Oprah Winfrey’s life is truly an endless source of inspiration and an example to everyone who once knew her.
The queen of talks, the mogul of the media and the man of humanitarianism, those are the names that people always remember when talking about Oprah Winfrey. This woman not only symbolizes the power of American entertainment women but is also a symbol of relentless rise and extraordinary effort.
It can be said that Oprah Winfrey has become an endless source of inspiration and an example to everyone who has once watched the show or read about her life.
Difficult life and childhood
Oprah Winfrey is a well-known and important philanthropist to South Africa. It was she who created many schools for disadvantaged girls in this country.
Of course, almost every celebrity starts somewhere or something very special, but Oprah’s childhood wasn’t as beautiful as many other kids. That is also why, when she became a celebrity, she spared no effort, money and time to build good things for the world. She wanted to create her own charitable foundation, but built it in the form of a school.
And the school she built in South Africa became part of her life. Oprah dreams that all the girls who attend school will become future African leaders.
It can be said that Oprah’s difficult childhood helped her become the strong and successful person she is today. When she recalls, she often said that she didn’t want any child to suffer terrible things like she went through.
Oprah Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954, the first daughter of an unmarried teenage couple in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Oprah grew up in a Baptist family with Vernita Lee and Vernon Winfrey.
Her parents had to go through a hard time figuring out what would happen to them and how to raise Oprah, who was still on her back. As a result, Oprah had to move in with her grandmother until the age of 6, when her grandmother died. After the death of her respected grandmother, Oprah moved back in with her mother and 3 half-siblings. Together they lived in a slum in Milwaukee, Winconsin.
While living with her mother, Oprah was abused at the age of 9 by close relatives her family always trusted. Devastated by successive unfortunate events, Oprah had to go through an extremely difficult adolescent period. She no longer remembers how many times she tried to run away from home. She became more unruly and demanding, she was willing to smash the glass so that her mother would have to buy her a new, nicer, more stylish glass.
However, the real disaster came when Oprah became pregnant at the age of 14. Sadly, the baby died shortly after birth. Unable to withstand Oprah’s rebellion, her mother was forced to take her to live with her biological father in Nashville, Tennessee. The father is a lot stricter than Oprah’s mother. He made his daughter memorize 5 vocabulary words a day or else he wouldn’t let her eat dinner. However, this was an important turning point for Oprah’s life, because from this point on she achieved many successes.
The road to success
When she transferred to Nashville High School, Oprah quickly showed talent and became one of the best students. She became an honored student of the school and was voted the most popular girl by her friends. Oprah’s academic achievements are also extremely remarkable.
Since setting foot in college, Oprah began to become the celebrity she is known today. In her freshman year at the University of Tennessee, Oprah became Miss Color of Nasville, as well as Miss Color of Tennessee. With her popularity and great speaking background, Oprah became the first woman of color to win a job on television at the age of 19.
After graduating from college in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in communications, Oprah moved on with her life by becoming a television reporter overseas. Her first place to work was in Baltimore. She was then recruited to a local television talk show, People Are Talking. It was also during this time that she became the host of the game show Dialing for Dollars.
After working at several local businesses in Baltimore, Oprah Winfrey became AM Chicago’s chief television reporter. With her prowess, Oprah transformed AM Chicago from a poorly rated station by television audiences into the most popular TV show in Chicago.
In 1985, thanks to the fame of this show, the operators decided to rename it the Oprah Winfrey Show. In the following year, the show aired nationally and became the No. 1 hit show in the United States. Now Oprah Winfrey has fully become the media queen she is today.
With her success, Oprah built her own book club, 1 magazine called “O” Magazine as well as owning her own TV talk show.
Despite being at the height of her success, Oprah always thought that she would share that success with the poor. She reached out to the Nelson Mandela and Christmas Kindness Foundation, which specializes in disadvantaged children. She said that helping those unfortunate children helped ease the pain of her childhood.
Oprah also donated to many other charities such as Moorehouse College, Harold Washington Library, United Negro College Foundation, Tennessee State University Foundation and many more. This also marked the beginning of Oprah’s later philanthropic activities.
Speaking about Oprah Winfrey, Seventeen editor-in-chief Atoosa Rubenstein said, “Oprah is the type of person who, once successful, shares it with the people who need it most. That’s why she’s a hero in my eyes and everybody, a great role model.”
