1. Oprah Winfrey
September.29,2012 created by :Alexxa Buckley
Oprah Winfrey is known for healing and making other people’s lives better ,but what about hers no one
listened to her story which it was told many of times and she is stll unknown to many others out there
oprah is an African American Woman… And I will tell you her story

2. Oprah Winfrey
THE STORY BEGINS
Many people know Oprah for who she is not
instead of who she really is ,Do you know her
like I do?
Born Orpah Gail Winfrey in Kosciusko,
Mississippi, United States. Orpah was born to
mother, former maid Vernita Lee, and father,
war veteran Vermon Winfrey. Oprah Gail
Winfrey was the richest African American of the
20th century, however Orpah Gail Winfrey
wasn't born into a rich, or even middle class
family. Orpah Gail Winfrey was born in an
economically troubled neighborhood and raised

3. by a single-teenaged mother in the city of
Milwaukee. Orpah, named after a biblical
character, had a name no one could pronounce,
so her family and friends starting calling her
Oprah. Shortly after Oprah's birth, Vernita Lee
left her daughter and traveled north. Oprah was
then raised by her grandmother,Hatti Mae Lee.
Oprah while being raised by her grandmother
lived in terrible conditions. Oprah's only friends
were farm animals,however even at that age
Oprah had a very imaginative mind. Oprah
would frequently give the animals dramatic
parts and included them in games. This was
perhaps where she had gotten the craze for
acting, and would soon be seen in legendary
masterpieces such as The Color Purple. Oprah
because of her grandmother's values, had
religion and God instilled in herself at a very
young age. Oprah because of her grandmother
knew how to read,and write before the age of
three. Oprah during church would recite
poems,and verses from the bible. Soon the
church, and the entire neighborhood knew she

4. had a gift and was nicknamed,"The Little
Speaker". This would soon prompt her to
become a woman with a strong perspective,
which millions across the world would want to
have insight on. This prepared her for The Oprah
Winfrey Show.
THE STORY CONTINUES…
Due to her ability to read and write before the
age of three, when enrolled in school she was
often promoted several grades ahead of her
age. Oprah at the age of six went to live with her
mother, Vernita Lee. Vernita worked as a maid,
so Oprah was often left alone at home with her
cousins. Oprah due to her busy mother was paid
little attention to at home, this is what
prompted Oprah to started misbehaving and
talking back to her mother. Vernita Lee then
decided it was best Oprah live with her father in
Nashville Tennessee. Oprah while living in
Tennessee, found out her mother was pregnant
and her mother requested for her to come back
to Milwaukee to live with her mother and half-

5. sister. When Oprah was nine she was raped by
her nineteen year old cousin who was baby
sitting her. This wouldn't be the only time she
was sexually abused she would then be sexually
abused by her cousin, a family friend,her
mother's boyfriend, and her uncle during her
stay in Milwaukee. Toward all these incidents,
she never told a soul because the predators
swore her to silence. At the age of thirteen
Oprah ran away from home, this was due to her
years of abuse and at the age of fourteen she
became pregnant with an ill son who died
shortly after birth. Oprah took the death of her
son as she was given a second chance in life.
Oprah's mother sent her to live once again with
her father in Nashville,Tennessee. Oprah's
father was very strict and made education the
number-one priority for Oprah.
CHAPTER 3 : “THE REAL ME”
Oprah attended Nashville East High School.
Oprah during high-school wasn't precisely
certain toward what she wanted to do, however

6. she knew it was something with speaking or
drama. Oprah was also elected school president
and met with president Richard Nixon being
apart of public speaking classes in her high-
school.
OPRAH’S JOB
Oprah during the last year of high-school was
rehearsing with her drama class when a local
radio station, WVOL spotted her and asked her
if she would like to read on radio. Oprah was
then given a job reading the news on the radio.
Oprah soon entered into a public speaking
contest where the grand prize was a scholarship
to Tennessee State University. Oprah won the
contest and received a scholarship to Tennessee
State University where she majored in Speech
Communications and Performing Arts.
Oprah during her college education was offered
a job as a co-anchor on the CBS television
station, she declined several times before she
was convinced by her speech professor that it

