Supermodel Tyra Banks just opened her own ice cream store in Washington, D.C., according to Today.
Smize & Dream takes its name from a word Banks invented in the course of her time as host of “America’s Next Top Model.” The word “smize” smashes together “smile with your eyes,” which is something she encouraged models to do.
Now, Banks is hoping her ice cream will get customers in Washington, including Vice President Kamala Harris, smiling with their eyes as well as their mouth.
How’s the ice cream at sMiZe & Dream?
Banks founded her ice cream brand in Los Angeles during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to The Washington Post. Now it has locations in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and expansions in Asia and Australia are pending, per Today.
Smize & Dream also runs a delivery service for its gourmet “smize cream” flavors.
Reviews are mixed concerning inventive flavors like Chocolate Barbeque, Salted Caramel King and The Best Vanilla I Ever Had, per USA Today. What many fans seem to like best is what’s buried at the bottom of the cup, cone or pint: a truffle-like dessert.
The Washington, D.C., location had a successful opening day on Friday, per The Washington Post.
Banks worked the counters and served free ice cream to the first 202 visitors (202 is Washington, D.C.’s area code).
“I don’t go check in and go, ‘Oh, how’s it going? Let me take a picture,’” Banks told The Washington Post. “It’s the opposite. I’m so in the trenches that I’m not being the face enough, so I’m trying to be the face and work out loud.”
Among Banks’ visitors was Harris, who came by with her two grand-nieces, the article said.
Why Tyra Banks entered the ice cream scene
Smize & Dream is one way Tyra Banks pays homage to her mother’s memory, according to D.C. News Now. Following her parents’ divorce, she and her mother and brother moved into a tiny apartment, where her mother worked and cared for them as a single parent.
Banks said that, despite her chaotic schedule, her mother was careful to reserve Friday nighs for “girls night.”
“We would sit in the car and she would talk about the sacrifices to get to her dream,” Banks said, per D.C. News Now. “So, ice cream for me is love of my mama, bonding, togetherness and dreams.”
Banks does not intend to stop at Smize & Dream. She plans to start an education program located in Washington to help underserved youth can learn more about entrepreneurship and hospitality, per The Washington Post.
Banks wants the school to be a “cross-cultural, cross-country” program, according to D.C. News Now.
“Our team feels that D.C. is a place for change,” Banks said. “So we want these underserved youth to be the future leaders of tomorrow.”