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Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey's public speaking career began with reciting verses in church at the age of three. Today, at the age of 51, she is America's most popular talk show host, owns a popular magazine and cable TV channel, received an Academy Award nomination, and is ranked by Forbes magazine as the ninth most powerful woman in the world. Her path in life, that led from a broken home and abused childhood to becoming the first African-American woman billionaire, is a story of unrelenting determination mixed with a true caring for people.
Born in Kosciusko, Mississippi on January 29, 1954 to unwed parents, Oprah Winfrey was raised by her grandmother on a farm until the age six. Oprah watched her grandmother boil clothes in a big pot on the stove, because they did not have a washing machine. Her grandmother also made everything they had, because they had no money to buy things. Oprah was taught to read by her grandmother at a time when most children are learning to speak. She became an avid reader, a habit she is still passionate about today. Books became her outlet to the world and the basis of her passionate belief in education. Her interest and influence are exhibited in her monthly book club that she has on her TV show. Every month Oprah researches and promotes a new "unknown" book on the air, and it becomes on a Best Seller.
At the age of six, Oprah moved to Milwaukee to live with her mother. However, at the age of thirteen, she ran away from her home do to sexual abuse by male relatives. She was supposed to go to a juvenile detention home. However, at the last minute, Oprah was sent to Nashville to live with her disciplinarian father, Vernon Winfrey, because all of the beds in the detention home were full. Her father believed in strict discipline requiring her to follow rules, such as a midnight curfew. He required that she read a book and write a report about it each week. Even though Oprah's father was very strict, it was his way of instilling...