Oprah Gail Winfrey

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Oprah Gail Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Oprah has had many milestones in her career, her biggest being her multi award winning talk show "The Oprah Winfrey Show" from 1986-2011. Oprah has done countless work for charities, creating her own Angel Network, Oprah Winfrey Foundation, Oprah Winfrey Operating Foundation and The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. In December of 2002 the Oprah Winfrey Foundation expanded to help foreign countries with their "Christmas Kindness South Africa 2002" by helping children in South Africa with food, water, clothing, and school supplies. The Oprah Foundation has also helped establish libraries and teacher education in the South African Schools. Oprah has also created the Angel Network which started in 1998, encouraging viewers to make a difference in the world. "Oprah's Angel Project has raised more than 80 million dollars with 100 percent of the donations funding projects and grants all across the globe." (Oprah Winfrey's Official Biography)

Oprah was born to a teenage mother who was a housemaid, and her father leaving shortly after birth, living in poverty with her grandmother for the first 6 years of her life. Oprah had to wear potato sacks to school because her grandmother couldn't afford anything else. Oprah's uncompleted chore or misbehavior would result in being hit by a stick from her grandmother. At the age of 6 she moved back to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to reunite with her mother. Oprah's mother gave birth to another daughter, a younger half-sister who died later from a drug addiction, which she only recently discovered in 2010, as well Oprah had a half-brother that died from AIDS in 1989. Oprah's unsupportive family molested her at age 9, and "at 13 after suffering years of abuse Oprah ran away from home... she later said she felt betrayed by the family member who sold her story to the National Enquirer. Oprah's career choice in media would have not surprised her grandmother, who once said that ever since Oprah could talk, she was on stage. As a child, she played games interviewing her corncob doll and the crows on the fence of her family's property." But schooling was no easy job for Oprah with no stable elementary, and her parents' divorce, She graduated at East Nashville high school in Nashville, Tennessee. Oprah's favorite subject was English because of her love to read. (Early Life Oprah Winfrey Wikipedia)

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Oprah attended Tennessee State University, after winning a oratory contest gaining her a full scholarship she got a degree in Speech Communications and Performing Arts. Oprah had also got herself a job at WVOL, a local radio station that had her doing part time work. In 1983 Oprah got transferred to AM Chicago, after some months Oprah transformed the worst rated television show in Chicago to a number one hit, later being renamed to "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Oprah said that her grandmother encouraged her to speak out to the world and "gave me positive sense about myself."

"Oprah's vision is to inspire individuals to create opportunities that enable underserved women and children to rise to their potential." Oprah set out a goal to build a school in South Africa creating "The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. Now she has over 28 building campus in South Africa. For girls with high potential despite their poverty; the campus supports grades from 7-12. Students can come from the 9 South African Provinces. Oprah has used her money and status to help people that can't help themselves, like also building 200 homes for Habitat for Humanity and giving 150 scholarships through The Boys and Girls Club of America (Oprah's Angel Fact Sheet). Oprah has also done her share of publishing with her O Magazine; the first addition of her magazine was published on April 19, 2000 and by 2004 the average sales of this popular magazine was over 2.7 million copies. Then in 2009 when the magazine sales where on the decline the O Magazine shot up in sales by 5.8 percent. Oprah has received lots of awards too, The Oprah Winfrey Show has received 47 Emmy Awards and Oprah has been name in the top 100 for Most Influential People in the World twice.

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Oprah made a difference by building schools, putting children in third world countries through school, giving food and water, as well as clothes. Oprah has left her impression on the world by doing something that she believes in and loves. Without Oprah there would be more children without an education that couldn't live up to their potential, less people that could say they have a place to call home and no National Child Protection Act. Oprah wasn't there to help all those people because she had the money and to win over the world, she was there because she wanted to make a difference. She has influenced my life to know how lucky we are to have schools, and to know children in South Africa are just lucky to go to school; it makes you think how good we have it here.