oprah

1. INFORMATIVE SPEECH:
OPRAH WINFREY
By: Megan Vaughters

2. GROWING UP
• Oprah Winfrey was born on January 29th 1964 she was born to a young single
mother. Oprah spent her first couple of years on her grandmothers farm In
Kosciusko, Mississippi
• her grandmother taught her how to read at a very young age, by the time she was 3
Oprah was reading in church and reciting poems

3. EARLY CHILDHOOD
• At about age 6 her life changed drastically when she moved to Milwaukee to live
with her mother who at the time was working as a housekeeper .
• while her mother worked long shifts she was repeatedly molested by male relatives
this tragedy went on from the time she was 9 until she was 13. As you can imagine
this was emotionally devastating to her. She moved to Nashville Tennessee to live
with her father after running away from her mothers home

4. EARLY CHILDHOOD
• Her father was an extremely strict man who as oprah would describe wanted
nothing but the best for her. But being that this was the first time oprah had been in
an structured environment she flourished, she was an honor student, she won prizes
for dramatic recitation and even at age 17 Oprah won the Miss Black Tennessee
beauty pageant. Part of the prize from the beauty pageant was that she was offered
an on air job

5. FIRST JOB
• at a local radio station, serving the African American community in Nashville. She
even won a full scholarship to Tennessee State university, where she majored in
speech communications and minored in performing arts.

6. EARLY CAREER
• Once she left school she immediately signed on with a local television station as a tv
anchor and reporter.
• 1976 Oprah moved to Baltimore to join WJZ-TV news as a co- anchor there she got
an opportunity to co- host her first talk show “people are talking” this career was
perfect for oprah winfrey because it suited her outgoing and sympathetic
personality.

7. EARLY CAREER
• In January of 1984 she was invited to Chicago to host a half jour morning program
and in less than a year after that she turned am Chicago to the hottest show in
town. The show even expanded to an hour long show. On September 1985 it was
renamed the oprah winfrey show.
• This was new beginnings for oprah Winfrey because just a year after the show was
renamed after her I was broadcasted nationally and quickly became the number one
talk show it even won 3 Emmy's in its first year of airing.
• Oprahs love for production and bringing quality to the television made her want to
develop her own production company Harpo productions Inc., in 1986 and today
Harpo productions is one of the biggest most successful production companies.

8. NEW BEGINNINGS
• Oprah Winfrey has broken so many barriers not just for women but for African
American women as well she was the first women to own and produce her own talk
show. Her show incorporated sensational stories and outrageous guest to capture
viewers. There was a turn in oprah winfrey topics on her show in about the 1980’s
she began to emphasize on spiritual values, healthy living and self help. Once she
did this her show became more popular than ever it was like oprah could do no
wrong when it came to production and her business.

9. ACHIEVEMENTS
• oprah was named time magazines most influential people of the 20th century and by
the year 1988 she received a lifetime achievement award from the national academy
of television arts and sciences
• 1999 oprah received the national book foundation 50th anniversary gold medal for
her service to books and authors
• With her success, she has also become one of the world's most generous
philanthropists. In 2000, Oprah's Angel Network began presenting a $100,000 "Use
Your Life Award" to people who are using their own lives to improve the lives of
others. She now publishes two magazines, O, The Oprah Magazine, and O at Home.
The launch of her first magazine was the most successful start-up in the history of
the industry. When Forbes published its list of America's billionaires for the year
2003, it disclosed that Oprah Winfrey was the first African-American woman to
become a billionaire.

10. GIVING BACK