Tyra’s New Venture

Tyra Banks, whose weight has undergone visible fluctuations after she left the runway, has always been a champion of plus-size models. She makes a point to recruit some curvier girls for her model competition reality show on the CW, ‘America’s Next Top Model,’ helping to launch the careers of former contestants Toccara Jones and Cycle 10 winner Whitney Thompson.

Now she’s using ‘The Tyra Show’ to find the latest and greatest young plus-size modeling talent.

Banks is encouraging plus-size teens age 13-19 to enter to win the “The Fiercely Real Model Search.” The winner, who must be size 12-20 to qualify, will win a one-year Wilhemina modeling contract, a fashion spread in and a cover photo on Tyra’s Magaline and a spread in a major fashion magazine. The winner will be announced on Tyra’s talk show March 3rd.

“I’ve always felt it was my mission to expand the narrow perceptions of beauty; through ‘America’s Next Top Model,’ ‘True Beauty’ and ‘The Tyra Show’ I challenge industry and universal standards by featuring and celebrating non-traditional beauty, and stressing that true beauty is both inside and out,” Banks said. “Adolescence is such an impressionable time in a young woman’s life, and I hope this contest helps teen girls discover their own beauty from the inside out.”

via BlackVoices