The public's appetite for all things Oprah Winfrey has waned little
since her Chicago TV debut in 1983. Known as a self-help guru and the
"Queen of All Media," Oprah has been shining light on social issues and
encouraging fans to "live your best life" for more than 30 years,
revolutionizing her corner of the entertainment industry in the process.
Winfrey's unprecedented influence and celebrity often overshadow her
indisputable entrepreneurial prowess and business acumen. Even though
Oprah has stated that she wouldn't consider herself a businesswoman, her
ever-expanding media empire and record-breaking multibillion-dollar
fortune say otherwise.
Oprah Winfrey: In Her Own Words provides a unique look into the wisdom
and thought processes of one of the most adored, respected, and powerful
women in the world.
Fortune has called O: The Oprah Magazine, now in its 22nd year of
publication (now as a digital entity), "the most successful startup ever
in the industry." In its infancy, the magazine became a highly
profitable addition to the Hearst portfolio, amassing ever-increasing ad
sales and a paid circulation larger than industry giants such as Vogue
and Martha Stewart Living. Over the last several years, her media
holdings and interests have also included an award-winning movie
production studio, a satellite radio channel, the cable-TV company
Oxygen Media, and the burgeoning OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.
Few entrepreneurs have been savvy enough to leverage their resources
with the foresight Oprah has demonstrated in her decades-long career.
Oprah's key asset, developed over the course of decades, is herself: a
brand she controls by shrewdly choosing partnerships and endorsement
deals and not kowtowing to convention. At the outset of her career,
Oprah decided to start a company rather than take the conventional
talent-for-hire path. She, along with a few close executives, took her
initial TV success and grew it into a multibillion-dollar media
conglomerate, with one woman at the helm. Her influence in the
marketplace is unprecedented. Just look at the long-term impact her
recommendations and endorsements have had in the fields of consumer
products and book publishing, among others.
Newly updated and repackaged from its original publication in 2016 as
Own It: Oprah Winfrey in Her Own Words, this book collects Oprah's most
insightful quotations, centered around her media career, life lessons,
entrepreneurship, and remarkable personal story. Oprah's next venture is
unknown, but its success, like her other triumphs, depends on Oprah--and
the self-reliance, values, and vision on which she has built her empire.
