Oprah Winfrey, Television Personality, Actress, Entrepreneur, and Philanthropist

By
herstorywomen

June 19, 2019

Oprah Winfrey is an American media mogul, TV host, actress, and philanthropist.

Despite having a difficult childhood of poverty and sexual abuse, Winfrey rose to become one of the most visible, successful, and admired women of her time. She became a talk show expert, even going on to establish her own show, The Oprah Winfrey Show. She won several Emmy awards and was recognised as the best talk show host. In 1986, she established Harpo, Inc., her production company and in 2011, Harpo, Inc., in partnership with Discovery Communications launched the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), a television channel. Though the majority of ownership lies with Discovery Communications, Winfrey is the CEO of Oprah Winfrey Network.

Apart from her success in the media, Winfrey is also a philanthropist who has donated money to charities for varied causes like financing education in countries in Africa and providing financial assistance to the victims of natural disasters, Hurricane Katrina, for instance, among others.

As of 14 June 2019, Winfrey was estimated by Forbes to be worth $2.6 billion. She is 10th on the list of Forbes’ America’s Self-Made Women 2019, 916th on Forbes’ 2019 Billionaires list, and the world’s 20th most powerful woman for 2018 according to the same authoritative American magazine, Forbes. It must not be forgotten that this woman of multiple talents is also an accomplished actress. Her stirring role as Sofia in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple remains memorable.

Oprah Winfrey is our Woman of the Week because she represents success in the midst of adversity, a beacon of hope for the girl child and the generality of the poor in the world. She is also an epitome of hard work, determination, and dedication.