Tyra Banks on Diversity in the Workplace: ‘It’s Important to Hire Women of Color’

Tyra Banks is ready to see more diversity in business.

Xandria James | Apr 24, 2019

Supermodel turned mogul Tyra Banks wants companies to stop falling short when it comes to hiring women and, more specifically, women of color.

While speaking on a panel about female entrepreneurship during the Time 100 Summit, Tyra used her platform to highlight the importance of workplace diversity.

“Not only is it important for me to hire women, but my team understands it’s important to hire women of color,” she said.

Tyra went on to add that changes in hiring practices need to start being implemented from the top down.

“I think it’s about mandates,” she said. “I think if you have power, that is a platform that just wields so much control– ‘this is this role, it’s a CFO, we will find have a woman, we will find a woman of color, we will’– and being very specific. It’s about being that pointed with it.”

In the past, Tyra has been vocal about the struggles she faced as a black woman in the modeling industry, sharing that she faced rejection due to her skin tone and curves.

Despite this, she went on to break down barriers for women of color throughout her career. She was the first black woman to be named a Victoria’s Secret Angel and in 1997, she became the first black woman to land the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit.

See Tyra Banks through the years with SI Swimsuit: