Oprah Winfrey Obstacles

Oprah Winfrey, the first African-American television correspondent in Nashville, Tennessee, was born into poverty and struggle and lived a childhood of abuse and neglect. Everyday, Winfrey had obstacles to conquer, similar to how everyday “from the time the Joshua tree was a tiny sapling, it had been so beaten down by the whipping wind that, rather than trying to grow skyward, it had grown in the direction that the wind pushed it” (21) because of it’s rooting. Winfrey's capacity to remain humble all through each and every crack and crevice of her life show how much of a hard-worker and how determined she is to grow and prosper, which earned her the title of being one of the richest women in the world with a net worth of three billion dollars. This compares to the Joshua tree’s toils of how it stayed alive and prospered for many years which, in the end, symbolizes perseverance and diligence to accomplish peace and balance in one’s

While living with her dad she learned discipline and learned how to use her great intelligence, from potential to kinetic use. At school she was know for her intelligent speaking and she received a scholarship at Tennessee University. She majored in broadcast communication and she scored a job as a reporter at a Nashville TV station. “Oprah left school at the age of 19 years old to become the first Afro-American woman broadcaster in Nashville (Best Inpirational Stories, 2009)”. She made various amount of mistakes at her new job, she felt exhausted all the time. The Nashville station management team didn’t like her attitude towards the camera; too, on top of that, they didn’t like her “appearance”. “They complained about her hair style, her big nose and the distance between her eyes. Tempted to glamourize her appearance, they sent her to a good salon in New York which did a disastrous remodeling that made her hair fall off (Best Inpirational Stories, 2009).

Oprah Winfrey is an African American woman who made it big through her daytime talk show. While being famously known for her large-scale giveaways and interviews with celebrities, Oprah is also a philanthropist and plays a role in American history. Oprah Winfrey is important to American history because she established the ‘Oprah Effect’ (1), has started many charitable organizations (4), broke down barriers supporting gay rights as a Christian (8), and having her own hit TV talk show (2). In doing this, she has helped people learn to accept others who are different (2).

Oprah Winfrey is known as the most successful talk show host in television and her life experience prove that she can accomplished her goals to become a talented and independent woman. Oprah became a college student at Tennessee State University and began working part-time at a local radio station in Nashville as she continued to go to school and still working part-time at the radio station, she received an offer from a local TV station WTVF in Tennessee as an evening reporter/news anchor. She became the youngest and first African-American news anchor in Tennessee. Oprah left Tennessee and move to Baltimore in 1976, where she was a co-anchor at WJZ-TV. In Pat Colander’s article in New York Times, Oprah was being recruited to by Chicago TV

Oprah Winfrey has had an outstanding career and has emerged as the most significant female African American of her generation and those following her. From her early childhood Oprah has faced many obstacles and family distortions such as

Oprah Winfrey achieved great success in her various endeavors, growing from a news reporter in Nashville to the world-famous talk show host she is today. During the 1980s, talk shows were a crucial part of daytime television. Shows were organized based upon their content and varied greatly in subject. The popularity of talk shows led many people to enter this field, leading to a constant struggle for airtime. Oprah’s rise to fame began when she moved from her hometown in Nashville, to college in Baltimore and ultimately to Chicago, where she lives today. She appeared on an early morning television program called A.M. Chicago, which was later retitled The Oprah Winfrey Show which aired its

In Lofton’s book, she addresses that there is more to Oprah than meets the eye. Her thesis statement, “What is Oprah? Oprah is an instance of American astonishment at what can be” (Lofton 1), shows the reader that the author clearly sees Oprah as a significant figure in America and will proceed to show us how so throughout the book. Through several examples, Lofton conveys her point by pointing out the influence Oprah has had on others to help them live life to their full potentials religiously, economically, physically, emotionally and socially.

