Tyra Banks reveals what her viral hot ice cream actually is
Tyra Banks set the internet alight after announcing her new ‘hot ice cream’ creation – now she’s set the record straight
I didn’t know what to expect when meeting Tyra Banks.
I’d grown up seeing her on TV – fierce, funny, larger than life – but in person, she was something else entirely.
She was warm. She looked everyone in the eye and remembered everyone’s names. She took photos with every fan who waited. She gave me time to talk, really talk – not rushed and not rehearsed.
“Do I look sweaty?”, was the first thing I asked her as we sat outside on a 32C afternoon.
“No! You’ve got this amazing Glossier-type glow to you,” she replied.
Compliment of the year.
Tyra has settled down in Sydney since opening the flagship store for her ice cream brand SMiZE & DREAM in June.
You may have seen her around as she quietly immerses herself in the Aussie lifestyle – a huge change from her Los Angeles and New York City days.
The bright and bustling two-storey Darling Harbour store has already become an attraction for tourists and locals alike, but now, thanks to her new partnership with Uber Eats, Sydneysiders can have it delivered to their door for the first time.
She tells me she visits the store four times a week, but it’s strictly business.
“I come to work. I don’t come looking like this,” she laughed, motioning to her perfectly curated outfit.
Before we could jump into the nitty-gritty, I had to get to the bottom of her latest creation that had people buzzing.
Everyone has been talking about hot ice cream just weeks after it was launched, and most people still can’t work out what it means.
I know people think I’m crazy. They drop in the DMs (direct messages) and ask if I need help,” she said.
Tyra wants you to know that the ‘Hot Mama’ is not melted gelato, it’s not a latte, it’s not a milkshake, and it’s definitely not crème anglaise.
“I know my desserts. It’s a drinkable ice cream, but it’s not a shake. We didn’t just take it and melt it,” she said.
“We tried that a year ago, and it was sticky, heavy, and gluey.
“The Hot Mama feels like drinking a baked good meets ice cream mashup.”
Despite having an Emmy award and a Harvard degree in business in her back pocket, she was disarmingly honest about how much work goes into keeping her 20-year dream alive.
“I do feel like I’m going crazy,” she said.
“I don’t sleep because it’s hard as a small-business owner. There are days when you think it’s the best idea in the world, and less than 24 hours later, you think you’re going to go bankrupt.
“There’s a little bit of psychosis with entrepreneurship – you have to keep believing when the world tells you it’s not going to happen.”
She tells me that she hasn’t always had an entrepreneurial mind, but that she has always been creative at heart.
“I knew I wanted to go into film and television, but the entrepreneurial side came later, after I started modelling and understanding products.
“It’s curiosity. You’ve got to stay curious.”
While some people might believe Tyra’s shift into the world of ice cream is random, it’s the opposite.
Ice cream has played a formative part in her life, dating back to a childhood Friday night ritual with her mum, Carolyn.
“We used to drive to Hollywood Boulevard and have ice cream together in the car while she was working three jobs,” she said.
It’s no surprise, then, that the packaging on a tub of SMiZE & DREAM features a smiling animation of Mama Carolyn on the top.
“In every single tub there’s a SMiZE surprise at the bottom, which inspires you to dig deeper and work harder like my mum worked hard for dreams – that’s what it represents,” she said.
As for why she’s chosen Australia to bring her dreams to life? Well, Tyra says her connection to Australia started long before the store.
“We were making ice cream for cruise ships and aeroplanes,” she said.
“It sounds glamorous, but it wasn’t.
“We had ships out of Australia and Asia, so we started manufacturing our grab-and-go cups here. Then I fell in love.
“Australian milk is so pure. My flavours tasted completely different with it.”
Since then, her family has “fallen in love” with the lifestyle Down Under.
“We just looked at each other and said ‘Should we?’, and that was it.”
Tyra told me that partnering with Uber Eats is more than just business, it’s about bringing the experiences of joy and hard work to the doorsteps of Australians.
“I want this to reach so many people, and I want them to be able to have that experience just by sitting on their couch.
“I can already see it – my family and me on the couch, movie playing, tub of SMiZE & DREAM in one hand, spoon in the other. And the best part is knowing that all across the city, couples, families, and friends are doing the exact same thing,” she said.
The verdict
After meeting Tyra, I couldn’t not try her ice cream.
So yesterday evening, as Sydney sweltered through its hottest day of the year, I placed an order for a tub of ‘Tyra’s favourite’ and ‘Matcha Mochi Doughchi.’
After a slight delay and delivery via bicycle, I was a little nervous that it would arrive in a puddle.
But to my delight, the order arrived in an insulated cool bag, packed with two tubs of ice cream, two spoons, and some napkins.
And the best part? It was still frozen.
I wouldn’t brand myself the world’s biggest ice cream fan, but SMiZE & DREAM definitely gave me a run for my money. So much so that I finished the entire tub at my desk this morning.
There’s something infectious about Tyra Banks – she’s chaotic, charming, vulnerable, and genuinely kind. She laughs big, dreams bigger, and still seems amazed by her own success.
She might be a household name, but in that Darling Harbour shop, she’s just Tyra. A woman who loves ice cream, her mum, her customers, and is still figuring it all out.
