
Oprah Winfrey
media owner | philanthropist
Oprah Winfrey...unquestionably influential. The Oprah Book Club seal could boost a book's sales more than a million copies. Being named among her favorites ~ from tea to notepaper ~ translates into healthy business growth for big brands like Starbucks + small artisans like Felix Doolittle.
A self-made billionaire, Oprah has become one of the world's most powerful people from a career based on "being herself."
Her status as international celebrity + tastemaker is a far cry from her troubled childhood and adolescence. The secret to the beloved talk-show host's success is deeply connected to her honesty about past struggles ~ from poverty to abuse to discrimination. And, her strength to move beyond them while helping others do the same.
Oprah's media empire began with the highest-rated talk show of all time. Now it includes books, magazines + her own television network...all connected by the same the empowering themes ~ spirituality and self-improvement. A champion of service, Oprah is also famous for giving back with a record of global philanthropy that spans everything from disaster relief to education for underprivileged girls to playing a key role in preserving African-American history. Today, Oprah continues to build on her legacy of creating opportunities for everyone to "live your best life."
the "Oprah Effect" | the surge given to products or media she mentions
"Oprahfication" | she defined daytime tv and talk shows, and is credited with leading the current confessional culture
philanthropy | she's given away cars to her entire studio audience, started a girls' school in South Africa, funded hundreds of young black men's college educations
"live your best life" | positive thinking and other New Age philosophies net Oprah millions of followers {and some critics, too}
1985 | Academy-Award nominated performance in The Color Purple is the beginning of her involvement in bringing black literature and stories to the screen and stage
1986 | her two-year-old Chicago morning show is syndicated nationally, leading to 25 years of its being the top-rated program for its time slot
2011 | final episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show airs, followed by the launch of her television network OWN {Oprah Winfrey Network}
from | to
vacuum salesperson and radio newsreader | billionaire media mogul + "the world's most influential tv personality"
born on
January 29, 1954
born in
Kosciusko, Mississippi
birth name
Oprah
~ intended to be Orpah after the biblical character; "Oprah" is a misspelling ~
grew up in
Mississippi
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Nashville, Tennessee
citizen of
United States of America
daughter of
Vernita Lee + Vernon Winfrey
~ an illegitimate child, she was raised until age 6 by her grandmother ~
mother of
one son, born when she was 14, who died shortly after his birth
educated at
Tennessee State University
significant books in her life
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn {Betty Smith}
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings {Maya Angelou}
The Color Purple {Alice Walker}
partner of
Stedman Graham {since 1986}
sister of
Patricia Lloyd {died 2003} and Jeffrey {died 1989}
Patricia Lofton {half-sister, discovered in 2010}
dogs named
Sunny and Lauren
Luke and Layla
Sadie
Sophie {1995-2008}
advocate for
education, particularly of women and black men
women's rights
LGBT rights
self-improvement
philanthropy
influenced by
Mrs. Duncan, fourth-grade teacher
Maya Angelou
Barbara Walters
the only people who've said 'no' to interviews on her show
Harper Lee
Jackie O
tweets @
@Oprah
image credits
collapse bio bits"It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always."
Academy of Achievement | february 1991
"I didn't want to say 'no' because I didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. I didn't want to say 'no' because I didn't want anybody angry with me. I didn't want to say 'no' because I didn't want people to think I'm not nice . . . Not only do you have the right to do whatever you want, you have the right to change your mind."
Academy of Achievement | february 1991
"On my own I will just create, and if it works, it works, and if it doesn't, I'll create something else."
How Oprah Went From Talk Show Host To First African-American Woman Billionaire | october 1995
"You get a car! You get a car! You get a car! You get a car!"
The Oprah Winfrey Show | september 2004
"I love the written word. Over the years, the written word has inspired, challenged, and sustained me."
Words That Matter | april 2010
"Here's what my love affair with quotations has taught me: the more you focus on words that uplift you, the more you embody the ideas contained in those words."
Words That Matter | april 2010
"When you do what you know is right, you will always be okay."
Oprah's Words for the First Graduating Class | october 2012
"The single most important lesson I learned in 25 years talking every single day to people, was that there is a common denominator in our human experience...We want to be validated. We want to be understood."
Harvard commencement address | may 2013
"The key to life is to develop an internal moral, emotional GPS."
Harvard commencement address | may 2013
"Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction."
Harvard University commencement address | may 2013
"Discover who you are, and use who you are in service to the world."
Presidential Medal of Freedom award | november 2013
"My God, Gloria Steinem. Had there not been Gloria Steinem and her fight for women's rights, I wouldn't even have had the opportunity in the work that I have done."
