[tps_title]7. Oprah Winfrey[/tps_title]
What chances of success would you give a poor woman born in backwoods Mississippi to a single teenage mother, raised in inner-city Milwaukee, raped at nine years of age, then, at the age of 14, giving birth to a son who died shortly thereafter?
Grim chances, we think. Unless that woman happens to be Oprah Winfrey. Oprah landed her first radio job in high school. She soon transferred to daytime talk TV, where, after success powering up ratings for a Chicago TV show, she started her own production company. That production company, Harpo, launched an empire. The Oprah Winfrey show is the highest-rated talk show in TV history, and has won her several Emmy Awards. She’s also an amazing philanthropist who donates a cut of her $1.3 billion net worth to a variety of causes benefitting women, children and families.
