Her tough early life didn’t deter her from the desire to stand out and be successful.

The Producer

Oprah established Harpo Studios in 1988. This made her the third woman in the America entertainment industry to fully own a production studio. Her daytime talk show has since been taken over by her own production company, Harpo Productions Inc., and airs nationally with an estimated 48 million viewers per week and is broadcast in 126 countries.

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Oprah Winfrey - The Road From Nashville

Her tough early life didn’t deter her from the desire to stand out and be successful.

Oprah Winfrey - The Road From Nashville

Her tough early life didn’t deter her from the desire to stand out and be successful. The story of Oprah Winfrey is one of the many American Dream stories we hear today. Born to a poor unwed teenage couple on January 29, 1954, Oprah Gail Winfrey was not off to a promising start. While she lived with her grandmother for the first six years of her life and learned to read at a very early age, Oprah was taken back by her mother, Vernita Lee, to live in Milwaukee.

Between the ages six and 13, the young girl experienced rape and molestation. As a result, Oprah often ran away from home and found herself in trouble. She was sent to live with her father, Vernon Winfrey, in Nashville. At 14, Oprah became pregnant and gave birth to a stillborn baby. This incident was the turning point of her life.

The turnaround
The decision to better herself was fully supported by her father who laid strict rules with regards to curfews and academic standards. Oprah began to take her life seriously and excelled in her studies. She was also required by her father to read a book each week and make a full report on it. Her early love for literacy helped her to pursue it later in life. “My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you at the best place for the next moment,” she says.

Oprah’s career started at the age of 19. She became a local radio station reporter before going to Tennessee State University to continue her pursuit in radio and television broadcasting.

In 1976, Oprah moved to Baltimore to host the television show People Are Talking. The show was a success and as a result, she continued the job for eight years. Oprah was then hired by a television company in Chicago to host her own morning talk show, A.M. Chicago. Without realising it, she was competing with the Phil Donahue Show which was amongst the top-rating shows in the United States.

Her natural charm and charisma on television brought her show to the top of the ratings. Oprah then earned her way into Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film, The Color Purple, where she played the role of Sofia, for which she was nominated an Academy Award™.

The Oprah Winfrey Show, which has been running for 21 years, first aired in 1986. It became the number one show as soon as it started, and was just the beginning of the rest of her success story. Oprah wrote of her success, “Be more splendid, more extraordinary. Use every moment to fill yourself up.”

The producer
Oprah established Harpo Studios in 1988. This made her the third woman in the American entertainment industry to fully own a production studio. Her daytime talk show has since been taken over by her own production company, Harpo Productions Inc., and airs nationally with an estimated 48 million viewers per week. The Oprah Winfrey Show is now also broadcast in 126 countries.

Oprah’s tough upbringing is no doubt largely responsible for her persistent and evolving nature as an entrepreneur and icon. Through her intelligence and continuous desire to be in touch with the world, Oprah has saved herself from what could have been a bleak life.

The bold, adventurous lady did not stop there. Oprah went on to create her own monthly female lifestyle publication, O, The Oprah Magazine, with Hearst Magazines. The launch of her magazine in 2000 was one of the most successful in the recent history, with an estimated readership of 2.3 million per month. O, The Oprah Magazine, then extended itself to South Africa in 2002.

A newsstand-only magazine, O At Home, was also launched in 2004. Appropriately titled, the publication revolves around home décor. There was no doubt that Oprah has heard of the saying, “If you can’t beat them, join them”. After all, she is a media graduate with millions of dollars coming in from the industry. And with the rise of the internet, the tech-savvy entrepreneur jumped on the bandwagon, along with countless others, to reach out to even more people worldwide.

Oprah’s Book Club, as it is formally titled, provides an insightful look into different book selections with online discussion groups as well as Q&A sessions with literary experts. With a famous name attached to it, the book club has become the largest in the world, with some one million members to date.

More recently, Oprah launched Oprah & Friends, a new satellite channel on XM Satellite Radio, in September 2006. The channel features segments of The Oprah Winfrey Show and O, The Oprah Magazine as well as a weekly call-in show called Talk To Me with Oprah Winfrey herself.

Her involvement and success in the media industry has landed Oprah at number 14 in Forbes Magazine’s rank of most powerful women. Oprah’s net worth is well over US$1 billion dollars with about US$200 million dollars invested her satellite channel alone.

Besides being a hit in the media, Oprah has also added philanthropist to her array of titles. She created The Oprah Winfrey Foundation which supports educational movements and organisations for children and women both within the United States and around the world.

A public charity, Oprah’s Angel Network, was also created to involve her viewers in the various not-for-profit projects that Oprah has involved herself in. The network has collected more than US$50 million with most of its funds going into establishing scholarships and schools, support women’s centres and homes.

As seen, Oprah believes in the importance of academic knowledge and decent, safe environment to live in. These two core principles have evidently come through her life experience. She says that every person has a calling that is unique, and that way to success is to find something you love and then find the means to offer it to others. Oprah has clearly shown that she wants to help the less fortunate to realise their life’s purpose through her various charity projects and philanthropic visits.