reading of this book's summary from Amazon?

Ida, can you start?

No one gets in without being asked.

And with her untameable hair, large forehead, and gawky body, Tuqui de la Creme isn't expecting an invitation.

Mottoland, the exclusive, mysterious place on top of the mountain, never dares to make an appearance in her dreams.

But someone has plans for Tookie.

Before she can blink, her mismatched eyes,

her eyes mismatched too?

Tookie finds herself in the very place every girl in the world obsesses about, and three unlikely girls have joined her.

Tiradañ el mundo de

Tom mucho miero y unas votas, el campo de votas altas.

And listen, if you don't speak Spanish, you still understood as much as we did.

Don't worry about that.

That's the gag.

That is the gag.

If you don't,

oh my gosh, that was really good.

Yeah.

I read it in English, and I was like, maybe if I think it in Spanish, I'll understand it.

Yeah, no, no, no, I don't think so.

Why she gotta be named Tookie?

That's given like,

is this like a slave drama?

I don't know.

There are so many more weird details in this book.

Like countries in this alternate universe are called things like didgiridoo and cappuccina instead of Australia and Italy, I'm assuming.

Tookie also has a multiple personality disorder.

And I'm sorry, but this does not sound like the book that's going to have a sensitive, nuanced take on mental health.

So

there are also characters in the book called Intoxibellas, and they're basically this world's version of supermodels.

And these Intoxibella supermodels also have superpowers, of course, because this book isn't already complicated enough.

And to learn more about these superpowers, let's play a game.

So I am going to tell you one of the Intoxibella's powers, and you have to guess what that power involves.

So the first power is called multiplicity.

What's the power?

It's like you could split up into different like versions of yourself.

Like you can make lots of you.

An army of models, Intoxabellas.

But it's all you.

Ding, ding, ding.

Yeah, that's exactly what it was.

It was the power allowed the Intoxabellas to make copies of themselves.

I cheated a little bit because I think I read some of this.

I didn't buy it, but somebody had it at school.

And I just want to know what publisher was like, yes, Tyra, you know what?

Let's send it to print.

Like, nobody,

I know somebody edited it.

they weren't like,

we really doing this, you know, I think it's so funny.

They can become other people so they can go get the CoverGirl thing, and then they can get the Levi's ad, and they can get this, and nobody else can get another job.

That's what Tyra was doing when she had them 25 shows in one year.

She was an Intoxi Bella, she kept showing up, taking everybody's job.

All right, the next superpower is called

Excite to Buy.

Item, we have such an unhealthy relationship with capitalism right now

as our world burns.

So excite to buy is being able to determine what is a good price

because I would hate for it to just be excited to go shopping.

So well, it's the power to get people to want to buy things.

Oh, okay.

Being the devil.

All right.

I knew it.

I knew it.

How much of this book did I read?

I never bought it.

I think we read it as a joke because it was so bad.

And people would just read it, you know, at the cafeteria in the morning before, you know, during breakfast.

All right, we have one more, and it's a deucey.

This superpower is called 30 Never.

That sounds nice.

Superpower of youth.

Basically, I mean, it's exactly what it sounds like.

That power allows an Intoxibella, when they're about to turn 30, to go back to how they looked at the age of 17.

Is R.

Kelly in that chapter?

Oh.

Yeah.

Well, Tyra, she also once again ropes in contestants on America's Next Top Model to help her with promotion, and she makes them do a challenge that revolves around the book.

So let's take a look at the video that was the result of that challenge.

And Lacey, if you want to describe what we're seeing while we watch.

Sure.

So this is Tyson Beckford caressing Tyra's lips.

Oh, she bites him.

She's sucking his finger.

She's also dressed like a woodland nymph.

I'm more.

I'm Turkey.

I'm Allison.

I'm Kiki.

The models are like all hugging walls.

And they're crying.

Okay, and then Tyra's got some like nymph makeup on and she has all the models hugging walls and crying and like looking doe-eyed into the camera and they're like, I'm Allison and I'm Tookie.

Like it's like everybody's Tookie.

You're Tookie.

Like what?

What?

That was demonic.

It was demonic.

It's giving cult.

Also, you know, it's like, it's that, I'm getting mad because that spikely moment at the end of Malcolm X when he said, all the, everybody says, I am Malcolm X.

