Inspirational 'Rags to Riches' stories #1.

in #inspiration5 years ago

Life sometimes hits us so hard that we feel we are unfortunate from the rest that have been successful at what they do. Many successful people have been where we are and sometimes even in worse conditions but they managed to break through amidst all the challenges that were around them. Over the next few days I'll bring to you inspiring stories of some of the famous people that started from grass to make it to the top and I hope their stories encourage you in what your starting up or what you do.

We start with someone everyone that has watched TV over the last 2 decades knows; Oprah Winfrey.

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Oprah Winfrey;
Many of us got to know Oprah by The Oprah Winfrey Show, a program that ran inspirational and life stories of people. This show made her the most powerful woman on TV and today she's one of the richest women in the world with a net worth of 2.8 billion USD. But there is more to this story which started all the way back in 1954 when Oprah was born. She was born to a single teenage mother who soon left her with the grandmother as she left to look for work. The grandmother raised her in poor conditions for the first 6 years of her life. There was little money to foot the meals that they had to sometimes forego buying clothes and Oprah would sometimes wear old potato sacks.

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In 1960 the grandmother fell sick which pushed Oprah's mum to transfer her to a rough neighborhood she was residing in. But due to the busy schedules as she was always busy working 24/7, she sent her to stay with the father in Nashville. Oprah returned to the mother's place a year later but life got harder while there. She got subjected to sexual abuse by several family members and her mum neglected her. Oprah decided to run away from home at 13 years to live on the streets for sometime barely escaping juvenile detention. She returned to live with the mother but she sent her back to her father as she was staying out late and stealing from her.

The move to the father's place this time completely changed her life. He was strict on her, banning her from hanging out with boys. Oprah went on to succeed academically with an honors at high school and going on to Tennessee State University where she dropped out to pursue a career in the media industry. She became a news anchor just before she made 20 years and later on earned a role as a host at a talk show called AM Chicago which after a year was named 'The Oprah Winfrey Show'. The show went on to become the highest rated talk show in Television history earning her her first million. She has not turned back ever since, getting involved in films, television series, starting a radio channel among many other roles in the industry.

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