Success Story of Oprah Gail Winfrey

Oprah Gail Winfrey is a magnate in the media industry and one of the 100 most influential women in the world (ranked by time magazine). Forbes has also ranked her as the first Black billionaire in world. Winfrey is currently the chairwoman and CEO of Harpo Production. She is popular for being an illustrious talk show host, producer, media proprietor, philanthropist and actress.  The media mogul has been ranked as the richest African-American of the 20^th century. In 2013, Oprah was awarded American’s highest civilian honor, Presidential Medal of Freedom, by Barack Obama. 

Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi, USA. She was born to Vernon Winfrey, father, and Vernita Lee, mother, who were unmarried at her birth. The actual name on her birth certificate was Orpah, from the Bible, but her close relatives and friends mispronounced it as Oprah almost from birth so she also maintained it. Within the first year of her birth, her mother left for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to find job and left Winfrey in the care of her grandmother on a farm in Mississippi. Her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee, taught young Oprah how to read at an early age. The grandmother was poor that she made dresses from potato sacks for Winfrey to wear. At age 3 Winfrey started reciting Bible verses and poems in churches. At age 5, she started kindergarten already knowing how to read and write.

At age six, Oprah was sent to her mother, who was a housemaid at Milwaukee. Her mother’s lack of attention made Winfrey’s life miserable. During the long day when her mother was absent, Winfrey was sexually assaulted by her cousin, uncle and a family friend (starting from age 9). She was taken for ice cream and told to keep the assaults a secret. She only disclosed it to family members at age 24.  She announced this publicly on a 1986 episode of her TV show when she was talking on sexual abuse. At age 14 Winfrey was out on her own and sexually promiscuous. She got pregnant at this stage but kept it a secret from her parents until the pregnancy was seven months. She gave birth, pre maturely, at the seventh month but the baby died at infancy.

After the death of the baby her mother sent her to Nashville, Tennessee to live with her father. Her life changed for good when she started living under the strict environment of her father. Her father ensured that she read a book every week and wrote a report on it. “As strict as he was, he had some concerns about me making the best of my life, and would not accept anything less than what he thought was my best” Said Oprah.

At this time, Oprah concentrated on her education and public speaking. At East Nashville High School, Winfrey joined the speech team and won an oratory contest organised by Elks club which awarded her a full scholarship to study at Tennessee State University where she majored in Speech Communication and Performing Arts.  The following year she was invited to White House for a Youth Conference. At age 17, Winfrey was crowned Miss Black Tennessee, a beauty pageant contest. Her victory in the beauty pageant caught the attention of WVOL, a local black radio station. WVOL offered her on-air part time job. She worked there during her last year at high school and first two years at college. 

She completed college and was hired as a news anchor and a reporter at a local radio station, Nashville's WLAC-TV. Winfrey was the first black female news anchor and the youngest news anchor at the station. In 1976, she moved to WJZ-TV where she was a news co-anchor. She was also a co-host of WJZ’s talk show People are Talking, which she hosted with Richard Sher for eight years. In 1983, Winfrey was invited to host a show at Chicago TV station, WLS-TV. She was selected by the manager of WLS-TV in an audition tape sent to the station by Winfrey’s producer, Debra DiMaio. The show, AM Chicago, was just a half-hour talk show but Winfrey’s unique performance made the show very popular and it was later extended to an hour-show. In September, 1985 the show was renamed the Oprah Winfrey Show. Her fame upsurged when she played the role of “Sofia” in a movie directed by Steven Spielberg, titled The Color Purple which was based on Alice Walker’s novel. On September 8, 1986 the Opera Winfrey show was broadcast nationally which increased Oprah’s audience than her major show competitor, Phil Donahue.

In 1987, the show received three Daytime Emmy Awards and the following year Winfrey was also awarded the Broadcaster of the year by International Radio and Television Society.

In 1986, she formed her own Production company, Harpo Productions Inc. which acquired the ownership of the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1988.

In 1993, she interviewed Michael Jackson, which became the most watched interview in America with an estimated audience of 36.5 million.

Winfrey currently has a great influence on the culture, lifestyle and health of most people in the world. Her influence on Americans was proofed in 2008 when she supported Barack Obama in his campaign. She publicly recommended Obama on her show which by estimate attracted over a million votes for Obama.

In 2013, she was awarded honorary doctorate degree from Harvard and Duke University.