My favorite guilty pleasure TV show of all time would have to be America’s Next Top Model. From the insane runways contestants have been forced to walk, to the often traumatic physical transformations girls are pressured to go through, it’s like a car crash you can’t turn away from. The host of the show, Tyra Banks, is perhaps the most infamous part about it, with her manipulative tactics, yet fierce looks. However, now that the American show is (unofficially) over, Banks has moved into a sweeter venture with her pop-up ice cream shop, Smize and Dream.
What is Smize & Dream Ice Cream?
Banks originally created the brand back in 2021 with a pop-up shop in Santa Monica, California, selling pre-packaged pints of each flavor in-person and nationwide, through Smize and Dream’s website. The name comes from Banks’ iconic modeling technique of smiling through your eyes, coined as “smizing.” In 2023, the shop opened a mobile ice cream outlet in Dubai.
Kamala Harris visited the ice cream shop?
On July 19, (two days before National Ice Cream Day!) the Woodley Park store in DC opened up. Banks wanted to open a shop in DC specifically due to her brother’s service in the military, as well as a desire to one day open up a spin-off non-profit learning center, as told to NBC. The store has received a lot of attention due to Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit on opening day. The two women exchanged a warm welcome, while Harris’ grandnieces enjoyed scoops of ice cream.
Smize and Dreams hosts 10 flavors currently, sold by the scoop — The Best Vanilla I Ever Had, Dough Dough & Mo Dough, Chocolate GooGoo Cake, Purple Cookie Mon-St⭐r, Cap Hill Crunch, StrawNana Pudding, Wake Up and Smell the Crunchy!, Mint Chips N’ Dip, Chocolate Cookies & Cream (Vegan), and That Woodley Park Thang. Some of these flavors pay homage to the DC area, promising more themed names to come. New flavors will be announced each Wednesday on social media.
Customers can also add a “Smize surprise” to their treat, meaning a truffle will be hidden at the bottom of their cup or cone. The shop is set to be open until September 20, but knowing Banks, this isn’t the end of Smize and Dreams. With the website currently being “under construction,” you may get a chance to try your own pint of Cap Hill Crunch shipped straight to your door sooner than you think!