Tyra Banks is a powerhouse supermodel and businesswoman, having just opened the flagship store for her ice cream brand Smize & Dream in Sydney on Thursday.
It then comes as no surprise that her son York is following in her footsteps and already showing signs of business acumen at just nine years old.
Like mother like son
Speaking exclusively to HELLO!, the America's Next Top Model creator opened up about balancing her working life with motherhood, admitting that one inevitably seeped into the other.
"It's very difficult because I like to say work-life balance, but it's work-life integration," she said.
© Marchant James"Sometimes my son and I, we're having breakfast and the whole family's talking business and asking his opinion. I'm like, 'Taste this ice cream next to your eggs'. I mean, we're having to integrate it."
"And he's now becoming a little bit of a business person himself," she continued. "He understands marketing. When we're in Australia, he's looking at the backs of buses and things, he's like 'Mummy, I don't like that ad', or 'Mummy, look at that one, that tagline is really clever', so he's just becoming a part of it."
© Marchant JamesAs for his favorite flavor of Smize & Dream ice cream, York always reaches for chocolate with a smoked chocolate brownie on top. "York has a really nice palate, so he likes that little bit of smokiness in there," Tyra shared.
The 51-year-old welcomed York in 2016 via surrogate with her ex-partner Eric Asla. Almost two years on from their move to Sydney, York has settled in and is growing fast; he even speaks three languages.
A new beginning
© Marchant JamesTyra made the move Down Under after frequenting the country for her ice cream business, deciding that Sydney was the perfect place to settle down.
The most surprising thing about Australia for the icon was how kind people have been in her day-to-day life. "It kind of reminds me of the Midwest in America – just very warm, loving," she told HELLO!
"I've had some of the best Asian food in my life [here]," she added.
© Marchant JamesTyra's new Darling Harbour flagship store holds a special meaning both for herself and for her mother, Carolyn London.
"We spent a lot of hard times when Tyra was very young, and the one way we would lift our spirits [was] with ice cream," the matriarch recalled at the store's opening event.
"I would drive to Hollywood, California…after work, after my second or third job. We'd go over to the ice cream parlour and get cups or cones, and sit in the car and people watch, and talk about our dreams, and talk about where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do in life, and this is an extension of that."
"Those dreams that we talked about, they actually came true in so many different ways," she concluded, with tears in her eyes.
The mother of one dedicated her new store to Carolyn, sharing at the event that "she always wanted us to have a better life, and we started with a one-bedroom apartment…and this [store] is almost like a dream house."
To learn more about Tyra's bond with her mother Carolyn, watch below...
