"Models now need to promote themselves, think like businesswomen and diversify their careers by doing other things. Chances are very slim that a mere model will become a household name today"
About this Quote
Tyra Banks is smuggling a hard truth into a motivational register: the runway isn’t a throne anymore, it’s a platform. Her phrasing does double work. “Promote themselves” and “think like businesswomen” sounds empowering, but it’s also a quiet admission that the industry has offloaded risk onto the talent. The job isn’t just to be photographed; it’s to run your own marketing department, build an audience, and constantly audition for relevance.
The key word is “mere.” Banks isn’t insulting models so much as naming the new hierarchy: visibility now flows less from magazine editors and casting directors and more from brand partnerships, social media metrics, and the broader influencer economy. A “mere model” is someone who relies on the old pipeline - get booked, get seen, become famous by default. Banks is arguing that pipeline is broken. Today, fame is rarely the byproduct of craft; it’s the product itself, engineered through diversification: TV, beauty lines, hosting, entrepreneurship, content.
Context matters because Banks is both critic and beneficiary of this shift. She built a second career as a media personality and business figure, then helped codify the template through reality TV’s boot-camp logic: market yourself or get cut. There’s a faint cynicism under the pep talk: if you want stability, don’t expect the fashion system to provide it. Turn yourself into a portfolio - because the industry already has.
The key word is “mere.” Banks isn’t insulting models so much as naming the new hierarchy: visibility now flows less from magazine editors and casting directors and more from brand partnerships, social media metrics, and the broader influencer economy. A “mere model” is someone who relies on the old pipeline - get booked, get seen, become famous by default. Banks is arguing that pipeline is broken. Today, fame is rarely the byproduct of craft; it’s the product itself, engineered through diversification: TV, beauty lines, hosting, entrepreneurship, content.
Context matters because Banks is both critic and beneficiary of this shift. She built a second career as a media personality and business figure, then helped codify the template through reality TV’s boot-camp logic: market yourself or get cut. There’s a faint cynicism under the pep talk: if you want stability, don’t expect the fashion system to provide it. Turn yourself into a portfolio - because the industry already has.
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| Topic | Entrepreneur |
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