I am Malcolm X.

Now it's been appropriated by all this foolishness.

Ain't none of them white girls Tookie.

Not none of them.

It's so hilarious to hear a white girl be like, and I'm Tookie.

What are we doing?

I'm Kaylee.

And I'm Tukey.

But also, you know, Tyra had that race mixing episode.

So, child,

she'll do it.

She will.

Even Tyson

was amazed in that.

Did you see how surprised he was?

He was like, oh, I thought she was going to suck my face.

Suck my thumb.

And then she sucked it, but then like looked up like weird.

I don't know what she was trying to give.

I'm confused.

Wait, wait a minute.

I just want to, for clarity, that was a promo to promote a young adult novel.

Yes.

Oh,

well, one review calls the book campy and warped, overlong, and a non-stop barrage of surrealism.

Another calls it tacky, predictable, and superficial.

And yet another says it's a nonsensical, nightmarish, acid trip that seems like it would never end

so as you might have guessed based on those reviews tyra's three book deal wound up going bust after just one of those books so i guess excite to buy isn't one of tyra's supermodel superpowers when it comes to this book

That was great.

That's a great call back.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And it's actually a little bit of a problem for Tyra that Model Land is such a bust.

At this point in her career, her portfolio is starting to get a a little bit slimmer.

In 2010, her talk showed the Tyra Bank Show gets canceled, and it's looking like America's Next Top Model might not be around that much longer either.

But Tyra has another great idea for a business, and it's one that should actually be good.

She should be an expert in it.

She's going to start her own cosmetics line called Tyra Beauty.

Tyra Beauty, I already know because I never saw it that, ooh, ooh.

Yeah.

Well, in September of 2015, Tyra launches Tyra Beauty.

And Tyra describes the new company this way: quote, I am charged with shaking up the world of beauty.

Anyone can join our crew of badass entrepreneurs.

Now, on her website, Tyra also writes, My goal is to help you be the CEO of your life.

Not an MLM.

You can start your own business by selling Tyra beauty products.

I am galvanizing a community of entrepreneurs called beauty tainers.

So she took the Avon lady and then turned it into beauty tainers.

Beauty Tainers.

She came from Mary Kay Avon.

This is an MLM.

Tyra.

If things aren't working out, the next step is not like light fraud.

What?

Diet crime?

Light fraud.

Yeah, I mean, while MLMs are not technically a crime or fraud, I do think that they're pretty sketchy.

So some of the products the beauty tainers will be selling include Smy's eyeshadow, Oops Eyeliner, and a brow pen called Menaga Brow.

Yeah.

So according to Tyra, her beauty tainers are going to sell products by throwing fierce parties at their homes and online.

Basically, rather than just selling products in stores, Tyra Beauty works by recruiting people to sell the products to their friends and family members.

People who have already signed up to sell are, get ready for it, also encouraged to recruit their friends and family to become sales.

Shocker.

Shocker.

Because I've always wanted to buy like eyeliner from my Nail Tech or, you know,

my cousin that I haven't seen in six years.

That's definitely where I want to buy my eyeliner and my blush.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, my very first job was selling cutcoat, so I have very you went door-to-door knives.

You cannot do that in this age.

I can't believe there was an age where you could go around with knives and go door to door and be like, hey, I have a lot of knives.

Let me into your home.

Why was that a thing?

That sounds very dangerous.

Yeah, no, give me a piece of fruit and let me show you how these knives work.

Like, well, I'm not letting a knife man in my home.

No,

no.

I guarantee you, they thought that all these people that were watching the show were going to be the soldiers and they were going to take on the Mary Kay old white ladies that drive the pink Volvo.

And they were just going to dismantle that system with this new age of new blood.

But these younger people who would do that, they're not messing with you because they don't.

You're like, that's the mean lady from the modeling show, you know?

Yeah.

I don't know why she didn't just go direct to market.

she could have been the first one before now everybody got a lip liner lip chap lipstick ass the eye cream you know she could have really used her name and trail brazen that in a way that was professional and actually

viable it's like you got makeup put on your face for the past like 30 years you should know some things about makeup and what they lack and what they need that other people don't and you could have did that and instead you decided to shill some bs and have your fans do it for you and rope in other people.