7. may be the ultimate step to launch her career.
Oprah wanted to find work outside of Nashville
Tennessee and was soon offered a job in
Baltimore,Maryland. The job offer came up a
few months before her graduation, she had to
choose between the job and graduating, so she
decided to choose the job in Maryland as the
offer was very tempting. At the job in Maryland
she wasn't a very good reporter and was shortly
fired. Oprah's boss set her up as a talk show
host on a morning talk show called, "People Are
Talking". Immediately after the first show Oprah
new this is what she wanted to do for the rest of
her life. Oprah strengthened the talk show for
seven years and then she decided it was time to
move on.
In 1981 Oprah sent recorded tapes of the show
to a talk-show in Chicago called A.M. Chicago.
They immediately offered her the job and in
September of 1985 she changed the name of
the show to, "The Oprah Winfrey Show". The
first broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show was

8. on September,8,1986 it broadcasted nationally.
The Oprah Winfrey show first targeted woman,
however soon due to controversial topics and
intriguing topics Oprah brought on to the show
it appealed to people of all genders,ethnics,and
ages. Oprah promoted many things on her show
such as books, movie releases all of which
people were eager to know what her opinions
were of them. Oprah helped broaden not just
woman's point of view and significance but
Oprah helped to realize that every human has
an importance in this world. From it's first
broadcast The Oprah Winfrey show went on to
receive multiple Day Time Emmy Awards and
several other prestigious awards.Winfrey
expanded the Oprah Winfrey show and started
releasing a monthly magazine which was called,
O:The Oprah Magazine. The first issue was in
2000. The series finale of the Oprah Winfrey
Show as on it's twenty-fifth season and it aired
on May,25,2011. Concluding a segment of her
career toward which she used as a device to

9. inspire millions and help thousands to lead a
better life.
Oprah's made her debut as a film actress in the
1985 period drama film, The Color Purple.
Oprah played a troubled housewife named,
Sofia. Oprah was nominated for an Academy
Award for Best Supporting Actress. This movie
went on to become a Broadway musical
adaptation. In 1998 Oprah starred in the movie,
Beloved which she also produced. Winfrey
played the character Sethe who was a former
slave. Winfrey has also acted in several movies
such as Charlotte's Web,Bee Movie,and The
Princess And The Frog.
Oprah Winfrey in 1998 received an Achievement
Award from the National Academy of Television
Arts and Sciences. In 2011 Oprah Winfrey
received a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
from the Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts And
Sciences.

10. Oprah Winfrey will forever be remembered as
an innovator through the landmarks she made,
becoming the first African American to host a
television show. Inspiring millions of people
across the world, discussing significant issues on
her show such as equal rights toward
genders,racism,poverty, and many others.
Oprah will be seen as an icon someone who
paved the way for others to become successful.
TRIVIA
She permanently withdrew herself and her show
from consideration for a Daytime Emmy Award
after being awarded the Lifetime Achievement
in 1998. She was quoted as saying, "After you've
achieved it for a lifetime, what else is there?"
In addition to being a news anchor on WJZ-TV13
in Baltimore, Maryland, Winfrey was co-host
with Richard Sher (a reporter) on a local talk
show called "People are Talking" on that station.

11. Graduated from East Nashville High School in
Nashville, Tennessee (1971), where she was
voted most popular.
Was sued by Texas cattlemen who claimed that
Oprah defamed beef on her talk show. The case
went to trial, causing Oprah to have to relocate
her show's production to Amarillo, Texas, for
the duration of the trial. She was found not
liable.
She was ranked first in Entertainment Weekly's
1998 list of the most powerful people in show
business, but dropped to sixth in the 1999 list.
Still, she was the highest ranking performer, as
well as the highest ranking woman, and the only
African-American to make the list.
Graduate of Tennessee State University, with a
degree in Speech and Performing Arts.
Is the first woman in history to own and produce
her own talk show.

