• Home
  • News
  • Fortune 500
  • Tech
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
MPWBusiness School

Tyra Banks Is Going To Teach a Class at Stanford Business School

Claire Zillman
By
Claire Zillman
Claire Zillman
Editor, Leadership
Down Arrow Button Icon
Claire Zillman
By
Claire Zillman
Claire Zillman
Editor, Leadership
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 22, 2016, 6:22 AM ET
TIME 100 Gala, TIME'S 100 Most Influential People In The World - Red Carpet
Photograph by Fernando Leon — Getty Images

Supermodel Tyra Banks, known for her ruthless critiques on reality show America’s Next Top Model, is taking her instructional tough talk from the runway to the classroom.

In May, the former Victoria’s Secret model will co-teach a course on creating and maintaining a personal brand at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. She’ll instruct some 25 MBA students on how to use social and traditional media to communicate their strengths and how to endure the ups and downs of being a business leader.

Students of the class will ultimately share their “honed personal brand” through three platforms—Facebook Live, local television, and YouTube—in an effort to jump-start their personal brand extension, according to the course description for Project You: Building and Extending Your Personal Brand. Her co-instructor will be management professor Allison Kluger, who previously worked as a producer for The View and Good Morning America.

See also: How Tyra Banks Is Helping Startups Get ‘Funded’

Banks’ newest role extends her reach into the business world. Banks, who serves as chief executive of TYRA Beauty, is reportedly set to serve as a mentor to entrepreneurs on a Shark Tank-esque TV show called Funded, and she’s an investor in millennial career site The Muse. Site co-founder and CEO Kathryn Minshew told Fortune last year that Banks is passionate about finding “growing businesses that were relevant to young people.”

And before she was a business school instructor, Banks was herself a business school student. In 2011, she talked to Fortune‘s Pattie Sellers about enrolling in an executive education program at Harvard Business School.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtHUCeef2fo&w=560&h=315]

“My career and my business has gotten to where it is because of my gut,” she said at the time. “In order to take my business to next level, for it to scale… to leave a true legacy… I needed the book smarts, I needed the minds of those professors, I needed the education to get there. I do not think I could do it without the education.”

See also: Tyra Banks and Others Invest in Millennial Career Site The Muse

Banks told The Wall Street Journal that she plans to be as no-nonsense as a professor as she is as a TV host. “If I see somebody not paying attention, I’m gonna call on them,” she said.

No word yet on whether Banks’ trademark “smize” will be part of the curriculum.

About the Author
Claire Zillman
By Claire ZillmanEditor, Leadership
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Claire Zillman is a senior editor at Fortune, overseeing leadership stories. 

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in MPW

Workplace CultureSports
Exclusive: Billionaire Michele Kang launches $25 million U.S. Soccer institute that promises to transform the future of women’s sports
By Emma HinchliffeDecember 2, 2025
4 days ago
C-SuiteLeadership Next
Ulta Beauty CEO Kecia Steelman says she has the best job ever: ‘My job is to help make people feel really good about themselves’
By Fortune EditorsNovember 5, 2025
1 month ago
ConferencesMPW Summit
Executives at DoorDash, Airbnb, Sephora and ServiceNow agree: leaders need to be agile—and be a ‘swan’ on the pond
By Preston ForeOctober 21, 2025
2 months ago
Jessica Wu, co-founder and CEO of Sola, at Fortune MPW 2025
MPW
Experts say the high failure rate in AI adoption isn’t a bug, but a feature: ‘Has anybody ever started to ride a bike on the first try?’
By Dave SmithOctober 21, 2025
2 months ago
Jamie Dimon with his hand up at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit
SuccessProductivity
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says if you check your email in meetings, he’ll tell you to close it: ’it’s disrespectful’
By Preston ForeOctober 17, 2025
2 months ago
Pam Catlett
ConferencesMPW Summit
This exec says resisting FOMO is a major challenge in the AI age: ‘Stay focused on the human being’
By Preston ForeOctober 16, 2025
2 months ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
Two months into the new fiscal year and the U.S. government is already spending more than $10 billion a week servicing national debt
By Eleanor PringleDecember 4, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
‘Godfather of AI’ says Bill Gates and Elon Musk are right about the future of work—but he predicts mass unemployment is on its way
By Preston ForeDecember 4, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Nearly 4 million new manufacturing jobs are coming to America as boomers retire—but it's the one trade job Gen Z doesn't want
By Emma BurleighDecember 4, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits he works 7 days a week, including holidays, in a constant 'state of anxiety' out of fear of going bankrupt
By Jessica CoacciDecember 4, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Real Estate
‘There is no Mamdani effect’: Manhattan luxury home sales surge after mayoral election, undercutting predictions of doom and escape to Florida
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 4, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Tariffs and the $38 trillion national debt: Kevin Hassett sees ’big reductions’ in deficit while Scott Bessent sees a ‘shrinking ice cube’
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 4, 2025
2 days ago
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.