Like, that's disappointing.

That just, that's giving you don't care about your base.

You know, when you think about it, there are the people who are revolutionary and the people who are

that are entrepreneurs that want to be,

they want to be thought leaders and they want to ship culture.

And then there are just the people who want to make money.

And you, and, you know, you got to determine which one you want to be.

And the only time I've ever seen a celebrity put their name on some random ass shit and just sell it as their name and it was good

the george foreman grill

okay that was a lean mean grilling machine

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Like many MLMs, Tyra Beauty involves some practices that do seem a little shady to me.

So beauty tainers have to pay $59 just for the privilege of selling Tyra's products.

And in their first 30 days, they have to sell $150 worth of products, alluding to what you were just talking about.

Beauty tainers are also required to sign a six-page contract that includes a one-year non-disparagement clause.

So if you've had a bad time as a beauty tainer, Tyra doesn't want you to be able to go and talk about it online.

Beauty tainers also only get 25% of the money from the items they sell.

Also, in case you were still on the fence about just how questionable this all is, the website also features this disclaimer.

Tyra Beauty does not promise or guarantee that beauty tainers will generate any income.

It's right there, out loud.

Imagine you going on deed

and they got a job offer and they said, look, we don't guarantee you're going to make any money on this job.

But come on down, sign up, apply.

What?

Hey, Lacey, don't you feel like when we started this podcast, we liked Tyra Banks.

And now we're like, let's go get her.

Let's go get her.

We got to get her off the streets.

She's a menace to society.

Yeah.

I thought I liked her.

Well, despite all of these red flags, when Tyra Beauty launches, more than 1,000 people sign up to become beauty tainers.

And in many ways, the worst part about all of this is how Tyra Beauty depends on younger women being roped into the business because what?

They trust Tyra's name and personal brand.

Tyra makes herself a big part of why people want to sign up.

For example, beauty tainers who make it to platinum level get to have dinner with Tyra.

This reminds me of when I used to sell, like, the school would make you sell like a catalog with like popcorn and like random stuff in it.

And then if you sold like $20,000, you get a razor scooter.

So Tyra, she is going all in on Tyra Beauty MLM because she really needs this to succeed.

Because in 2015, America's Next Top Model gets canceled.

So, instead of diversifying her portfolio, that portfolio is shrinking more and more by the day.

And Tyra Beauty is about to hit a major speed bump, which means another major blow to Tyra's site hustle dreams.

So, what do you think winds up being the big problem?

Any guesses?

The product is bad.

Well, probably.

Lasu is giving habeas corpus

giving lawsuit?

No.

Ironically enough, the thing that winds up ruining another one of Tyra's side business dreams is not the MLM business model.

It's the fact that Tyra Beauty stops being an MLM.

Yeah.

In May of 2017, Tyra announces that Tyra Beauty is going to switch to retail sales.

And the beauty tainers who put their faith in Tyra, they're not happy about this because they just lost their job.

They're out of work.

On Facebook, one beauty tainer writes, I just can't hardly believe what you did to all of us beauty tainers, as you called us.

We worked and struggled and hustled on the daily for supposedly us, but it was all just for you.

Probably doesn't feel good to read those comments for somebody who really loves her ego.

Now, I thought you were going to say fans.

No.

Clearly not.

No.

Now, the press release announcing the change also says, over the last year, it has become increasingly clear that there are challenges with the direct sales channel that are simply not compatible with the mission and ultimately the business.

Ida, do you, can you translate that for non-business speak?

What, that nobody bought the shit?

Is that what it was?

It was nobody bought it.

Nobody bought it.

Nobody.

Nobody bought it.

Nobody bought it.

Cause I didn't even know about it.

Per my last email.

It means the business is in big trouble.

While the press release says the company will still sell Tyra Beauty products online, it seems like Tyra Beauty has not just gone from direct sales to retail sales.

It seems like they've gone from any sales to no sales at all.

Currently, the Tyra Beauty website is completely shut down and the number one spot to buy Tyra Beauty products online right now seems to be China.

No.

Timu?

Not even Timu.

No.

Aftermarket resale, eBay.

Beauty products expire, so what the inventory looking like?

I don't know.

