Who's ur Role Model?

Here's a little bit something to share with everybody. I believe everyone has a role model, regardless of gender, work or age. According to Wikipedia (2008), the term "role model" has passed into general use to mean any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others.

Proudly presenting Tyra Banks as my role model, considered one of the top models in the world, also currently hosting "America's next top Model" and "Tyra Banks Show".

People might ask me. Why Tyra? Why not Jessica Alba or Scarlet Johansson? Where have all the good role models gone?

Tyra Banks, a former runway model and spokes-bust of Victoria’s Secret, has transformed herself into a social and political leader. She is vocal about controversial issues such as sexuality, body image, and the environment. And not only does she speak out, but she also takes action. Banks founded TZONE, a charity that seeks to empower low-income and disadvantaged girls and gives scholarships annually to black students. She has become the positive role model that teen girls need.

Her metamorphosis began in 2003 when America’s Next Top Model (ANTM), a reality show created, produced, and hosted by Banks, premiered. Here, she built her (mostly female) fan base. In 2005, Banks’s daytime talk show, The Tyra Banks Show, debuted. Both programs are produced by her own production company. Banks is clearly business-savvy. She understands what viewers will respond to and, more importantly, understands how to use the media to advance an agenda. But so can most celebrities.

It is the agenda that Banks supports that makes her a leader. On ANTM, Banks’s panel of judges includes Ms. Jay, who is transgendered. While many moguls tiptoe around controversial topics like gender and sexuality, Banks shows no fear. Her acceptance of and appreciation for Ms. Jay is a model for viewers who may come from conservative backgrounds. Banks has taken on the transgender issue more explicitly on her talk show as well.

In the season nine of ANTM, Banks continues to lead by example. In her first “TyraMail” to the models, she writes, “When a model is inexperienced, she is green. When a model is successful, she makes green. When a model is conscious, she goes green.” By the end of the episode, Banks’s message overshadows her melodramatic delivery.

The season nine models used a bus that run on biodiesel fuel, a promising alternative to fossil fuels. Banks also encouraged the models to be more environmentally conscious by taking shorter showers, appreciating all things green, and using recycled materials. Ironically, the show was taped in L.A., where shrubbery required an excess use of limited water; but the point is promoting an awareness of green issues in young viewers who may be uninformed.

No word on whether Banks herself has downsized to one TP square and a three-minute shower, but regardless, she’s encouraging millions of viewers to be cool by going green. She isn’t the first to take on global warming, but I would guess she influences a different group of youth than, say, Al Gore.

Banks’s second bold move was her declaration that season nine would be a non-smoking season. “So many young girls are fans of America’s Next Top Model, and right now, so many young girls are fans of you,” she says to the models. “So if they see their idol, puffing and smoking a cigarette, what does that make them think?” In addition to forbidding the models from smoking, their first photo shoot is for an anti-smoking campaign.

This season, Banks will also address disability. One of the eleven models remaining has Asperger’s Syndrome (high-functioning autism) and ADHD. It is too soon to tell whether the “Heather” plotline will promote disability acceptance—skillful, heart-string-pulling editing is no doubt at play, and Banks mispronounced “Asperger’s” at the judges table. Nevertheless, Banks deserves credit for broaching a complex, largely ignored social issue.

And people are listening. In both 2006 and 2007, TIME listed “supermogul” Banks as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She holds the number 85 spot on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list and has been repeatedly called “the next Oprah.” (Oprah is ranked number one by both TIME and Forbes.)

As the camera pans through the season nine Top Model mansion, pictures of Banks are everywhere—the former supermodel is undoubtedly a bit of an egomaniac. But even her self-love is an admirable measure of her confidence. It is difficult to question her actions—no matter how corny her language, no matter how controversial her proposals—because her confidence never falters.

Banks understands the power that celebrity gives her and uses it skillfully. She is a risk taker, a pioneer, and a bold presence. With deepening pockets and fans that will follow her into menopause if she wants them to, Tyra has “Oprah” potential. How far Tyra will take her role as America’s Next Top Mogul remains to be seen. For now, we can be thankful that America has a leader worth looking up to.