Oprah Winfrey has accomplished so much. Not only has she risen above challenges in her own life, but her impact has reached and affected countless lives. She is successful, but, most importantly, she uses her success to lift others up and support causes she believes in.
Born January 29, 1954, in Kosciusko, Mississippi, Oprah Winfrey spent her early life with her grandma but later switched custody between her mom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and her dad in Tennessee. Growing up, her mom was often busy and she wasn’t always able to supervise Oprah or provide her with the support she needed. The ghetto near Milwaukee where Oprah’s mom lived created an extremely poor, urban, and dangerous environment for young Oprah. She was sexually abused by others that her family trusted. A few years later, her mother sent her back to live with her father in Nashville. Her father provided Oprah with persistent support, proper attention, and advanced education. At the age of 19, when Oprah was a sophomore in college, she became a news anchor for the local CBS television station. Following her graduation from Tennessee state university in 1976, she took a position as a reporter and co-anchor for the ABC News affiliate in Baltimore, Maryland. However, she eventually found herself constrained by the objectivity required of news reporting, and in 1977 she became co-host of the Baltimore morning show “People Are Talking.”
Today, Oprah Winfrey is a world-renowned talk show host, producer, actress, and philanthropist. Her name is now one of the largest names in talk show history. Her willingness to help others and to make sure that people are guided into the right light emphasizes how much compassion she has for others. Oprah helped to change the mostly white, male-dominated talk show workforce by being one of the first to break both the race and gender barrier in her career area, and by using her platform in communication to open doors for other people. Oprah is deservedly one of the most influential women in her career because of her contribution to the advancement of rights for all people. Oprah Winfrey inspires the world by demonstrating that anything is possible if you put your mind and heart to it.
Featured Image courtesy of George Burns, Omagazine Inc.