• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • 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

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • 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
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in MPW

burke
ConferencesAthletic Gear
The CEO of Trek Bicycle reads 52 books a year, hates smartphones, and thinks Milton Friedman was wrong
By Nick LichtenbergMay 6, 2026
11 hours ago
Aerie built a $2 billion brand by rejecting Victoria’s Secret’s old playbook. Now it wants to win the AI backlash
C-SuiteRetail
Aerie built a $2 billion brand by rejecting Victoria’s Secret’s old playbook. Now it wants to win the AI backlash
By Phil WahbaApril 30, 2026
7 days ago
Emma Grede, who helped found the $5 billion Skims empire, rejects ‘celebrity CEO’ label: ‘I’m a CEO who’s done so well you know my name’
SuccessEntrepreneurship
Emma Grede, who helped found the $5 billion Skims empire, rejects ‘celebrity CEO’ label: ‘I’m a CEO who’s done so well you know my name’
By Cheyann HarrisApril 29, 2026
7 days ago
She left Citigroup after 18 years as one of its top women. Why Ida Liu chose HSBC as her next move
NewslettersMPW Daily
She left Citigroup after 18 years as one of its top women. Why Ida Liu chose HSBC as her next move
By Nicholas GordonApril 27, 2026
9 days ago
Trek spent over $300,000 closing women’s cycling’s prize-money gap. Its CEO says the point is to make the checks obsolete
MPWSports
Trek spent over $300,000 closing women’s cycling’s prize-money gap. Its CEO says the point is to make the checks obsolete
By Catherina GioinoApril 26, 2026
11 days ago
Meet the founder who started over at 50 and worked 20-hour days to build a multimillion dollar cookie dough empire—and still won’t take a day off
EuropeFortune The Good Life
Meet the founder who started over at 50 and worked 20-hour days to build a multimillion dollar cookie dough empire—and still won’t take a day off
By Orianna Rosa RoyleApril 26, 2026
11 days ago

Most Popular

A Michigan farm town voted down plans for a giant OpenAI-Oracle data center. Weeks later, construction began
Magazine
A Michigan farm town voted down plans for a giant OpenAI-Oracle data center. Weeks later, construction began
By Sharon GoldmanMay 6, 2026
16 hours ago
Tokyo is throwing out its strict office dress code and asking workers to wear shorts amid the war in Iran energy crisis
Success
Tokyo is throwing out its strict office dress code and asking workers to wear shorts amid the war in Iran energy crisis
By Emma BurleighMay 5, 2026
1 day ago
Economists have found an answer to slowing cognitive decline: avoid retiring early, study finds
Economy
Economists have found an answer to slowing cognitive decline: avoid retiring early, study finds
By Sasha RogelbergMay 5, 2026
1 day ago
Dario Amodei spent last year warning of an AI white-collar bloodbath. Now he's changing the narrative
Economy
Dario Amodei spent last year warning of an AI white-collar bloodbath. Now he's changing the narrative
By Nick LichtenbergMay 5, 2026
1 day ago
Coinbase didn't just lay off 14% of its staff due to AI. It replaced managers with ‘player-coaches’ and turned its org chart upside down
Crypto
Coinbase didn't just lay off 14% of its staff due to AI. It replaced managers with ‘player-coaches’ and turned its org chart upside down
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezMay 5, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of silver as of Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Tuesday, May 5, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 5, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 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.