Oprah II

Now we all know the power of Oprah...I mean women go ga-ga over this one lady. She's changed lives (hell I wish I got a car just for being in the audience) as well as made tons of people cry, laugh, and cry and laugh all at once.

So how and why are people trying to compare Tyra Banks to Oprah? Now no offense to Tyra, I love her and all but since when is she as influential and inspirational as Oprah Winfrey? I'm not trying to bash Tyra-like I said- I love her to pieces-but even she's said she doesn't want to be compared to Oprah:

Says Banks: ''Oprah Winfrey is a mogul. Martha Stewart is a mogul. I'm probably a mogul in the making. I'm almost there.''

Banks has been compared to her onetime employer Oprah Winfrey. ''In the beginning, I used to hate it,'' she says. ''I used to cry at night just because of the pressure. And I didn't want her thinking that I was saying it.'' Banks is also quick to shoot down the connection — respectfully, of course. ''It's flattering. [But] if I was white, I don't think they'd be saying it. I think a lot of it has to do with being a black woman.'' (A call to Winfrey's office for comment was not returned.)
--Entertainment Weekly

But I can see where the public is going with this whole Tyra/Oprah thing. Both women are fiercely independent and making waves for women everywhere (Oprah was one of the first most prominent black female journalists while Tyra made waves for black models everywhere).

The whole reason why I'm talking about this is because our homegurl Ty Ty is gracing the cover of The New York Times Magazine (out this Sunday)

Tyra says in the mag:

My mom said, ‘This is not just glamour — it is a business.’ So when I arrived in Paris, I was ready.”

She went alone (“I wish my mother had forced me to learn French, because I’m sure I would have been fluent”) — and in her first season, in 1991, booked 25 fashion shows, including Yves St. Laurent and Chanel. “I was successful but I was intimidated by Paris,” Banks said. “It was too beautiful. It was too much for my mass-American self. Even to this day, and this is sad, I am too mass-American for Europe. We were in Rome for ‘America’s Next Top Model’ and I said to my v.p. at Bankable: ‘Look at this gorgeous architecture! But if there was a Wendy’s and a Wal-Mart right in the middle of it — bam! It would be even more gorgeous.’ ”

Well, she has her smash hit, “America's Next Top Model,” (which has created tons of copycats (Britain & Australia to name a few), a popular daytime talk show (too hilarious yet thought provoking- dressing up as a homeless person to feel heir pain..deep)- which has just been renewed for another two years- a reported annual salary of $18 million. Oh, and she was named one of the Most Influential People in America by Time.

Tyra is building an empire of her own. Much props Tyra...much props.