OPRAH WINFREY

1954–

Offered the chance to rescue a failing TV program, Oprah Winfrey not only turned it into the world’s most popular talk show but also went on to create a media empire worth billions of dollars. Her story is even more remarkable because she was born into poverty, the daughter of a teenage single mother in Mississippi.

Orpah (later Oprah) Gail Winfrey’s childhood was divided between the homes of her grandmother, mother, and father. She suffered sexual abuse at the hands of various men from the age of nine and became pregnant when she was 14. Despite these adverse circumstances, she did well at school and had a particular talent for public speaking. This earned her a scholarship to Tennessee State University, where she studied speech communications and performing arts.

Winfrey’s big break came when she was hired to host the faltering morning talk show AM Chicago in 1984. Her engaging, sharp, intelligent, and candid TV persona and probing yet empathetic interview technique dramatically turned around the show’s ratings. She was persuaded to license the program for a national broadcast network in 1986, rebranded as The Oprah Winfrey Show, with a guarantee that she would receive 25 percent of its gross earnings. It quickly became the most watched daytime talk show in the US and earned her huge rewards; by 1987, she was a millionaire, the following year her income reached $30 million, and the show ran for 25 years.

Establishing the brand

In 1986, Winfrey was nominated for an Academy Award for playing the part of strong and assertive Sofia in a film adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple. The Oprah “brand” became a burgeoning media empire. She invested her earnings wisely, establishing TV production company Harpo Productions in 1986 (Harpo is “Oprah” spelled backward). In doing so, she became the first African American to control her own major studio. Her show attracted more than 10 million viewers by the later 1990s, with annual revenues of $150 million and 200 staff in Chicago. A subsidiary, Harpo Films, began producing feature-length movies in 1993, including Beloved (1998) and Selma (2014). By 1995, with a net worth of $340 million, she was the richest woman in entertainment.

Global influence

A new venture in 1996 was the launch of Oprah’s Book Club, in which Winfrey discussed a book on her TV show. Over 15 years, about 70 books were featured, and the exposure turned them all into bestsellers. It has been estimated that this publicity boosted sales in the publishing industry to the tune of about 55 million books. Further media initiatives followed. In 2000, she launched a magazine geared mainly for women, O, The Oprah Magazine. Winfrey has written books on diet and exercise, founded a cable TV network for women, and started Oprah Radio.

By the early years of the 21st century, Winfrey had become the first black female billionaire in history and was involved in various philanthropic projects. Between 1998 and 2010, she paid all the administrative costs of the Angel Network, which encouraged 150,000 people to donate $80 million to charitable causes. She also established the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy in South Africa, which offers education to disadvantaged girls and young women.

Throughout her life, Winfrey has battled with weight, and her involvement with Weight Watchers (WW), which offers products and services to assist weight loss, is another example of the “Oprah effect”—anything that she puts her name to increases in popularity. In 2015, she bought a 10 percent stake in WW for $43 million and agreed to be its global ambassador. Within three years, WW had gained 1 million new members, and her stake was worth $400 million. Winfrey’s ability to turn adversity into success—and to encourage others to do the same—has underpinned the phenomenal growth of her global brand. With her media empire, business interests, and philanthropic projects, it has also made her one of the richest and most respected women in the world.

Oprah Winfrey’s weekly, live-audience TV program revolutionized talk shows with its mix of everyday and celebrity guests, discussions of current affairs, self-help features, and book club. By 2000, the show had won 47 Daytime Emmy Awards.

MARTHA STEWART

Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart was the first female self-made billionaire in the US.

Best known for her TV show and magazine Martha Stewart Living, New Jersey–born Stewart (1941–) rose to prominence in the 1980s as the author of books about cooking, entertaining, and decorating. Her media empire expanded to include other magazines, “how-to” and recipe books, and a radio show. Despite controversy regarding a stock sale in 2004, she bounced back with a series of successful TV and publishing projects.

▲ Oprah Winfrey entertains an enthusiastic audience during the Canadian leg of her“Your Path Made Clear” tour, named after her bestselling book.