I don't want 2015 eyeliner.

Those are just, that's just souvenirs.

I mean, it sounds like a, like I have been praying to God prior to speaking this moment because I want to make sure that I always say this from the best place.

I feel like one of those models on America's Knox Top model that she was mean to did the whoopie Goldberg from the color purple and said, To you do right by me, everything you touch gonna crumble.

Well, karma's gonna get her because Tyra Beauty blew up right in her face, and that's one way to get your Tyra Beauty makeup smudged, hon.

But this time, she also managed to alienate some of her biggest fans, you know, the people who didn't mind being in an MLM as long as Tyra was running it.

But

Tyra knows just what to do to get back on track, guys.

She's going to return to the world of her book, Model Land, but she's not going to be writing another entry in the series.

Sorry, Tyra, that three-book deal is still not coming back.

No, she's got something even bigger planned.

Tyra's going to make a theme park.

Jesus, take the wheel.

Baby Boo, you are not Dolly Parton.

No.

Sorry.

And Dolly Parton gives to the community.

Dolly Parton be buying out books for the cheering and whatnot.

Like, you're not Dolly Parton.

You can't make Dolly Land.

She's the only one.

Let it go.

So in 2022, Tyra launches Model Land in a shopping mall in Santa Monica.

And Tyra describes it as an immersive experience.

Side note, if something says immersive experience, run in the opposite direction.

Yeah.

So she also says it's Disney meets fashion, beauty, and self-esteem.

So Model Land is 10,000 square feet, though it was originally supposed to be twice that size.

At Model Land, visitors are taken through a series of rooms like the runway room, the model school, and the dance studio, and are given advice on how to take selfies and find your angles by posing professionals.

So, yeah, regular tickets are $35, but VIP access tickets go for $225.

Warning, if you spend the extra on those VIP tickets, it seems like all you get is the ability to cut in line and some kind of extra goodie bag, though you don't get to know what's in the goodie bag.

The motif seems to be, we don't give a damn about the average consumer.

Yeah, we're just going to try to get as much money as possible off my name until y'all realize that this is some bull and then we're going to move on to something else.

And you can't do that.

You can't continue to do that because then eventually your reputation is tarnished and then your name means like we're not showing up.

Here's something else that might tempt you to visit.

Modelland also sells Tyra's very own brand

of ice cream.

No.

I know.

That's right.

Tyra's got yet another side business, an ice cream company called Smize and Dream,

which is a name for an ice cream company.

So let me tell you about a few of Smize and Dream's flavors.

They've got wake up and smell the crunchy, which that's coffee ice cream that is somehow infused with cinnamon rolls.

Actually, sounds tasty.

It kind of sounds good.

Yeah, it sounds good.

They also have All Night Love, co-designed by Lionel Ritchie.

That's vanilla ice cream with salted caramel, swirls of midnight cookie crumbles, and milk chocolate fudge hearts.

And last but not least, purple cookie monster.

As far as I can tell, that's just regular cookies and cream ice cream, but with purple food coloring.

I would want to know the ingredients and make sure that they weren't recycling the makeup products and trying to make the ice cream.

Because why is it purple?

Is that that smiley eyeshadow?

I think that's what it is.

I know.

I mean, isn't it enough to open a theme park without having to make ice cream for it too?

It's a lot.

Can we stop calling this a theme park?

This is not a theme park.

10,000 square feet.

Yeah, you're going to start a change.org petition.

You're like, we are taking back.

This is a haunted house.

And it's not even a big one,

especially for lactose intolerant people.

Yeah.

Hello?

So Model Land initially did make a big splash with a lot of publicity, but it wound up quietly closing down after garnering only two measly reviews on Yelp.

She probably lost a lot of money on that little side business.

Sorry, Tony.

I hope she's getting residuals from Top Model or something.

Or something.

The Model Land website is still up, so you can take a look and check out a little bit of what you're missing, but tickets are no longer on sale.

It's another utterly embarrassing failure for Tyra.

So, I mean, it seems like the harder she tries to make these side projects happen and the more side projects she tries to start, the bigger they wind up flopping.

But maybe the best way to sum up the failures of all of Tyra's side hustles comes from Tyra herself.

In 2014, on an episode of Watch What Happens Live, she delivered some real words of wisdom.

