Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey's public speaking career began with reciting verses in church at the age of three. Today, at the age of 51, she is America's most popular talk show host, owns a popular magazine and cable TV channel, received an Academy Award nomination, and is ranked by Forbes magazine as the ninth most powerful woman in the world. Her path in life, that led from a broken home and abused childhood to becoming the first African-American woman billionaire, is a story of unrelenting determination mixed with a true caring for people.

Born in Kosciusko, Mississippi on January 29, 1954 to unwed parents, Oprah Winfrey was raised by her grandmother on a farm until the age six. Oprah watched her grandmother boil clothes in a big pot on the stove, because they did not have a washing machine. Her grandmother also made everything they had, because they had no money to buy things. Oprah was taught to read by her grandmother at a time when most children are learning to speak. She became an avid reader, a habit she is still passionate about today. Books became her outlet to the world and the basis of her passionate belief in education. Her interest and influence are exhibited in her monthly book club that she has on her TV show. Every month Oprah researches and promotes a new "unknown" book on the air, and it becomes on a Best Seller.

At the age of six, Oprah moved to Milwaukee to live with her mother. However, at the age of thirteen, she ran away from her home do to sexual abuse by male relatives. She was supposed to go to a juvenile detention home. However, at the last minute, Oprah was sent to Nashville to live with her disciplinarian father, Vernon Winfrey, because all of the beds in the detention home were full. Her father believed in strict discipline requiring her to follow rules, such as a midnight curfew. He required that she read a book and write a report about it each week. Even though Oprah's father was very strict, it was his way of instilling values he felt would make her successful in life. He would not accept anything less than Oprah doing her best. A lesson that Oprah learned and adopted as her own. This was best expressed by Oprah in the December 2003 edition of O Magazine, "I believe the choice to be excellent begins with aligning your thoughts and words with the intention to require more from yourself". In addition, during her TV shows she continually encourages viewers to improve their lives and be all they can be.

Oprah Winfrey's broadcasting career began at the age of seventeen, when she was hired at a radio station in Nashville. Oprah went on to attended Tennessee State University, where she majored in Speech Communication and Performing Arts. After college, she moved around and hosted and co-hosted a series of TV shows. Eventually, Oprah moved to Chicago to host a talk show. In less than a year, the name of the show was changed to "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

In 1987, during its first year of eligibility, the "Oprah Winfrey Show" received three Daytime Emmy Awards in the categories of Outstanding Host, Outstanding Talk/Service Program, and Outstanding Direction. In 1988, the show received its second consecutive Daytime Emmy Award as Outstanding Talk/Service Program, and she herself received the International Radio and Television Society's (IRTS) "Broadcaster of the Year" Award. She is the youngest person and only the fifth woman ever to receive the honor in IRTS's 25-year history. Since its debut on September 8, 1986, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" has expanded throughout the United States to become the number one talk show in the nation, and is now shown in 112 countries around the world.

Oprah vowed to use her public success in positive ways. In 1991, with her great talents of inspiration and motivation, and her haunted childhood memories of molestation, she started a campaign to establish a national database of convicted child abusers, and she testified before a U.S. Senate Committee on behalf of the National Child Protection Act. In 1993, when President Clinton signed the bill, it became known as the "Oprah Bill." Oprah Winfrey was on her way to becoming one of the most influential women in history.

Today, more than ten years later, Oprah is still the most influential person in America. During her daily talk show, when Oprah talks her viewers, an estimated 14 million people daily in the US and millions more in 112 other countries, LISTEN! Any book she chooses for her on-air book club, becomes an instant best seller. In a fund raising effort devised by Oprah, she established the "world's largest piggy bank," people all over the country contributed spare change to raise more than $1 million. This was matched by Oprah, to send disadvantaged kids to college. Another example of the influence she carries is that those in certain power circles fear her. When she made an off-hand statement that the threat of mad-cow disease made her stop eating hamburgers, it was perceived by the beef industry as slanderous and was enough to trigger a multimillion- dollar lawsuit (which she later won).

How did a little girl from Kosciusko, Mississippi grow up to be the ninth most powerful women in the world? Her formative years were full of negative experiences; poverty, a broken home, molestation. Life events that more frequently caused people to take the wrong road or fail in life. Yet, in Oprah's case, they became stepping stones to something positive. Using the values learned from her father and grandmother, and the communication skills sharpened through her years in broadcasting, Oprah turned the unpleasant experiences in