Tyra Banks told us what her new life in Australia really looks like.

Mid-morning last Friday I found myself pacing up and down our East Sydney office corridors, anxiously waiting for the woman who taught me how to "smile with my eyes" to arrive.

"I'm nervous," I admitted to our social media producers, who were equally flustered ahead of Tyra Banks arriving to promote the launch of her ice cream brand, SMiZE & DREAM, into the Australian market.

Like many other elder Gen Zers and millennials, I grew up watching Banks on America's Next Top Model. I'd observed how she mentored contestants, familiarised myself with her iconic phrases, and even tried to master that famous smize myself.

I felt like I knew her — the classic definition of a parasocial relationship. This was pre-social media, yet so many of us felt connected to Banks and the larger-than-life persona we'd watched on our screens for years.

And then suddenly, that persona materialised. Walking through the large steel doors, Banks appeared relaxed in casual black attire — a long-sleeve top, tailored pants and matching ballet flats — smiling as she approached us.

Unlike many celebrities with such recognisable names, Banks arrived with minimal entourage — just her makeup artist and Australian publicist who had arranged our meeting.

For the past eighteen months, Sydney has been Banks' home. After numerous trips for her ice cream brand's development, she sat down with her partner and her son York, 10, to make the decision to relocate.

"I love America. I'm a proud American, but there's just something very special here. And so we had a family talk, and we were like, 'Should we? Should we?'" she tells me.

The cultural similarities helped ease the transition.

"First of all, there's a familiarity because we all speak the same language; and culturally, there are a lot of comparisons," she says.

"I'm from Los Angeles and Los Angeles does get a bad wrap for fakeness, but that's Hollywood. But the people that are from LA have a similar vibe to me as people who are in Australia, particularly Sydney."

She also finds comfort knowing it's a safer environment to raise her son.

"Schools at home, there are gates everywhere and here it's like, 'Where's the gate? Where's the lock? Where's the security guard that's armed? It's just very different."

Tyra Banks and her mum, Carolyn, in November 2024. Image: Instagram/@tyrabanks

Speaking to her from our podcast studio, Banks admits her sleep schedule is currently off-kilter. Having recently returned from Paris and Los Angeles, she's been falling asleep by 8pm, only to wake up at midnight for about 45 minutes of work.

"America's awake," she explains, before returning to sleep until 6:30am, when she starts her day with a long black coffee.

"You guys have some of the best coffee in the world," she says. "It's kind of thick."

Although she typically skips breakfast herself, she prepares it for her family.

"I do egg sandwiches… wait, don't tell me… egg sandis?," Banks asks with a smile, testing out Australian terminology. "I do bacon and all of that. But for myself? Not so much."

Banks' journey from 15-year-old model to cultural icon is well documented. She broke barriers as the first Black American woman on GQ and Sports Illustrated swimsuit covers, dominated runways globally, and became a celebrated Victoria's Secret Angel.

In 2003, Banks created America's Next Top Model, which ran for over 20 cycles and was adapted in dozens of countries worldwide. The Tyra Banks Show followed in 2005, winning two Emmy Awards. That same year, she stepped away from modelling — a decision influenced by her mother's advice.

"My mum, she used to always say look to the other side, understand that things don't necessarily last forever and have a plan," she says.

Last year's modeling return, for SKIMS and Victoria's Secret, wasn't planned as a comeback until she saw the response.

"I went to my mum and she said, 'This is the time for you to do this,'" Banks recalls.

Tyra Banks walking in the 2024 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Image: Getty.

"'You thought many years ago that you had to retire because it was over, there was a certain age and you have to leave before they leave you… but the world is a different place.'"

"She said, 'You get up there and represent those women who look like you, women that are older, women who think [it's done for them]. You walk for them.'"

SMiZE & DREAM wasn't Banks' first ice cream venture. Eighteen years ago, she had the concept ready but faced a choice between two startups – the ice cream business or her talk show.

"You can't have two start-ups and be successful," she says.

When she returned to the idea in 2021, it was deeply personal. The brand is a tribute to her mother, who raised her as a single parent.

The brand honours her mother's influence: "So smize is me and dream is my mama. Because my mum, she was a single mum, and she was just really working hard to make our dreams come true."

"So smize is me and dream is my mama. Because my mum, she was a single mum, and she was just really working hard to make our lives come true."

Banks then shared a story about her childhood: "We started in a one-bedroom apartment with her sleeping on the floor after my parents divorced — in one year, we're going to have a two-bedroom apartment, and one year we had a two-bedroom apartment... And then she said, in another year, we're going to have a three-bedroom apartment, and a year later, we had a three-bedroom apartment."

"But all that time, she was working more and more and more and more and more jobs to make those dreams come true."

"When I think of ice cream, it's not for me, just me — of course. I love the taste, I love the textures, and I love all of that — but there's my mum in those bites. I want this to be like a love letter, an homage to my mama, yeah, and how she inspired me to dream."

The biggest culture shock for Banks? Our work-life balance.

Now, she even leaves her phone at home on weekends.

"The first five minutes I [stress], then, after that, I'm fine," she says. "I feel so present; I'm on the ferry; I'm looking up; I'm connecting."

And in perhaps the most un-supermodel revelation of our conversation, Banks has discovered her latest off-duty pleasure.

"I'll go into any foot massage place. I don't know if this is in some basement. I don't know where I am," she laughs. "But I love that, and we do it as a family."

As Banks and her small team prepare to film some social content, I'm struck by how completely she seems to have embraced this new chapter. The woman who once commanded worldwide attention on runways and television now finds joy in ferry rides and family foot massages.

Banks has mastered yet another reinvention — becoming the entrepreneur who found her dream in Australia's slower pace and stronger coffee — perhaps her most surprising move yet.

Feature image: Canva/Getty.