12. The given name on her birth certificate is Orpah,
but the spelling was eventually changed to
Oprah after others had difficulty pronouncing
her name.
Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors
of 1985" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 37.
Announced that Oprah would receive
$130,000,000 for continuing her talk show
through the 1999-2000 TV season. [15
September 1997]
Chosen by "People" magazine as one of the 50
Most Beautiful People in the World in 1997.
Inducted into the National Women's Hall of
Fame in Seneca, New York. [1994]
She and Stedman Graham are teaching
"Dynamics of Leadership" class at Northwestern

13. University's Kellogg Graduate School of
Management. [Fall 1999]
Given an honorary National Book Award for her
"influential contribution to reading and books".
[October 1999]
Awarded (lst) 50th anniversary medal by
National Book Foundation, NYC. [November
1999]
Her immensely popular TV talk show is a Harpo
Production. Harpo is Oprah spelled backwards.
Harpo is also the name of a character in The
Color Purple (1985) (Oprah's film debut) played
by Willard E. Pugh.
Gave birth to a baby boy when she was just 14.
The baby died after 2 weeks, from complications
of being born 2 months premature.
Was instrumental in the passage of the Oprah
Bill, in the early 1990s. The bill was signed into

14. law by President Bill Clinton, and is aimed at
stopping child abuse.
Raised in abject poverty, she received her first
pair of shoes in 1959 at age 6. She learned to
read at age 2½. In fact, when it was time for her
to start kindergarten, she wrote a note to her
teacher insisting she should be in first grade.
The teacher agreed and after finishing that
grade she was then skipped to third grade.
Partner is Stedman Graham. [1986 - present]
Born at 7:51 PM EST
She and her former personal trainer, Bob
Greene, announced they are buying seven
shoreline lots from Getty Family Trust to build
several homes, including one on 102-acre lot for
Oprah. They plan to put conservation first and
keep site development low key. [April 2002]

15. Added to Forbes Billionare list, making her the
first African American woman to do so.
[February 2003]
Ranked #1 on VH1's list of the "200 Greatest
Pop Culture Icons" (2003)
Elected to the National Women's Hall of Fame in
Seneca Falls, NY
Ranked #1 Pop Culture Icon on VH1's "The
Greatest: 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons"
(2003), beating out Superman and Elvis.
Net worth is estimated to be US$1.1 billion.
[2004]
Purchased a house at 3330 Radcliffe Avenue,
West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This
superb 11,000 sq ft waterfront property was on
sale for Cdn $18 million, at the time British
Columbia's most expensive house, but she paid
Cdn $17 million (US$13 million). [June 2004]

16. Natural daughter of Vernon Winfrey by Vernita
Lee (born 2 May 1935).
According to Forbes magazine, her 2005 net
worth is $1.3 billion. She was the first African-
American women to make the list of billionaires,
in 2003.
Was a guest at friends Maria Shriver and Arnold
Schwarzenegger's star-studded wedding
First African-American woman to become a
billionaire in American history.
After years of publicly criticizing David
Letterman's late-night television show, "Late
Show with David Letterman" (1993), she and
Letterman finally settled their differences when
she agreed to appear on the December 1, 2005
episode, during which time she was to be in
New York to promote her musical of The Color
Purple (1985). During the Superbowl of 2007,

17. they appeared in an advertisement together for
Letterman's show. In the ad, they sat together
on a couch watching the Superbowl, wearing
opposing team jerseys. [2005]
Has a cameo playing herself in Throw Momma
from the Train (1987). In a "clip" from her show,
she interviews a writer (the ex-wife of Billy
Crystal's character) whose plagiarized and
embellished "life story" is at the top of the
bestseller lists (foreshadowing the James Frey
controversy twenty years later).
Was #3 on the annual Forbes magazine Celebrity
100 list in 2006
Collapsed from heat exhaustion during a recent
visit to her hometown of Kosciusko, Mississippi.
[October 2006]
Winfrey's name was originally "Orpah," after the
biblical figure in the book of Ruth. Several
different stories allude to the fact that either a

18. misspelling on her birth certificate or a struggle
with the pronunciation of her name eventually
led to "Oprah" being adopted as her given
name.
Has Native American ancestry.
Appearing on the annual "Time 100" list, Time's
ranking of the 100 most influential people in the
world, in 2007 again, she is the only person who
has been on that list five times (May 2007).
Her two-year-old golden retriever, Gracie, died
after accidentally choking to death on another
dog's ball [July 2007].
In 2006, she gave $58,300,000 to charity to the
Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, Oprah's
Angel Network, and other groups.
In 2006, she earned an estimated $260 million in
salary from her various interests including

