 Oprah
Winfrey is considered one of the most powerful women of our time since Madam C.J.Walker.
She has replaced the so called glass ceiling with concrete opportunity.  She was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi. She enrolled at Tennessee
State University to study speech and performing arts. At the age of 19, she landed her
first broadcasting job as a reporter for radio station WVOL in Nashville, TN. In 1971 she
was named Miss Black Nashville AND Miss Black Tennessee. She switched majors her sophomore
year to media and becomes the first African-American anchor at WTVF-TV in Nashville.In 1977 she moved to Baltimore to co-anchor the six o'clock news.
She was also recruited to co-host Baltimore's WJZ-TV's local talk show, People are
Talking.
In 1984 she relocated to Chicago to host WLS-TV's morning
talk show, AM Chicago. Within one month she becomes the number one talk show. In less than
a year, the show expands and is renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show.
In 1985 she debut's in Steven Spielberg's, The Color Purple
as Sofia. The movie is based on the novel by Alice Walker. Oprah receives nominations for
a Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In 1986, The Oprah Winfrey Show enters syndication
and remains the number one talk show for fourteen consecutive seasons. The Oprah Winfrey
Show would receive 32 Emmys — seven that are for the Oprah Winfrey She also Plays the
role of "Mrs. Thomas" in Native Son.
In 1987, she hosts the 14th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards and
makes a cameo appearance in the movie Throw Momma from the Train.
In 1988, Oprah Winfrey's, Harpo Productions, Inc.
renovates a gigantic production facility and builds itself a home.
In 1989, she produces and stars as "Mattie
Michael" in the miniseries,The Women of Brewster Place, which recounts the
lives of the female denizens of an inner-city brownstone.
In 1990, she hosts the 17th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards and
makes a cameo appearance on TV's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. That same year she
executive produces and performs in the TV Series Brewster Place
In 1991, Oprah initiates the National Child Protection Act,
testifying in front of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to establish a national
database of convicted child abusers.
In 1992, she hosts The Essence Awards. This same year, she
produces and hosts a TV Special, Oprah: Behind the Scenes.
In 1993, As a direct result of her efforts, President
Clinton signs the national "Oprah Bill" into law, establishing a national
database of convicted child abusers. Since then, Oprah has joined the President the the
Presidents' Summit, a call to action for volunteerism in our communities. She hosts One
Child, One Dream: The Horatio Alger Awards. Produces and stars as "LaJoe
Rivers" in the TV movie There Are No Children Here.
A turning point came in 1994 when she pledges to
refocus the show on uplifting, meaningful subjects, departing from degrading talk show
topics.
After all these accomplishments, Oprah decided to do
something for herself. For her 40th birthday in 1995, Oprah runs the Marine Corps Marathon
in Washington D.C.; finishes at 4:29:20.
 In 1996 saw the
beginning of Oprah's Book Club, an on-air reading club, intended to get the country
excited about literature again. All Oprah Book Club selections to date have become instant
bestsellers. This was the same year that she received the George Foster Peabody
Individual Achievement Award and the International Radio and Television Society's Gold
Medal Award. This was also the year that she signed a contract with ABC to provide
prime-time programming beginning with the 1996-97 season.
In 1997 things were looking up for Oprah. She was named Newsweek's
most important person in books and media and TV Guide's Television Performer of the Year.
This same year she also launched Oprah's Angel Network, a campaign to encourage people to
open their hearts and help those in need. Projects include "The World's Largest Piggy
Bank," a collection of small change to help send fifty students to college and
building homes in every market The Oprah Winfrey Show airs with Habitat for
Humanity. Even with all these commitments, she finds the time to play "Ellen's
Shrink" on the TV series Ellen. She also produced and performed as "Miss
Zora" in the TV movie Before Women Had Wings with Ellen Barkin.
 In 1998, she saw even more
recognition by being named one of the 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century by Time
Magazine. She also received the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences'
Lifetime Achievement Award. Her beauty was put on display when she graced the cover
of Vogue. 1998 also was the year that Beloved premiered. In Beloved,
Oprah plays "Sethe", a woman who escapes from slavery but is haunted by its
heritage. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Toni Morrison, the film is directed
by Academy Award®-winner Jonathan Demme.
In 1998, She announces she will join producers Marcy Carsey
and Tom Warner (Cosby, Roseanne) and Nickelodeon founder Geraldine Laybourne to
launch Oxygen Media, Inc. — a cable channel and interactive network for women.
In 1999, she becomes "Professor Winfrey" teaching
along with Stedman Graham at Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of
Management. She is also presented with the National Book Foundation's 50th anniversary
gold medal for all that Oprah's Book Club has done for books and authors.
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