Oprah Winfrey’s Struggles and

Success

Introduction

“Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life because
you become what you believe,” Oprah Winfrey once stated. Oprah Winfrey
struggled through many hardships like poverty and childhood problems
but she overcame them and grew to success. In this essay, you will learn
about Oprah Winfrey’s challenges, how she overcame obstacles, and her
successes.

General Info & Early Life Challenges

Oprah Winfrey faced many challenging problems like family, school,

and poverty. Oprah was born to a single
mother and often moved back and forth living
with her mother and her grandmother. When
she lived with her very strict grandmother,
Oprah lived on a farm. Learningliftoff.com
states, “She whipped me so badly that I had
welts on my back and the welts would bleed,”
Oprah also lived in poverty. She would have to
wear worn-out potato sacks as clothes. This
made life even more difficult because she
would regularly be made fun of by other kids
at her school. The challenges that Oprah
faced made her life difficult but overcoming them made her more
courageous and strong.

Overcoming Obstacles

Oprah faced and overcame many obstacles and what she learned
helped to change her life. Oprah’s mother sent Oprah to Nashville,
Tennessee to live with Vernon Winfrey, a family friend. The two became
close and now Vernon is the man Oprah would recognize as her father. In
Tennessee, Oprah excelled in school. At Oprah's new school things took a
big turn. Oprah had been voted “Most Popular Girl”. She had graduated
from high school went move on to college where she studied
communication. Despite the challenges of moving to a whole new city and
school, Oprah was starting to be recognized. Oprah entered the Miss Black
Tennessee beauty pageant and she won. The obstacles that Oprah
overcame were the stepping stones to her great success.

Success

Becoming famous wasn’t easy for Oprah

but she was able to do it. The early life
accomplishments that Oprah had, helped her
achieve fame. Oprah had attracted the
attention of the local news station and they
hired her to complete news segments. Oprah
eventually created her own television show.
The SMT packet states, “ Her talk show ran for
25 seasons and remained popular to the end.”
Besides just a show, Oprah also has her own
network and book club. The SMT packet
states, “Oprah now runs a book club,
marketing, and her own network: OWN (Oprah
Winfrey Network).” Today Oprah is one of the
most recognized people and it all started from
a difficult childhood.

Conclusion

Oprah Winfrey had gone through many hardships on the journey to

becoming the well-recognized and accomplished person that she is today.
Oprah went from being in poverty, abuse, and relocation, to now being one
of the most successful people today. We all face challenges but we can
overcome them. We can grow to be similar to Oprah. We all should try our
best even when things are tough. So let’s get started.

Bibliography

Street, Elizabeth. “Overcoming Obstacles: What Oprah Winfrey Learned

From Her Childhood of Abuse” learningliftoff.com, 7 Jan 2015,
https://www.learningliftoff.com
The small but mighty teacher

Johnson, Jamie. “10 Inspirational Oprah Quotes” uschamber.com, 21

January 2020, https://www.uschamber.com/