photograph by Alan Crosthwaite |
People who fall into the single name, name-recognition category don't need a surname for us to know who they are: Prince, Madonna, Sting, Cher, Snoop. Does anyone even know Prince or Cher's last name?
While most one-name wonders are either pop stars - refer to the list above - or painters like Rembrandt, Renoir, Picasso and Van-Gogh, one highly branded, single name entity falls into the tier of the non-singer/painter elites: Oprah.
Ranked by Forbes Magazine as the world's most powerful celebrity, she's also the first female billionaire of African American descent, the world's 9th most powerful woman and reportedly worth about $1.3 billion net.
She seemingly has it all. But the true beauty of Oprah lies beyond her riches, fame and standing. Oprah rocks because she gives back.
Using commercial achievements like hosting The Oprah Winfrey Show, authoring books, presiding over Harpo Film/Television Productions, publishing O, The Oprah Magazine and O at Home and co-founding Oxygen Network to provide the momentum for philanthropy, Oprah operates her Angel Network as a mode for giving back.
You get from the world, what you give to the world.
A public charity founded in 1998, the Angel Network was formed to encourage people to make a difference in the lives of others bearing Oprah's credo: "You get from the world what you give to the world."
Operating costs are covered personally by Oprah and to date The Foundation has raised some $27 million for various causes including: building rural schools in ten different countries worldwide, helping rebuild Tsunami destroyed areas, aiding Hurricane Katrina projects and victims, providing education grants and scholarships and channeling funds to dozens of initiatives from women's health and education foundations to children's health centers.
Kim Plewis, an Arizona based youth volunteer coordinator with Winfrey's school and education-building Free the Children Foundation, describes the benefits gained by youth helping youth:
"One thing that youth can get out of this is a larger world. They have the opportunity for social involvement. When they speak with people coming from a different background they take that world view back to their communities. Sharing it with others is invaluable."
A difficult childhood
A larger world is certainly what Winfrey discovered in life as she gradually moved far away from extremely humble beginnings. Born in Mississippi to teenagers - her father was a coal miner and her mother was a housemaid - Winfrey was jockeyed in childhood between a grandmother and her parents who separated soon after her birth.
While her grandmother was kind, nurturing and taught Winfrey to read at age two, her mother was harsh and punitive forcing her to sleep outside on the porch for her dark skin pigmentation.
Winfrey suffered abuse throughout her youth but when she moved to Tennessee to live with her father during teenage years, stabilization ensued including his insistence on academic achievement. As a result, Oprah became an honors student and earned a full college scholarship.
After college she worked as an on-air radio and television personality for various news and talk shows until hosting her first Oprah Winfrey Show in 1984. Her current contract runs to the 2010/2011 season which will mark a full 25 years of being filtered into the world's living rooms.
Oprah is reputed for her generosity: her largesse in charitable endeavours, elaborate vacations and bonuses for staff members, free cars - over 250 of them - for audience members attending an Oprah Winfrey Show anniversary taping.
"My whole quest is: How do I use my life, my whole life, that includes: my money, my resources, my access, my so-called perceived influence - How do I use my whole self in order to bring goodness and some light into the world?" she conveyed to Enterprising Women.
Critics of Oprah's enterprise, however, have been less than favorable at times.
References to idolatry have circulated around, citing how she devoted an entire show to celebrating her 50th birthday, and echoes of 'self -indulgent' and 'vain' have swirled around her monthly O cover spreads. Nay-sayers have also taken aim at her charitable work.
"…critics have noted that on occasions on which various guest celebrities on her show "reach out" and perform charitable acts (such as performing for sick children) seem to nearly always coincide with a release of a project in which they have a prominent role (such as starring in a movie or releasing a music album)," Wikipedia states.
"Some have said that this trivializes and degrades the various causes they help by turning them into vessels for marketing and have even suggested that it verges on exploitation, especially when children are involved."
Whether or not this holds true, public criticism of Oprah's endeavors is thin; not for naught considering her stature and the influence she wields in highly positive ways. Simply put, how do you argue against a person who raised $7 million at one go to bring 50,000 South African children food and toys for Christmas?
For more stunning photographs by Alan Crosthwaite, visit www.acclaimimages.com