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She’s the woman named by Forbes as the most successful

entrepreneur of her generation, so just how did Oprah Winfrey

go from dirt-poor schoolgirl to worldwide media mogul?

WORDS • RUTH DEVINE

T

here aren’t many people who can get by on their first

name alone. Boudica, Napoleon, Elvis and Madonna are

arguably among the most famous mononymous public

figures of both past and present. Today, however, the one who

surpasses them all must surely be Oprah.

The entrepreneur, media mogul, actor, author, producer

and philanthropist has a history of not only outshining her

peers but outsmarting them too.

It’s what makes interviewing the world’s most famous

interviewer intimidating, and what has made her number

three on Forbes’ Richest American Self-Made Women list,

fourth on its Celebrity 100, twenty-first on its list of the

World’s 100 Most Powerful Women and sixty-fourth

among the World’s Most Powerful People.

It’s also how she became a millionaire at age 32 when her

talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show (universally known as

simply Oprah) was nationally syndicated, making it the

highest-rated television program of its kind in history.

It’s why Oprah continued to make history when she became

the first female African-American billionaire in 2003 and the

first black woman to receive the prestigious Cecil B DeMille

Award at this year’s Golden Globes.

Her acceptance speech that night focused on the #MeToo

and #TimesUp campaigns that have followed Hollywood’s »

O

The

effect

theceomagazine.com | 13

History maker | INSPIRE