As my mom wiped the tears from my face, she said, 'Tyra, you know what we’re going to do about this? We’re going to go eat pizza.' We sat in a tiny pizzeria in Milan and strategized about how to turn my curves into a curveball. In a way, it was my decision not to starve myself that turned me into a supermodel, and later on, a businesswoman.

Most of my career is spent in a meeting... dressed sharply, looking really great; negotiating over a table, strategizing or coming up with new marketing plans or new ideas. And that makes me really, really happy.

I made my living being 20 or 30 pounds heavier than the average model. And that's where I got famous.

I know this is weird... I am a Black woman and I am not mixed with any Asian blood or Chinese blood at all, but for some reason, as a child, the movie, The Last Emperor, had a serious affect on me. I can't understand why. But there's something that the movie did to me.

My mother always told me that came first. I started modeling in 11th grade and it was something that I did after school and on the weekends. School is so important and modeling should be treated as an extracurricular activity as opposed to a career until you graduate high school.

Black women have always been these vixens, these animalistic erotic women. Why can't we just be the sexy American girl next door?

You can have all the potential in world, but unless you have confidence, you have nothing.