by Tyra Banks
Immaculate Heart High School, thank you for enriching my mind and making me an independent, freethinking woman. And thanks for having some of the best English teachers on the planet. Mr. Terry Vliet, if it weren’t for you and your fabulous literature classes, Modelland might have never come to fruition. It might have remained a mere idea on scrap paper that just disintegrated in the bottom of my messy purse.
To L.A. Models, Elite Models (¡Hola, Oscar Reyes!), City Models (Merci, Veronique!), IMG Models, the city of Paris, and the fashion industry worldwide: thank you for letting this big-foreheaded, flat-footed, skinny-calved, cellulite-dimpled-butt girl be a part of your world. You were the catalyst that gave me the voice to reach so many.
The Tyra Banks Company. My kick-ass team that keeps our company running, thank you for understanding that I had to check out for months at a time to work on my Modelland baby. EYE SEE YOUR BEAUTY! Hope, you Lioness of the Fierce Jungle (with great hair)! You miraculously managed my insane life, allowing me to focus on the completion of Modelland. Crotches! ;-) Sabrina, our Office Gypsy, thanks for your intense work ethic and keen eye. Your tireless help solidifying our Modelland cover, back cover, spine, and endpapers was a helluva task, girl! And Patrick, our Ringmaster. Wow, what can I say? Thanks for believing in, supporting, and understanding what Modelland means to me. Having you lead our team every day is a gift that keeps on surprising and giving. I appreciate you. Here’s to all of us fighting to keep expanding the definition of beauty!
To my editor, Wendy Loggia. Thank you for taking my first thousand-page manuscript (I know, insane) and making it this. How the heck do you know how to do that and not sacrifice the story? It’s a gift that is otherworldly. Are you human? Now that I think of it, your stunning eyes are kind of not really mortal. To Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy, the cover is slammin’! You know it, cuz y’all did it! I know it was lotsa work, but you all rocked it. Much love to sensational artists Perry Harovas and James “Red” Schmitt. Our hands-on sessions in Chicago were fun and inspiring. And Howard Tullman. You are full of passion for Flashpoint, its instructors and students. They are all lucky to have you as their leader! Hebru Brantley, the endpapers (the graffiti on the inner covers) are so much fun. There’s so much amazing detail! But I can’t find the fried chicken I asked you to put in there! To my publisher, Beverly Horowitz, I’m not sure if you knew how dedicated I would be to Modelland or that I’d also be a big pain-in-the-nitpicky-butt perfectionist, but you are a living legend, which means you’ve seen it all. I feel so blessed that Modelland has been anointed by you.
To you, the person reading this book. My first novel. What can I say to express my deepest gratitude? Releasing Modelland into the world, into your hands, makes me feel so excited, yet extremely vulnerable. I’m nervous and curious about how each chapter makes you feel, which characters speak to you. Which ones you love, hate, or love to hate. Modelland is no longer mine. It belongs to you. I hope you enjoyed reading her as much I did writing her. Thank you for spending your precious time with my baby.
To John. You make me smile. And laugh. And laugh. And smile. I’m smiling now as I write this. Your selflessness and patience are so rare. Thank you for the many mouthwatering meals you cooked while I typed away. Thank you for accompanying me on many of my odd (Columbia steps) writing excursions. Looking up and seeing you right there made me feel so special. Thank you so much for never complaining that I was writing too much. But thank you even more for telling me to go to bed when you knew what I was typing had to be gibberish because it was three in the morning. Yo te quiero. No, for real. ;-)
My brother, Devin, you are amazing. You serve our country and make me feel so safe when I go to bed at night. I know you always say how proud of me you are. You will never truly understand just how proud of you I am, Devy. That fact that you are my brother has me overflowing with admiration. And our mutual love of all things Walt Disney has shown us that all dreams are possible. Thanks for exposing even more of Mr. Disney’s life to me. You and Walt are my heroes. Luv, Whop.
Daddy, no matter how old I get, I know I will always be your little girl. Thanks for showering me with so much love. Thanks for taking me to Disneyland multiple times a year when I was young. Experiencing that magical place allowed me to dream up Modelland. Thanks for always calling to check up on me; you seem to have some SixxSensa for when I am stressed. Buster loves you, Daddy.
And Ma, thanks for snapping my author photo. You took my first modeling photos and first fiction-author pic. Cool! And thank you so much for carving out a huge block of your precious time to read every last word of that first thousand-page manuscript and giving me the harsh, unfiltered truth. You are truly the world’s most lovely, most beautiful, most loyal and caring Intoxibella who ever was and ever will be. Long live the original Ci~L.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TYRA BANKS was fifteen years old when she started modeling, the same age as Modelland’s Tookie De La Crème. After establishing a supermodel career she could never have dreamed of, Tyra tackled the world of television, creating the hit show America’s Next Top Model, which is seen in over 170 countries, and her two-time Emmy-award-winning talk show, The Tyra Show, to become the super businesswoman she always wanted to be. Tyra is a leading voice in empowering girls and is dedicated to expanding the definition of beauty worldwide.
Tyra invested five years in conceiving and writing Modelland, her first book of fiction. Her lifelong love of reading and storytelling is deeply embedded in every page. She was born in Los Angeles, lives in New York City, and has a vacation home in Modelland, where she is feverishly working on the next Modelland novel.
tyra.com