Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Gail Winfrey was born to an unmarried teenage mother in rural Mississippi and raised in poverty. She endured abuse as a child and became pregnant at 14, losing the baby. Sent to live with her father in Nashville, she turned her life around through education and discovered her gift for communication.

By 19, she was co-anchoring the evening news. By 32, her nationally syndicated talk show was the highest-rated in television history. The Oprah Winfrey Show ran for 25 seasons, reaching tens of millions of viewers daily and transforming American culture.

Winfrey became the first Black female billionaire in America, founded the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa, and launched OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network). Her book club single-handedly revived literary fiction sales. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 and remains one of the most influential people on Earth.