Lacey, could you do a dramatic reading of this Tyra quote?

Let me just do a public service announcement right now.

My name is Tyra Banks, and I'm here to tell you that you may have a dream.

You may have something that burns inside of your heart and desire, but if you do not have the talent for it, boo, let it go.

We are not rooting for you.

Ooh.

Wow.

Was that about herself?

Because

that sounded negative to the world.

It's giving very tone deaf.

And, you know, to just say to people who already feel hopeless and helpless based on all the horrible things that they have to see in society, while you're chilling, you know, is it not enough to have a successful TV show run, have a successful modeling career, to be a Victoria's Secret model, an angel, to be able to have, to be the cover girl, to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Is that not enough?

And then tell everybody else you can't sit with us.

It's just, it just, it makes me sad because it doesn't come from a place, a good place.

It doesn't come from confidence.

It just comes from whatever wound that is, but it's just not cool.

Also, what do you mean if you don't have the talent?

You'll never know until you try.

And a lot of times when you try things in the beginning, you're bad at them.

And then if you stick with it, you make it better.

Now, I do talk about this in my book.

You got to know when to pivot.

There are things that were not my calling.

And I tried them.

And then I was like, this is not my, the phone not ringing.

This is not my calling.

So that's, but that's, that's okay.

It's such a shame to see such a beautiful woman not spread beauty into the world.

I mean, obviously, I'm a product of Tyra Banks.

Like, she did things to me that I didn't know she did until I came on the show.

So, here on the big flop, we try to be positive people and end on a high.

So, are there any silver linings that you can think of that came from Tyra Banks, but specifically all of these little side hustles?

I mean, I learned how to put on my makeup.

I learned that as a performer, like, especially in the beginning, like I had to travel with, I still do it on a set that is not my own.

And, you know, I also learned from Tyra that it's okay to be extra.

Tyra's out here acting a damn fool.

And there's a plethora of things.

There's so many things you could go into that she has done to harm people.

And so those things I don't sit with.

Tyra, you'll always be a beautiful woman.

I hope that inside starts to match that outside because baby,

no.

I mean, someone who was scouted at the age of 14 and from a very young age, I was told that there was something wrong with the way I was shaved because I was curvy.

I did look to her for inspiration.

And so

I still commend and respect the legacy of having to fight her way through and becoming a force in the producer world.

A lot of times we think that we got to fight our, we got to fight through everything.

We just don't realize who we're fighting against, that we need to be punching up, not down.

But

I will say that I respect her.

I respect that she was able to pivot from a modeling career into this television reality force.

And

I hope that the good stuff that Tyra Banks has done inspires young black and brown women and all women to go out and do great things.

Yeah.

Yeah, I love that so much.

Also, she did coin the term SMISE, which I believe is a legit important contribution to the English language.

Okay.

Absolutely.

Michael, stop forgetting Smanger, okay?

Okay, Lisey, Sanger,

I've heard people talk about it.

It's taking the world by storm already.

It's the number one trend on blue Sky.

So now that you both know about Tyra Banks, the world-famous supermodel who just cannot stop trying out new side hustles, would you consider her many rando business ventures baby flops, big flops, or mega flops?

Because of the size of Tyra Banks as a figure in this world and her, like all over the world, you know, her stature, her fame,

and the things that she's accomplished, I'm gonna have to call these big flops because

you putting a big name on something that is just rinky dink.

And I don't understand why she did that.

Yeah.

I would call them big flops, not mega flops, because I didn't know about some of them.

So they weren't that, you know, they didn't make that much of an impact.

I think like Donald Trump has mega flops because everybody knows, everybody knows about the books and they know about the stakes.

But I would call them big flops.

And, you know, you put them on a TV show that has so much viewership and they still don't do well.

There's something wrong.

Yeah, I would say big.

Well, thank you so much to America's top podcast guests, Ida Rodriguez and Lacey Mostly, for joining us here on the Big Flop.

And of course, thanks to all of you for listening and watching.

If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review.

We'll be back next week for an episode I'm positive you've all been waiting for.

Here, kitty kitty, it's COVID lockdown celeb and overall villain, Joe Exotic, aka the Tiger King.

Bye.

Bye.

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