Presidential Medal of Freedom award | november 2013
"I have built a career and a life out of being myself."
Presidential Medal of Freedom award | november 2013
"You are here not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more of who you really are."
Oprah Chai Tea for Starbucks | 2014
"Align your personality with your purpose, and no one can touch you."
Stanford Graduate School of Business | april 2014
"Tea is literally organic for me. I love the ritual of making it in the morning. While it's steeping, I read from a box of beautiful quotes I have. It's like saying grace for me."
Walter Scott asks… | may 2014
"Do what you have to do, until you can do what you really want to do."
Super Soul Sunday | june 2014
"We are all artists of our own lives...We can use as many colors and brushstrokes as we like."
What I Know for Sure | september 2014
"The problems that make you throw up your hands and holler 'Mercy!' will build your tenacity, courage, discipline, and determination."
What I Know For Sure | september 2014
"I sat up in bed one crisp, sunny morning and made a vow to love my heart. To treat it with respect. To feed and nurture it. To work it out and then let it rest."
What I Know For Sure | september 2014
"I live in the space of thankfulness—and for that, I have been rewarded a million times over."
What I Know For Sure | september 2014
"Right now, no matter where you are, you are a single choice away from a new beginning."
What I Know for Sure | september 2014
"If you get paid for doing what you love, every paycheck is a bonus."
What I Know For Sure | september 2014
"Making a bold move is the only way to advance toward the grandest vision the universe has for you."
What I Know For Sure | september 2014
"Leadership means knowing where you want to go and being a force for helping someone else grow into what is the best of themselves."
Meet the Academy's First Student President | october 2014
"My role is to break down big ideas about who we are in a way that people can see it and taste it and feel it and know it for themselves."
LinkedIn Pulse | october 2015
for further reading about Oprah Winfrey:
curated with care by Meghan Miller Brawley {july 2014} + Alicia Williamson
Oprah's childhood
Born in rural Mississippi, Oprah was raised by her grandmother until age 6. As Oprah recalls in her interview with MAKERS, her grandma couldn't imagine a life beyond domestic service for her granddaughter. But, even as a toddler, Oprah knew she wanted more. In another interview at Stanford, she offered an anecdote that illustrated her early drive ~ the story of how she got herself out of kindergarten by writing a letter to her teacher that insisted she was above playing with blocks. In it, she listed all the "big words" she knew ~ elephant, hippopotamus ~ as evidence that she deserved to be moved up a grade. The principal agreed with her.
Oprah via MAKERS
© all rights reserved
Oprah's first celebrity interview
When she was a young reporter in 1969, Oprah convinced her boss to let her cover a speech by Reverend Jesse Jackson at a local Nashville high school. His message made an impact on the aspiring journalist. "Excellence," he said, "is the best deterrent to racism. Therefore, be excellent." When Oprah got home, she wrote that maxim on a poster + hung it on her mirror for inspiration. After decades of striving for excellence ~ not only in her career but also in living and in giving ~ she continues to honor + pass along Jesse's influential advice today. Including, in columns written for O and in her 2016 commencement address at Johnson C. Smith University.
Oprah Winfrey | O {via Huffington Post}
© all rights reserved
Oprah's first show
This charismatic + caring tv host first hit small screens nationwide in 1986 ~ after just two years of winning over audiences in Chicago. She quickly became the queen of daytime tv, more than doubling the ratings of reigning rival Phil Donahue. What was behind her meteoric rise? A different sort of daytime personality that was warm + funny, genuine + empathetic. After 25 years of programming ~ including some of the most watched + memorable celebrity interviews ever aired, from Michael Jackson to Maya Angelou ~ Oprah hosted her farewell season in 2010.
Rob Natkin | O {via People}
© all rights reserved
interview | Academy of Achievement
Watch Oprah's interview with the Academy of Achievement. She was inducted in 1989 ~ just 3 years after her show was syndicated ~ as "America's Beloved Best Friend."
Academy of Achievement | CC BY-ND-NC 3.0
The Forbes 400
Oprah hit the Forbes 400 back in 1995. The first black, female billionaire, she's still one of the world's richest people—and is well known for how she shares her success.
Forbes | http://www.forbes.com/ebooks/the-forbes-400-book/
© all rights reserved
OWN
In 2011, this media mogul made her boldest move yet ~ launching her very own cable tv network. OWN programming extends Oprah's overall mission to help people live their best lives.
OWN | Time Warner
© all rights reserved
Oprah receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom
President Barack Obama bestows Winfrey with the 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor awarded in the United States.
Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Public domain