You probably must have heard about Oprah Winfrey. Wait a minute! Is that an assumption or a statement of certainty? Obviously, that name should be as popular as the sound of your own name whenever you hear it.
You will agree with me that she has carved a niche for herself, a huge one at that,ppopularly referred to as the "Queen of media". However, she did not get the "crown" without the "cross". A lot of you, great Steemians, may have known some notorious facts about this icon but you might have merely scratched the surface. Indeed, there is more.
Winfrey was named "Orpah" after the biblical character in the Book of Ruth on her birth certificate, but people mispronounced it regularly and "Oprah" stuck.Everyone became used to calling her that.
As an infant growing up, Oprah Winfrey was nicknamed "The Preacher" for her ability to recite Bible verses as her grandmother often took her to church and she was keen at learning amazing things about the bible.This made her quite popular.
Winfrey was born the daughter of an unwed teen.
At age 17, Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant. Oprah Winfrey's family was so poor growing up that, as a child, Winfrey was teased at school for wearing dresses made of potato sacks. Imagine that.😓😓
Sadly, she was abused by her uncle at sge 9. That was the beginning of her turmoil. Series of other forms of sexual abuse followed subsequently. At 14, she had a son who died an infant.
Undeterred and unsurmounted by life's pressure, she decided to take the future into her hands and make the best of it. She made a strong resolve to rise far, high above the challenges that surrounded her.
HER JOURNEY TO GREATNESS
Though not a smooth ride in the beginning, there are some highlights in her career worth mentioning.
Oprah Winfrey openly discussed her childhood sexual abuse suffered at the hands of male relatives and her mother's friends on a special episode of her show focusing on sexual abuse in 1986.
Oprah was anchoring the news at Nashville's WTVF-TV when she was just 19, making her the youngest person and the first African-American woman to hold the position.
Winfrey as a lady with diverse talents and abilities. She donated her voice for an array of cartoon characters, voicing Gussie the goose for Charlotte's Web, and Eudora, the mother of Princess Tiana in Disney's The Princess and the Frog, among others.
Oprah Winfrey has interviewed countless celebrities, including Michael Jackson, whose interview became the 4th most watched event in American television history, as well as the most watched interview of all-time, with 36 million viewers.
Winfrey is credited for popularizing the intimate, confessional form of talk show, which has since become common across cable networks. At 29, Oprah co-hosted a Chicago morning show, and later took it over completely. It became "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
She was instrumental in launching Oxygen Media, dedicated to producing cable programming specifically for women.
Oprah Winfrey is the first black woman billionaire and the richest African-American woman.In 2013, Winfrey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the nation's highest civilian honor) by President Barack Obama amongst other notable awards.
Are there lessons to be learnt and inferences to be drawn from the life of this great diva? My answer is in the affirmative .
1.She had a very poor and rocky start.To be abused at an early age is traumatic. This did not dissuade her from pushing forward, seeing the brightness in the bleak future life had earlier presented her.
2.She is a lady of many talents and a woman of diversity. She stopped at nothing to showcase it all to the world, putting these beautiful talents to good use. Baring herself to the world.
3.She knew that several women are suffering same fate or even worse, thus prompting her to publicly discuss these challenges of sexual abuse faced by the female folk.She used herself as an example and selflessly lent her voice to the poor,the traumatized, the weak etc
4.She is very generous and appreciates her workers in an extraordinary way. In 2009, she treated her staff and their families to a European cruise.
In summary, i call her the ladies' man. She has demonstrated strength, in no small measures especially as a woman. I am not in doubt that most ladies look up to as a pillar, a lot of drained souls draw strength from her encouraging words using her show as avenue. Her diligence and dexterity in handling her job and chains of business leaves me pperpetually in awe. Phew! i can go on and on chanting like a praise singer just for Oprah.
She is indeed thr the ladies' man...
Source materials
https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/18-bizarre-facts-about-oprah-winfrey.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/60-facts-oprah-forgot/story?id=22269267