Oprah Winfrey is a powerful talk-show host,  production studio owner (Harpo Productions), cable television owner (Oprah Winfrey Network) and president maker.

Born Oprah Gail Winfrey, she came from painfully humble beginnings in Mississippi, when she was born to a single teenage mother, Vernita, on January 29, 1954. Early in her life, she was raped by relatives and shuttled between her mother and her father Vernon. As a 14-year-old she became pregnant, and tragically her son died. By the age of 19, she was a co-anchor for Nashville’s WTVF-TV station. By way of Baltimore, Winfrey landed as a co-host for AM Chicago, and when her ratings soared, topping the numbers of Phil Donahue Show viewers, the talk show became hers and was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show.

In 1986, The Oprah Winfrey Show became nationally syndicated, and throughout the history of the show, it has topped 40 million weekly viewers, reaches 145 countries and has won 40 Emmy Awards.

Two years later, Winfrey became the third woman to ever own her own studio, with the creation of Harpo Studios.

Lucille Ball and Mary Picford were the first two trail blazers.

In 2000, Winfrey joined forces with the Hearst Corporation, to create a magazine, O, The Oprah Magazine. She is the editorial director and frequent cover model.

Winfrey also has big-screen acting under her belt. She worked with director Steven Spielberg in The Color Purple and was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Sofia. Not always successful at everything she does, Winfrey produced and acted in the money-losing film adaptation of the novel Beloved. Her voice roles were better received, and she has spoken as Gussie the Goose in the 2006 Charlotte’s Web, Judge Bumbleden in the 2007 Bee Movie, and is the voice of Eudora in The Princess and the Frog, which premieres December 11, 2009.

Making sure not to leave out any entertainment media, Winfrey made a deal in 2006, with XM Satellite Radio, to establish her own channel called Oprah & Friends. She and pal Gayle King have a segment together, and the radio show features popular contributors to her television show, on their own regular radio segments.

On November 20, 2009, Winfrey stunned her fans when she revealed that she was closing the door in 2011, on her successful show. In her words, “It feels right in my bones, it feels “right in my spirit.” The powerful icon most likely will not stay home and eat bon-bons after the show ends. I, along with others, expect that she will be the mastermind behind a new type of show, and will launch it on her own cable company.