Tyra Banks, the household name who has commanded runways for decades, is fiercely stepping into the ice cream market.
The America’s Next Top Model alum has relocated to Sydney, Australia with her son Yorks Banks Asla, 9, and boyfriend Louis Bélanger-Martin to focus on her new endeavor.
SMiZE and Dream, is the retired model’s ice cream company, that is manufactured in Sydney.
“So I have this ice cream company, SMiZE and Dream,” Tyra revealed in an April 14 episode of Today with Jenna & Friends. “I’ve been going to Australia a lot because we were making a lot of our ice cream there in this big facility, doing our recipes.”
The 51-year-old explained that while she “fell in love” with the land down under, she also noticed her ice cream business—which she launched in July 2021—was becoming a hit there, and she knew relocating to the continent would help her accomplish her next dream: to open a “3,000-square-foot flagship store” for SMiZE and Dream in Sydney.
D.C Pop-Up
Last year, Banks chose D.C. as the site for her first official Smize & Dream scoop shop. The shop featured 10 core flavors, plus new experimental flavors. Smize & Dream paid homage to D.C. with “Cap Hill Crunch” — a whimsical mashup of Cap’n Crunch cereal-infused ice cream, toffee crunch, and cereal-soaked pieces of French toast.
As DC Eater wrote, the ice cream treats featured a unique “Smize Surprize.” Hidden at the bottom of every cup and cone, were suprises of cookie dough, jelly filling, cake, and cream. The “smize” in the name nods to the modeling term she coined in 2009, which means “smiling with your eyes.”
Tyra shared at the time about how she wants to her treats to play a role in summer memories. “Ice cream experiences create some of the most nostalgic, warm memories, like the ones I have with my Mama, and knowing we’ll be part of that for so many people visiting our shop this summer makes me smile… and ‘smize.’”