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recent sexual harassment scandals. The speech went global and
so passionate was she in her belief that ‘a new day is on the
horizon’ for women, it led many to speculate that Oprah would
run for president of the US, with #Oprah2020 going viral.
“I’ve always felt very secure and confident with myself in
knowing what I could do and what I could not. And so it’s not
something that interests me,” she says, dismissing the idea right
away. “I don’t have the DNA for it.”
Either way, there’s no denying that Oprah’s certainly got the
funds for a presidential campaign. Latest figures reveal that she’s
worth US$2.7 billion.
Not bad for a little girl who grew up in the backwoods of
Mississippi wearing dresses made out of old potato sacks by her
grandmother Hattie Mae.
So how did Oprah, now 64, born to a teen mum and passed
from impoverished pillar to post, become this hugely influential,
multiple Emmy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated
global figure?
IT ALL STARTS WITH HATTIE MAE
At three, Oprah was living on her grandmother’s pig farm.
The disciplinarian Hattie Mae wanted Oprah to read the Bible
so taught her little granddaughter to read before the age of
three. Consequently, Oprah was nicknamed ‘The Preacher’
at her local church for her ability to recite Bible verses.
It was from this hardworking woman that Oprah learnt the
first lesson of success. “It doesn’t matter who you are, where
you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you –
always,” Oprah says now, crediting her grandmother with
giving her “a positive sense of myself”.
Oprah’s precocious academic talents were her way out of
poverty. A federal education program saw her gain access to an
affluent suburban school where she was one of just a few
African-Americans.
And so began Oprah’s history of firsts. In Nashville,
she became the youngest TV news anchor at 19 and the first
black female news anchor. By 1983, she had relocated to
Chicago to take over a low-rating morning talk show. Within
months, it went from last place to first in the rankings and,
when it was syndicated nationally as her eponymous show, it
became the number one daytime talk show in America running
for 25 seasons. “You know you are on the road to success if you
would do your job and not be paid for it,” she says. “I really
don’t define my happiness by my business decisions.”
Shortly afterwards, Oprah set up Harpo Productions, of
which she is chair and CEO and, by 2000, had expanded her
portfolio to include oprah.com and O, The Oprah Magazine
- the latter heralded by Forbes as the most successful start-up
ever in the industry.
Oprah’s ventures into digital and print media also reportedly
helped grow her net worth to US$800 million.
“The reason I’ve been able to be so financially successful is
my focus has never, ever for one minute been money,” she says.
More success followed in 2011 with the launch of a television
station, OWN, (Oprah Winfrey Network).
But while she’s gone from being dirt-poor to a
multi-billionaire, Oprah still doesn’t like referring to herself
as a businesswoman.PREPARATION MEETING OPPORTUNITY
“I don’t think of myself as a businesswoman,” she announces.
“The only time I think about being a businesswoman is now,
while I’m talking to you. There’s this part of me that’s afraid of
what will happen if I believe it all.”
However, there’s no denying that’s how others see her.
The internet is awash with her business bon mots in the
form of video compilations and memes, and while she’s
declined too many corporate invitations to mention (she says
she replies, “Guys, I don’t know what I’d be doing on your
board”), the one she did accept was from Weight Watchers
in 2015, buying a 10 per cent stake and joining its board of
directors. The hope presumably being that like so many before
them, the diet industry giant would benefit from ‘the Oprah
effect’ where the mention of a product on Oprah would send
sales sky-high.
But Oprah’s keen to deflect any notion of her success being
down to luck.
“I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity,” she
says, preferring to concentrate on the hard work she’s put in
that’s brought her to this point.
“I am really good at working. Committed. Diligent.
With stamina on steroids.”
But whether she’s sitting in her book-lined West Hollywood
Harpo offices, with a framed photo of herself with Nelson
Mandela on the desk, or curled up in her favourite reading spot
under a great oak at ‘The Promised Land’, her 17-hectare palatial
property in California, one thing ‘I know for sure’, as Oprah
herself likes to say, is what for her constitutes accomplishment.
It boils down to just one word: No.
“The ability to say no and not to feel guilty about it is the
greatest success I have achieved. For me to have the internal
strength and internal courage it takes to say ‘No, I will not let
you treat me this way’ is what success is all about.”
As for the future, Oprah’s unequivocally excited. There’s her
new foray as special contributor for 60 Minutes on CBS that, as
she talks about it, sounds as if it’s right out of old-school Oprah.
“At a time when people are so divided, my intention is to
bring relevant insight and perspective,” she enthuses. “To look
at what separates us, and help facilitate real conversations
between people from different backgrounds.”
Only time will tell if those conversations will see her speaking
from the White House.