It has been a long journey for Oprah Gail Winfrey. Born to a poor single unwed mother in rural Mississippi and brought up in an inner city Milwaukee neighborhood, she was abused and molested at the age of 9 and 14. And she still rose to become a media mogul and rated by Business Week in 2005 as one of America’s top 50 philanthropists. At one time she was the world’s only black billionaire. According to some people she is most influential woman in the world. As an Obama supporter she is supposed to have delivered over a million votes in the 2008 Democratic primary race.Denied admission to a juvenile detention home after she ran away after being abused she was sent to live with her father who kept her under strict observation. Oprah’s broadcasting career started when she was hired by a radio station at the age of 17 and two years later she was signed by a TV station in Nashville as a reporter/anchor. She also majored in Speech Communications and Performing Arts from Tennessee State University.
In 1976 she moved to Baltimore and eight years later to Chicago. It was during this period that she established that she would host talk shows and in 1985 her show was named ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show.’ Within two years, The Oprah Winfrey Show had already won three Daytime Emmy Awards. Among her other achievements is nomination for the Oscar for best supporting actor for her poignant performance of the role of Sofia in Steven Spielberg’s movie The Color Purple.
Her love for acting and desire to bring quality entertainment programs prompted her to launch her own company, which acquired the production rights of The Oprah Winfrey Show, becoming the first woman in history to own and produce her own talk show. She was instrumental in establishing a national data base of convicted child abusers, which became a law in 1993 as is known as the ‘Oprah Bill’.
Oprah’s Winfrey’s success story is best described by the words of the syndicated columnist, Bill O’Reilly Oprah Winfrey “came from nothing to rise up to be the most powerful woman.”
Oprah Winfrey life is a canvass that reflects a determined fight against all odds. Her color, her social background and childhood were all against her but she still showed enormous leadership qualities to rise to a position of wealth, financial strength and influence.
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