19. syndication, cable television, and print
magazines.
Thanked by Shawn Colvin in the liner notes of
her album "A Few Small Repairs".
Had two half siblings from her mother. Her half
brother passed away from AIDS in December
1988 and her half sister, Patricia, died under
mysterious circumstances in 2003.
Ranked #1 in the 2008 Forbes The Celebrity 100
list.
She was awarded an honorary doctorate from
Duke University in Durham, North Carolina in
2009 and was the 2009 Commencement
Speaker.
Jeff Bridges, Michael Douglas, Ellen DeGeneres,
Kevin Costner, Steve Martin, Julia Louis-Dreyfus,
Carol Burnett, John Cleese, Rob Lowe and Ivan

20. Reitman are among her various Southern
California neighbors.
World's first black billionairess with an
estimated worth of $2.3 billion as of 2009.
Her personal chef until 2007 was Art Smith.
Recipient of the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors;
other recipients that year were Jerry Herman,
Paul McCartney, Merle Haggard, and Bill T.
Jones.
With ratings at an estimated 6.5 million viewers
per day, her show is the most popular talk show
in the world.
Aunt of Chrishaunda Lee, the daughter of her
deceased half-sister Patricia. Oprah walked
Chrishaundra down the aisle at her wedding in
2005.
Her idol is Diana Ross.

21. Attended Nicolet High School in Glendale,
Wisconsin for a short period of time in her
teenage years.
Is of African descent.
Over the 25-year run of her daytime TV talk
show, Winfrey never once missed a day through
absenteeism.
When Oprah's show went independent for the
first time, her staff consisted of 4 personnel
including herself. By 2011, her empire had
expanded to 464 personnel.
Oprah's broadcasting career began in the late
1960s as a teenage intern at WVOL, an African-
American radio station in Nashville, Tennessee.
Received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
- a special Oscar for her charity work - on
November 12, 2011 in Los Angeles.

22. Teenage crushes were Beatle Paul McCartney
and the Jackson 5's Jackie Jackson.
Ever since she was 15-years-old, Oprah has kept
a journal of every day of her life.
Since the inception of the "Book Club" segment
on her show, an estimated 30 million books
were sold as a direct result of the worldwide
publicity.
Personal Quotes
Luck is a matter of preparation meeting
opportunity.
My idea of heaven is a great big baked potato
and someone to share it with.

23. Lots of people want to ride with you in the Limo,
but what you want is someone who will take the
bus with you when the Limo breaks down.
All my life I have always known I was born to
greatness.
The essential question is not, "How busy are
you?' but 'What are you busy at?' 'Are you doing
what fulfills you?'
What matters is how you feel inside, because
feeling beautiful on the inside is key to looking
good. quoted in Woman's World 9-20-05
The expectation of my life was that I might be
able to work for some good white folks. Now I
got some good white folks working for me.
Some women have a weakness for shoes... I can
go barefoot if necessary. I have a weakness for
books.

24. My philosophy is that doing your best at this
moment puts you in the best place for the next
moment.
Just want to say how deeply saddened I am, we
all are, by the sudden passing of actress Natasha
Richardson yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers
are with her husband Liam Neeson, their two
sons, the rest of their family and friends. Yet
another reminder of how fleeting life can be and
how precious. We need to value every moment
(On Natasha Richardson's tragic death).
Part of her 2009 commencement speech at
Duke: Of all the wonderful things that have
happened including getting a doctorate, an
honorary doctorate from Duke, what really
makes me feel successful is being able to use my
life in service to someone else. And I will have to
say, it is a wonderful thing to have a beautiful
home or homes, a wonderful thing to have a
beautiful home which just escaped the fire in
Santa Barbara. And it is really fantastic to have

25. your own jet and anybody who says it isn't is
lying to you. The jet thing is really good. But you
haven't completed the circle of success unless
you can help somebody else move forward.
On personal power: I have a lot of things to
prove to myself. One is that I can live my life
fearlessly.
On strategy: Doing the best at this moment puts
you in the best place for the next moment.
Having the best things is no substitute for having
the best life.
Reaching your true potential is more than an
ideal. It's the ultimate goal.
When the odds are against you and you have
the depth of clarity to listen to your own
instincts and follow what is true for you, you
may not become a Jay-Z, but you will become
the best thing that you can be.

26. I'm a firm believer that anyone can have a
breakthrough right in her own backyard.