The Rags-to-Riches Story of Oprah Winfrey

Push it says hello to all the future Millionaires.

Today we will talk about that lady who is a MEDIA GIANT best known for hosting her own internationally popular talk show from 1986 to 2011. She is also an actress, philanthropist, publisher and producer.

Introduction

Media Giant Oprah Winfrey was born in the rural town of Kosciusko, Mississippi, on 29th January, 1954. In 1976, Winfrey moved to Baltimore, where she hosted a hit television chat show, People Are Talking. Afterward, she was recruited by a Chicago TV station to host her own morning show. She later became the host of her own morning show. she later became the her own extremely popular show, THE WINFREY SHOW, which aired for 25 seasons, from 1986 to 2011.

That same year, Winfrey launched her own TV network, the Oprah Winfrey Network.

How she Started

American Television Host, actress, producer, philanthropist and entrepreneur Oprah Gail Winfrey was born on 29th January 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi. After a troubled adolescence in a small farming community, where she was sexually abused by a number of male relatives and friends of her mother, Vernon, a barber and a businessman. She entered Tennessee State University in 1971 and began working in radio and television broadcasting in Nashville.

In 1976, Oprah moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where she hosted the TV chat show People are Talking . The show became a hit and Winfrey stayed with it for 8 years, after which she was recruited by a Chicago TV station to host her own morning show, AM Chicago . Her major competitors in the same slot was Phil Donahue. Within several months, Winfrey's open, warm-hearted style  had won her 100,000 more viewers than Phil and had taken her show to the first place in the ratings. Her success led to nationwide fame and a role in Steven Spielberg's 1985 film The colour purple for which she was nominated for an Academic Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Oprah launched the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986 as a nationally syndicated program. With its placement on 120 channels and an audience of 10 million people, the show grossed $125 million by the end of its first year, of which Winfrey received $30 million. She soon gained ownership of the program from ABC, drawing it under the control of her new production company, Harpo Productions  and making money from syndication.

Success and Fame

In 2009, Oprah announced that she would be ending her program when her contract with ABC ended, in 2011. Soon after, she moved to her own network, the Oprah Winfrey Network, a joint venture with Discovery Communications.

Despite a financially rock start, the network made headlines in January 2013, when it aired an interview between Winfrey and Lance Armstrong, the American cyclist and seven-time Tour de France winner who was stripped of his seven tour titles in 2012 due to doping charges. During an interview, Armstrong admitted to using performance enhancing substances through his cycling career, including the hormones cortisone, testosterone and erythropoietin.

The interview reportedly brought in millions of dollars in revenue of Oprah Winfrey Network.

Forbes list of the 400 richest people of America

As a child, Oprah wore potato sacks because clothing did not fit into the budget of her poor family.

Today, Forbes estimates Winfrey's net worth at $3 billion, and she is the only black woman on the publication's list of the 400 richest people of America.

Oprah Winfrey also has given Millions of dollars to charity, mostly directed towards three foundations: THE ANGEL NETWORK, The Oprah Winfrey Foundation, and The Oprah Winfrey Operating Foundation. 

She come a long way from girl who wore potato-sack overalls, now donning Prada and Jimmy Choo.