At the age 17, Oprah Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant and was handed an on-air job at WVOL. WVOL is a radio station helping the lives of the African American community in Tennessee. Winfrey also won a full scholarship to Tennessee State University. This is where Winfrey majored in Speech Communications, and Performing Arts. It wasn’t long before Winfrey dropped out of school to pursue her career on a local television station as an anchor.
In 1976, Winfrey stationed herself in Baltimore, where she co-hosted her very first talk show “People Are Talking.” It didn’t take long for America to fall in love with Winfrey’s empathetic personality, outgoing tone, and pure passion for what she did. A year after landing her first gig, Winfrey opened her very own talk show, “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” In 1987, the show earned three daytime Emmy awards in the categories of Outstanding Host, Outstanding Talk/Service Program and Outstanding Direction. The following year, the show received its second consecutive Emmy as Outstanding Talk/Service Program. Winfrey herself also won the award for International Radio and Television Society's "Broadcaster of the Year" Award, being the youngest ever to obtain this honor. Winfrey is also known for acting in the Steven Spielberg film, The Color Purple.
