Selita Ebanks was born on February 15, 1983 in George Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory. She is of Caymanian, Jamaican, and Indian[disambiguation needed] descent. She was raised in a large family that includes seven brothers. Influenced by her brothers, Ebanks played many sports growing up, such as basketball, soccer and tennis. The Ebanks family was quite poor, living in what she described as "a little blue, zinc-roof shack on Walkers Road". Often, Ebanks didn't have shoes to wear to George Town primary school. Her family, her mother in particular, encouraged her development through extracurricular programs.

Later in life, Ebanks moved to the United States, and settled in Staten Island, New York. After moving to New York City she was accepted at Spelman College, Columbia University, and New York University. However, she graduated from none of these institutions. She had planned to study Law before she started modeling. However, she did not study law. Ebanks was a former attendee of the prestigious institution John F. Kennedy Middle School. While attending the institution she was a member of the debate team. However, she did not graduate from this institution.

At 17 years old, while walking through the turnstiles at Six Flags Great Adventure, Ebanks was scouted by an agent from Elite Model Management. Ebanks worked with some of the world's most noted photographers, including Peter Lindbergh, Bruce Weber, Steven Klein, Carter Smith and Mikael Jansson, and for some of the most quintessential American fashion campaigns, including Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie & Fitch, Levi's and Tommy Hilfiger.

Ebanks is currently working as a model for Victoria's Secret. She had previously done work for their Ipex Bra line, before being signed.[2] She and fellow up-and-coming model Izabel Goulart made their major début in the 2005 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. She is now officially one of the Victoria's Secret Angels. She views Tyra Banksas a mentor. In 2005, Tyra Bankssaid she was proud of Ebanks to be representing for black women at Victoria's Secret.

Ebanks made a special guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother (episode: "The Yips") on November 26, 2007 with her fellow Victoria's Secret supermodels (Miranda Kerr Heidi Klum Adriana Lima, Marisa Miller and Alessandra Ambrosio. She made her first appearance on Sports Illustrated's 2007 Swimsuit Issue. She started to become an all-around-entertainer. She has recorded some music and appeared on the UPN-series South Beach. Selita promotes across the country for Victoria Secret, but was unfortunately booed at Gillette Stadium while at a New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles game in Foxboro for a Victoria's Secret promotion.

Ebanks was engaged to rapper, actor, and comedian Nick Cannon On October 4, 2007, People magazine announced that the couple has ended their engagement.