BHM Spotlight: Oprah Winfrey

Photo: AP/Michael Conroy

February is the special month in which we honor and celebrate African-Americans, past and present, for all their accomplishments in a variety of fields: music, television, film, fashion, business and so much more. Here at Glambergirlblog we want to do things a little bit different. Everyday throughout this month we will spotlight some of the glamberous African-Americans in the entertainment industry.

We can’t talk Black History and not mention Mother O! Oprah Winfrey is a national media icon, honored actress and one of the biggest philanthropist in the industry. She started from nothing and went on to create a multi-billion dollar empire.

Born on January 29 in Mississippi, Winfrey grew up on a farm with her grandmother until she moved with her mother at the age of six. At a very young age she learned to read by reciting poems and bible verses. Surviving a very troubled past, Winfrey went on to win a beauty contest at the age of seventeen that eventually landed her an on-air position at WVOL radio in Nashville. She was the youngest person and the first African-American woman to anchor the news at Nashville’s WTVF-TV.

Oprah went on to host a news show in Baltimore for a bit and moved to Chicago 1984. There she hosted a morning talk show that soon expanded to a one hour program due to its high ratings and was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. The rest is television show history. We ALL remember, “You get a car! You get a car!” She started her own magazine, her own network, even her own SCHOOL! I mean there is NOTHING this woman can’t accomplish.

Fun Fact About Oprah Winfrey: In 2003, she was the first African-American woman to be named a billionaire on Forbes list.