Photo by ... on pixabay
Photo by ... on white house archives

Oprah Winfrey

CEO and Founder

Oprah Winfrey Network

POSITION

CEO and Founder

COMPANY

Oprah Winfrey Network

COUNTRY

USA

AGE

70 years

Website

Oprah's Angel Network

Est. Net Worth

$2.7 Billion Forbes

SCENE

Lifestyle & Culture

SOCIAL

Instagram

Twitter

What makes Oprah Winfrey a Global Shaker?

American talk show host, actress, one of the richest women in the world and one of its biggest supporters of philanthropic causes. ‘The queen of all media’, loved worldwide and one of the most influential women on the planet, Oprah Winfrey needs little introduction.

Born in Mississippi to a teenage single mother, raised in poverty, molested as a child, and the loss of her infant son at the age of 14 — Oprah is no stranger to hardship. Her rise to stardom began at the age of 19 when she landed a job as Co-Anchor of a local news radio station where her bold, emotional delivery quickly built her reputation.

Oprah’s long-running talk show, “The Oprah Winfrey Show” but more often simply referred to as “Oprah,” aired it’s first September 8, 1986, and it’s last on May 25, 2011. The show was a warm and fuzzy mix of inspirational stories of ordinary folk to interviews with celebrities and self-help advisers. Her influence is so great that Winfrey’s book club selections and favourite things list had the power to make a product wildly popular.

In 1998 she founded Oprah’s Angel Network, a charity that supports good initiatives around the world with grants from its $80 million fund. After Hurricane Katrina, the network raised over $10 million to fund support efforts which were also personally matched by Oprah. In 2004 Oprah travelled around South Africa visiting some of its poorest children handing out Christmas presents.

During her three week visit, she campaigned and raised over $7 million to help children with AIDS. She later donated $40 million of her own money to found the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, a school for disadvantaged children, located outside Johannesburg.

Looking forward Oprah has since vowed to focus her supportive efforts and those of her academy on tackling the physiological trauma that she believes is the root cause of most of the worlds social-economic problems.

Tags: TV

Last updated: May 20, 2019