Oprah Winfrey Essay Example for Free

Oprah Winfrey Essay Oprah Gail Winfrey is one of the most influential people today despite coming from a broken family and being a rebellious teen in her adolescence (Mowbray 2003). Oprah remains as a symbol of success in the United States and all over the globe as she has been included in the richest African Americans of the 20th century (Noon 2007) and as one of the most philanthropic African American of all time. Oprah started the Angel Network in the year 1998, a program that encourages other people to help those who are underprivileged. To this day, Oprah’s Angel Network has raised over 51,000,000 dollars. 100 percent of the funds generated go directly to various charity programs as Oprah takes care of administrative costs in running the charity. As mentioned earlier, Oprah was included in the list for America’s 50 most generous philanthropists as she has contributed about 250 million dollars to several charities and fundraising programs including a 10 million dollar donation to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Oprah even visited South Africa in order to raise the people’s awareness regarding the plight of children afflicted with AIDS and stricken with poverty through her show Oprah’s Christmas Kindness. She appealed to televiewers to donate for these children and people around the globe heeded her call and donated over 7,000,000 dollars. Oprah also invested her time and money for the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Johannesburg, South Africa which initially started as Oprah’s promise to Nelson Mandela. The academy aims to provide little girls with a safe place to nurture their dreams allow them to be equipped with the necessary education they would need to succeed. Oprah is certainly considered as a god sent to our society as she exemplifies genuine kindness and concern for the underprivileged people and does not hesitate to lend her time and effort to make a positive change in other people’s lives.