Ciera Britton
Essay#2
Eng 015- Womack
September 19,2013
Profile Essay: Oprah Winfrey
In life there are people that succeed and there are some
that don’t. Those who succeed are usually perceived as heroes. We admire them,
we are inspired by them, and hope that one day we ourselves can become such
great influence to others and have the same big impact on people’s lives, as
they did. Well, at least, I do. The people who truly bring greatness to our
societies and one such person is my hero. Her name is recognizable to many:
Oprah Winfrey; and she has been my role model in numerous ways. Oprah Winfrey
is perhaps the most influential persona of the new century and she has every
reason to celebrate about it, since she has conquered the tops of popularity
without losing her humane side on the way. Who could even have imagined that a
girl born in poverty and having felt her tender childhood years been torn apart
from multiple sexual abuse, would have created a multi-winning award winning,
high-rated talk show performing live from the very heart of the U.S? Oprah is
by far the wealthiest African-American, that never forgets people’s misery
and never turns her head away from other people’s sorrow, and a woman with
power to even move mountains. I have heard so many things about her and such glorifying
words from people that have been around her that I had started to question
their validity. Could it be that she was THAT good? Well, all my queries ended
and every cloud disappeared when I met her in person. She is more than words
can say and definitely more than what I had heard of her. She was smiling,
friendly and polite and seemed to really care about her audience. You could
immediately feel as if you were with a friend or someone you knew for many
years. Judging from her accomplishments, awe is rather poor to describe my
feelings for her. I literally fainted when she hug me. NO. Just kidding. But
Oprah gave away some goods that day I made my appearance, 1,000 gift card that
you can use anywhere in America. All Smiles. Who would not love this Woman?
By age 19, she already had a talk show. She became a
manager to her own production company . What is worth mentioning, is the fact
that Oprah never stood still. She would always seek out for truths, spiritual
techniques and practices that could improve her inner self, alongside her outer
self. She enriched her shows with topics, that she share valuable
with people. It comes naturally, that every successful individual meets
criticism from those that see a black woman trying to prevail in world
dominated by white males. Seeing life’s ugly face at such a young age as
she did, anything that would come her way would probably seem like an issue of
minor significance. Leaders, after all, are an entirely different paste of
human beings that seem to have seen the whole picture of life and care little
about any clouds darkening their background. I cannot even imagine how she must
have felt when she had no clothes to wear and used potato sacks to cover her
body, This was very emotional to me. While the other kids were teasing and
laughing at her. This incident alone could scar a small child. I have seen a
similar case with a child coming from a poor background that could not stand
and cope with peer pressure and committed numerous suicides to end their life.
It is never easy to deal with pain, either physical or emotional. Oprah managed
to pull her head out of the water, and used media to redirect her passion for
life and giving. Having gone through television, films, live shows, radio,
publishing and writing, and celebrity interviews, 32-year old Oprah was
included in the world’s millionaires’ list, only to earn a place in Forbes 400
at the age of 41, as the African American that had replaced Bill Cosby on the
word’s 400-richest people’s list, with $340 million of net worth. Her
life inspired a Professor teaching at the University of Illinois, who created a
brand new course under the title: History 298: Oprah Winfrey, the Tycoon.
The World renowned networks, like the CNN, consider Oprah
the most powerful and inspirational woman in the globe, and is recognized for
her contribution to introducing the world to a new form of media communication,
where people talked their problems out loud, rather than pushing them inside,
creating a form of therapy for them. She dared to talk and raise awareness
about matters that public opinion was not ready to accept yet, like gay
acceptance, back in the 90’s. However, this whole attempt of confessions and therapy,
as aforementioned, would not have been crowned with success if Oprah had not
taught by example. For that reason, she was the first one to admit having
weight control problems and allowed herself be seen crying live publicly when
she would talk about a burdening issue. If others had been through the hell
Oprah had got into in her younger years, it would be unlikely they would still
have kindness and compassion for others. Oprah managed to leave all bad
things behind and opened her inner self to goodness. She was steadily ranked
among the 50 most generous citizens of the United States, from 2004 until
2010. She donated approximately $400 million on scholarships and another
$400 million on other educational purposes.
Many people tend to look at her current success, People
probably thought she had this ole so good life not knowing her childhood
growing up. She manage to look past her past. Many teenagers go through the
whole moving around process, yet don’t see what value can come from it. And also,
many teenagers believe that fame and success will just happen to them, without
actually finding any resources or acquiring any skills for it. There are really
too many words to describe Oprah . She gives Charity, not only to the
ones she touches but to all of us women and men who look at her and say, how
she can do it all? And really it is quite impossible for all of us to
understand why she does it. But what I do understand is that she gets it
done. Oprah is my Superwomen, maybe not the one on T.V, but in my
hearts. Oprah Winfrey has many admirable qualities that I admire. She is very
educated, rich and influential. She has influenced me to work hard despite any
need I may endure during the process. You can look at her experiences and be
motivated to move forward in life. Its so surreal to have a hero you love and
adore and you had actually met in real life. Oprah
Winfrey has definitely won the recognition as one of the world’s most generous
and influential women that rushed to help all those in need without letting her
troubled and painful past hold her back.