Whenever someone says I'm the next Oprah, I always respond, 'Child, there's only one Mahogany, and only one Oprah.' There are no others.
On 'America's Next Top Model,' I mentor girls on television. When that TV goes off, I actually mentor other girls in the modeling industry - girls that have not been on 'Top Model,' but who appear in 'Vogue' worldwide.
My freshman year, I ran for student class president and lost. The next year, I ran for student class vice president, and I won.
I created 'America's Next Top Model' one-hundred percent. I was in my kitchen making tea one morning, and I looked out the window, and the idea popped into my head. I wanted it to be 'American Idol' meets 'Ford Supermodel of the Year' meets 'The Real World.'
With 'America's Next Top Model,' I've always cast girls who the industry might call 'plus size' but I like to call 'fiercely real.' That was always important to me.
'America's Next Top Model' is not a bunch of Barbies - it's a lot of girls that are atypically beautiful.