From talk show host and business entrepreneur to actor and philanthropist, there is little the "Queen of All Media" hasn't done and dominated throughout her career. Oprah Winfrey has broken several records throughout her career. Oprah Winfrey is a media mogul who helmed one of the most popular TV shows in U.S. history. She used her platform to do everything from launching her own production company, Harpo (her name spelled backwards), to starting a school for girls in Africa.
Winfrey is the first black woman billionaire, with deep attention paid to strategic financial partnerships and enterprises. Her immense monetary wealth aside, Winfrey has spent her career fostering creative projects that have elevated her standing as an American icon among fans. In the mid-1970s, Winfrey became the first black woman to anchor a nightly news program in Nashville at the age of 19 while in college. A decade later, she became the host of A.M. Chicago, directly competing with the popular Phil Donahue Show. In 1999, Winfrey began to withhold her name for consideration after receiving a lifetime achievement award.
Winfrey created her own foundation in 1997 and started a school in South Africa, the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. The idea for the boarding school, which housed girls from grades 8-12, was inspired by Winfrey's rough childhood. She has openly discussed being a survivor of sexual abuse when she was a child and lobbied for the creation of the National Child Protection Act, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in December 1993.
In 1996, Oprah launched Oprah’s Book Club, which selected a literary title for viewers to read and discuss each month. Two years later, in 1998, Winfrey invested in the Oxygen network, a cable channel geared toward women. And in 2000, Oprah debuted O, The Oprah Magazine, featuring a celebration of life, lifestyle, spirituality, arts and culture. Winfrey has appeared on the cover more than 200 times. On January 1, 2011, Winfrey launched the Oprah Winfrey Network, a cable TV platform that featured reality TV shows, dramas and classic series. In 2018, Oprah became the first black woman to win the Golden Globes’ Cecil B. DeMille Award. Her wildly popular Golden Globes speech honored women who had shared their stories of sexual harassment and declared that “a new day is on the horizon.”
