Selita Ebanks
Encyclopedia
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...
fashion model. She worked for Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...
and as a Victoria's Secret Angel
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...
from 2005-2008.
Early life
Her family, her mother in particular, encouraged her development through extracurricular programsExtracurricular activity
Extracurricular activities are activities performed by students that fall outside the realm of the normal curriculum of school or university education...
.
Education
Ebanks moved to the United States, and settled in Staten IslandStaten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
, New York. After moving to New York City she was accepted at Spelman College
Spelman College
Spelman College is a four-year liberal arts women's college located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The college is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman was the first historically black female...
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, and New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
.
Career
At 17 years old, while walking through the turnstiles at Six Flags Great AdventureSix Flags Great Adventure
Six Flags Great Adventure is a theme park in Jackson Township, New Jersey, owned by Six Flags Entertainment Corp., the world's largest amusement park corporation...
, Ebanks was scouted by an agent from Elite Model Management
Elite Model Management
Elite Model Management is a large modeling agency based in New York and Paris. It is a subsidiary of Elite World S.A.-History:Founded in France in 1972 by John Casablancas and Alain Kittler, it was rebought in 1990 by Nicholas Farrae. Elite World S.A. is the parent company of Elite Model...
. Ebanks has worked with Peter Lindbergh
Peter Lindbergh
Peter Lindbergh, born Peter Brodbeck, is a German photographer and filmmaker, born on November 23, 1944 in Leszno, Poland. He currently lives in Paris, New York and Arles....
, Bruce Weber
Bruce Weber (photographer)
Bruce Weber is an American fashion photographer and occasional filmmaker. He is most widely known for his ad campaigns for Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Pirelli, Abercrombie & Fitch, Revlon, and Gianni Versace, as well as his work for Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, Elle, Life, Interview, and Rolling Stone...
, Steven Klein, Carter Smith, and Mikael Jansson
Mikael Jansson
Mikael Jansson is a former leader of the Swedish political party Sweden Democrats . He served as party leader between 1995 and 2005. He was replaced by Jimmie Åkesson.- External links :...
, and for some of the most quintessential American fashion campaigns, including Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren is an American fashion designer and business executive; best known for his Polo Ralph Lauren clothing brand.-Early life:...
, Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch is an American retailer that focuses on casual wear for consumers aged 18 to 22. It has over 300 locations in the United States, and is expanding internationally....
, Levi's, and Tommy Hilfiger
Tommy Hilfiger
Thomas Jacob "Tommy" Hilfiger is an American fashion designer and founder of the premium lifestyle brand Tommy Hilfiger.-Early life:...
.
Ebanks first modeled for Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...
for their Ipex Bra line, before being signed as an Angel. She and Izabel Goulart
Izabel Goulart
Maria Izabel Goulart Dourado , better known as Izabel Goulart, is a Brazilian model. She is best known as one of the Victoria's Secret Angels from 2005 to present and for her work with Armani Exchange.-Early life and career:...
made their major débuts in the 2005 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, working as an Angel until early 2009. In 2005, Tyra Banks
Tyra Banks
Tyra Lynne Banks is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, author and businesswoman. She first became famous as a model, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough...
said she was proud of Ebanks to be representing black women at Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...
.
In 2007, Ebanks was selected to wear the "Very Sexy" Holiday Fantasy Bra Set with a price tag of $4,500,000 dollars that contains (diamonds, emeralds, rubies and yellow sapphires)--which she is featured in the Victoria's Secret "Christmas Dreams and Fantasies 2007" catalogue wearing the bra set and wore the fantasy bra set during the Victoria's Secret fashion show on December 4, 2007
Ebanks made a special guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
(episode: "The Yips
The Yips (How I Met Your Mother episode)
"The Yips" is the tenth episode in the third season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 54th overall. It originally aired on November 26, 2007.- Plot :...