Oprah Winfrey’s past helped shape her into the influential person she is presently. According to achievement.org, the official website of a museum of living history in Washington D.C., Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi to mother, Vernita Lee and father Vernon Winfrey. Vernita was just a teenager when Oprah Winfrey was born. Winfrey was sexually abused by several of her mother’s friends and relatives while her mother was away working. The abuse lasted from ages nine to thirteen. When Winfrey tried to run away, she was sent to a juvenile detention home, but was denied admittance because all

Even if the audience was not fully aware of Oprah’s credentials, her name itself can stand alone. Being a media mogul herself, the audience trusts Oprah to know information relating to the Hollywood sex scandals and assaults. With the intent of inspiring change, Oprah is able to use her intellect and public speaking skill to deliver her speech eloquently. Here we can see Oprah’s pathos: her ability to generate emotions from the audience with her speech. Knowing Oprah’s history, the audience believes that her words and argument for change are sincere. While Oprah does place a large amount of blame on “white men,” she does not create a divide for the men in the audience. She calls for them to listen and recognizes that they too are needed in order to make the changes

Oprah seem to preserve through it all with a strong foundation laid by her grandmother, the encouraging and support of her dad and even with current supporter and her best friend Gayle King. Oprah once admitted during a interview with Jet Magazine to channeling the energy and spirits of her role models such as: Sojourner Truth, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and James Weldon Johnson, this helped her overcome her adversity of formative years and continue to use it as a guide in her success and fortunes as the wealthiest women in the world today.

The chosen social leader is Oprah Winfrey. Today, Oprah Winfrey is a well-known name around the United States. Oprah Winfrey is ranked among the billionaires today; Oprah was appraised the richest African American in the 20th Century ( ). Oprah Winfrey was not born the billionaire she is today, she had to overcome several challenges starting with her childhood issues, and then the many issues she had to rise to the success she has today. This paper will discuss Oprah Winfrey to

She may be in the spotlight right now, but that was never the case with her. Oprah’s mother was a teenage mother who had her in the 1950s. She had a very troubled childhood. She was sexually assaulted by her mother’s male family members and friends. Eventually she moved to live with her dad who was a barber and a businessman. She was always told she wouldn’t ever be able to go to college not only because she was a girl but because she was black, even though girls were able to do whatever they wanted in the 70s and segregation ended in the 60s. In 1971 she attended Tennessee State and started on her school’s radio and eventually stared in her own TV program. She is another person who beat the odds. She was an African American woman in the 1960-1970s. She was continuously told she would never go to college, but against all odds, she made

Oprah Winfrey had wanted to start her television career early on in life at a local news station in her town. After being turned down and told she was unfit for the televised world, she pursued her dream on her own. Through dedication, Oprah whole-heartedly stepped out of her comfort zone to later become one of the most watched talk show hosts in history. She now has her own channel OWN, also known as the Oprah Winfrey Network, and has met nearly every celebrity in all industries. People tend to think that once they have failed, there is no way to achieve their bigger dreams again, but like Oprah,

In today’s day and age one of the most influential women and people is Oprah Winfrey. Oprah has had a big impact on today’s society and played a huge role in advancing it. Oprah Winfrey is a talk show host, producer, actress and philanthropist who are widely respected around the world. By becoming one of the biggest names in talk show history Oprah has paved the way for others and became one of the more popular women in talk show history. Her willingness to help others and to be sure others are guided in positive light shows how much passion she has to see the greater good in others. Oprah’s biggest role comes from helping to pursue the advancement of young women and girls. Oprah has taken the time to see to it that young women are out of poverty and opening up a brand new school for underprivileged females to see to it that they have the same opportunity that children in America and other parts of the world have. Being that African- Americans, let alone women were not seen as marketable, Oprah helped to change this dynamic early in her career by using her platform in communication to open doors for other people. Winfrey’s work over a number of years is the single most evident reason why she has been able to be successful in the field of mass communication. Oprah is one of the most influential women of our time because of how well she is able to contribute to the human rights of women and advancing them in today’s society.

“She (Oprah) may be uncomfortable talking about it (money), but when it comes to making it, she sure knows what she's doing.”