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Oprah Gail Winfrey was born on the 29th of January out of an unplanned pregnancy as a result of a single sexual encounter that her two teenage parents had. Her father, Vernon Winfrey, was a coal miner and later worked as a barber before becoming a city councilman whereas her mother,Vernita Lee worked as a housemaid.
During Oprah’s first six years of life she lived in rural poverty with her grandmother,Hattie Mae Lee because her mother wanted to travel.Winfrey's.Hattie Mae Lee, was so poor that Oprah often wore dresses made of potato sacks, for which the local children made fun of her.At the tender age of three she was taught to read by her grandmother and she was a remarkable child.Her grandmother used to hit her and scold her if she misbehaved in any way.
When Oprah reached the age of six she was sent to live with her mother,Vernita in an inner-city neighbourhood in Milwaukee,Wisconsin.Her mother was even less supportive and encouraging than her grandmother had been and this put a strain on their mother-daughter relationship. Oprah then revealed to her viewers on a 1986 episode of her TV show, that at the age of nine she was molested by her cousin,her uncle and a family friend when sexual abuse was being discussed.
Despite her dysfunctional home life, Winfrey skipped two of her earliest grades, became the teacher's pet, and by the time she was 13 received a scholarship to attend Nicolet High School in the Milwaukee suburb of Glendale, Wisconsin.After suffering years of abuse,Oprah at age 13 ran away from home. However,she became pregnant at age 14,but her child,a boy died shortly after birth. Vernita saw Oprah as a unnecessary source of stress and frustration and decided to send Oprah to live with her father ,Vernon in Nashville,Tennessee. Despite being very strict,Vernon was encouraging and made her education a priority. In East Nashville High School,Winfrey became an honors student, was voted Most Popular Girl, joined her high school speech team and placed second in the nation in dramatic interpretation. She won an oratory contest, which secured her a full scholarship to Tenessee State University, where she studied communication.She attracted the attention of the local black radio station, WVOL, which hired her to do the news part-time. She worked there during her senior year of high school, and again while in her first two years of college.
Oprah’s career choice in media was no surprise to her grandmother, who once said that ever since Winfrey could talk, she was on stage. Oprah played games interviewing her dolls and other toys as a child.Winfrey later acknowledged her grandmother's influence, saying it was Hattie Mae who had encouraged her to speak in public and "gave me a positive sense of myself."
*1991,Oprah testified in front of the US congress and initiated the National Child Protection Act.
*1995,Oprah, kick-started Oprah Online on AOL in partnership with ABC.
She also became the first woman and the only black on the Forbes list of 400 richest Americans.
*1996,Oprah received the prestigious George Foster Peabody’s Individual Achievement Award.
*1998,Oprah received a Lifetime Achievement Award and an award for top talk show host.
*2002,Oprah received the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for her services to television an film.
*2005,Oprah was named one of the 100 most influential people of the year by Time Magazine.She also ranked in the 9th place in a public poll of the greatest Americans.
*Oprah has invested $40 million and a lot of her time creating the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls near Johannesburg,South Africa which officially opened in January 2007.
*Oprah was also the first black person listed by Business Week as one of America’s top 50 most generous philanthropists.
The why of it is very simple.Oprah despite her own disadvantaged youth and unfortunate childhood,she overcame all her difficulties,pulled herself up and has turned out to be one of the most influential,respected in the world today.Not only has she found her better self but she is also helping other children and youth who have seen misfortune their whole lives to become more confident and to bring out their talents and share it with the world.We look to Oprah as a source of inspiration with a simple question in mind, " If she could do it,what is our excuse?".Besides that, Oprah tells us that even though the future may seem bleak and unpromising,we can do anything if we set our minds and heart to it.Lastly,Oprah also teaches us that there is no dream out there too big or too impossible for us to achieve which to us,personally is all a fifteen year old girl would possibly want to know.
"The big secret in life is that there is no big secret.Whatever your goal you can get there if you're willing to work" - Oprah Winfrey.
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