") on 26 November 2007 with her fellow Victoria's Secret supermodels (Miranda Kerr
Miranda Kerr
Miranda May Kerr is an Australian model. She is best known as one of the Victoria's Secret Angels since mid-2007. She is the first Australian to participate in the Victoria's Secret campaign and also represents Australian fashion chain David Jones...
, Heidi Klum
Heidi Klum
Heidi Samuel , better known by her birth name Heidi Klum, is a German model, actress, television host, businesswoman, fashion designer, television producer, and occasional singer. In 2008 she became an American citizen while maintaining her native German citizenship...
, Adriana Lima
Adriana Lima
Adriana Lima is a Brazilian model, best known as a Victoria's Secret Angel since 2000, and as a spokesmodel for Maybelline cosmetics from 2003 to 2009...
, Marisa Miller
Marisa Miller
Marisa Lee Miller is an American model best known for her appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues and her work for lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret. After a stint shooting with photographer Mario Testino for fashion magazines like Vogue, Miller began working for both companies in...
, and Alessandra Ambrosio
Alessandra Ambrosio
Alessandra Corine Ambrósio is a Brazilian model. Ambrosio is best known for her work with Victoria's Secret and was chosen as the first spokesmodel for the company's "PINK" line...
).
According to Forbes, Ebanks ranked the twelfth highest paid supermodel for 2008, earning $2.7 million.
She made her first appearance on Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
s 2007 Swimsuit Issue.
She has recorded some music and appeared on the UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
-series South Beach
South Beach (2006 TV series)
South Beach is a primetime television drama that ran from January 4, 2006 until February 22, 2006 on UPN. Created by Matt Cirulnick, one of its executive producers was singer/actress Jennifer Lopez. The program was panned by critics and shunned by viewers, finishing 152nd in the Nielsen TV ratings...
.
She appeared on the third season of Celebrity Apprentice
The Apprentice (U.S. season 9)
The Celebrity Apprentice 3 is the ninth installment of the United States version of the reality television series, The Apprentice. On April 29, 2009, NBC officially announced the renewal of Celebrity Apprentice for Spring 2010. The show premiered on Sunday, March 14, 2010...
, but was fired in week 5 on April 11, 2010, placing 9th.
She is featured in The-Dream
The-Dream
Terius Youngdell Nash , better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is known for co-writing "Umbrella" for Rihanna and "Single Ladies " for Beyoncé, as well as for his three solo albums, Love Hate, Love vs...
's music video for his single Make Up Bag
Make Up Bag
"Make Up Bag" is the second single by American R&B artist The-Dream from his third studio album Love King. The song was officially released as a single on June 8 to the iTunes Store. It features rapper T.I.-Music video:...
.
She also appeared in the 2010 short film directed and created by Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
entitled Runaway
Runaway (2010 film)
Runaway is a 35-minute short film directed by and starring Kanye West. It serves as the music video for a compilation of songs from West's album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. It is inspired by other music-related films such as Purple Rain, Pink Floyd The Wall and Michael Jackson's Thriller...
. She plays a fallen Phoenix that Kanye West's character falls in love with.
She also appears in a commercial for State Farm Insurance
State Farm Insurance
State Farm Insurance is a group of insurance and financial services companies in the United States. The company also has operations in Canada....
alongside actor/model Mehcad Brooks
Mehcad Brooks
Mehcad Jason McKinley Brooks is an American actor and former fashion model.-Early life:Brooks was born and raised in Austin, Texas, where he attended L.C. Anderson High School...
.
Personal life
Ebanks was engaged to rapper, actor, Nick CannonNick Cannon
Nicholas Scott "Nick" Cannon is an American actor, comedian, rapper, entrepreneur, record producer, radio, and television personality. On television, Cannon began as a teenage sketch comedian on All That before going on to host The Nick Cannon Show, Wild 'N Out, and America's Got Talent...
."http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070510/ap_en_mo/people_nick_cannon;_ylt=AmBIshLaN_dd1E7ECEW409fMWM0F".Yahoo! News,Retrieved on 2007-06-08. On October 4, 2007, People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine announced that the couple ended their engagement.