By Tara TealStaff Writer for Arcadian Post-Journal
Pyra Banks is a name synonymous with fashion, beauty, cosmetics and crime fighting? True, it's hard to tell while sitting across from this ravishing 50 something bombshell and business mogul. But she is indeed the ex-vigilante from the 70's.
We sit in her waiting room annexed to her office, over-looking the downtown Big City Skyline. She, across from me, wearing a tailored suit that she informs me is from their professional line. She sets down the cup of delicious Tibetan tea we have been sipping and offers me another imported Jacques-Paul Sauvignon eclair. As she casually mentions how many of her products are imported from Tibet, she brushes a wayward curl and I can't help but notice her perfect manicure.
She shows me a collection of portfolios from her modeling days. A countless score of gorgeous photos. Yet amid all this lavish elegance, one thing sticks out the most. Yellow, orange and red spandex. The outfit is showcased in several news clippings and an old poster. The most striking, is one of her clobbering two crooks. Grown men easily twice her size.
Pyra Banks: I've been through lots of costumes, but that was my favorite. It seems so tacky now.
APJ: I'm sure, compared to Prada, Gucci and Fendi.
Banks: Don't forget Pyra.
APJ: Heh, of course. Let's get straight to it. Many people have reported your feats of prowess, acrobatics, martial arts...
Banks: 6 years of jazz, 3 years of tap. But seriously, my father was a simple man, but he demanded us girls be "cultured". We kept busy as children.
APJ: Yes, but what we really want to know, the pyrotechnics. How did you do it?
Banks: Sorry dear, trade secret. To this day, we use part of the process in many of our products. (pauses) It's purely organic, and safe, FDA and all. If I said anymore my lawyers would have my wig.
APJ: Wow, Tibetan you say?
Banks: Yes, just wait until you try our new perfume.
APJ: Well, if you can't tell me how, what about why?
Banks: Oh that's simple, but not easy. Drug lords took my father. Kidnapped my Sisters and I.
APJ: I'm sorry, I had no idea.
Banks: It's ok, was a long time ago. I don't talk about it much, My publicist keeps wanting me to write a memoir. But to answer your question. We were sold into slavery. One of my sisters died, and the other, she didn't make it out so well.
APJ: That's horrible
Banks: I was eventually sold into a human trafficking ring in Asia, Tibet to be exact. One day I escaped from the compound I was in. Escaped right into the middle of nowhere. Would've froze to death if not for the monks that found me.
APJ: The Tibetan Imports...
Banks: Come mostly from the monks and the small village they protect.
APJ: That's very whole earth minded.
Banks: I owe them my life.
Be sure to pick up tomorrow's edition of the Arcadian Post-Journal for part two of my Interview with Pyra Banks.
