Oprah Winfrey (born Orpah Gail Winfrey on January 29, 1954) is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which was the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011. She has been ranked the richest African-American of the 20th century, the greatest black philanthropist in American history, and was for a time the world’s only black billionaire. She is also, according to some assessments, the most influential woman in the world.
Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a teenage single mother and later raised in an inner-city Milwaukee neighborhood. She experienced considerable hardship during her childhood, claiming to be raped at age nine and becoming pregnant at 14; her son died in infancy. Sent to live with her father, a barber in Tennessee, Winfrey landed a job in radio while still in high school and began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19. Her emotional ad-lib delivery eventually got her transferred to the daytime-talk-show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place, she launched her own production company, Harpo, and became internationally syndicated.
Credited with creating a more intimate confessional form of media communication, she is thought to have popularized and revolutionized the tabloid talk show genre pioneered by Phil Donahue, which a Yale study claims broke 20th century taboos and allowed LGBT people to enter the mainstream. By the mid 1990s, she had reinvented her show with a focus on literature, self-improvement, and spirituality. Winfrey later joined with the Discovery Channel to start her own network, the aptly-titled OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network).
To learn more about Winfrey’s life, career and philanthropy, click here.
Posts published in “Entertainment”
Advertising and marketing trade publication Advertising Age announced its 2013 Agency A-List honors this week, highlighting a black advertising CEO as its Executive of the Year. Steve Stoute, CEO of Translation, is a partner with Jay-Z for the agency, which launched first as a multicultural firm but now serves as a general market agency.
Stoute came from the entertainment world, if you couldn’t tell based on his ad agency partner, working with Sony Music Entertainment and Interscope Geffen A&M Records. His connections in the entertainment industry are appealing to his clients, which include State Farm, A-B InBev, McDonald’s, and Coca-Cola. Transitions was also behind the marketing campaign to introduce the Brooklyn Nets basketball team.
Entertainment is a hot industry, but Stoute told Ad Age that there’s more to it than that. “…I think our strategy department is the best in the industry,” he said. “The thinking in our agency never gets the credit it deserves because we have a celebrity. We are first and foremost a strategic and creative shop. And second, we have a Rolodex in entertainment and sports that’s unique in the industry.”
Elsewhere on AdAge’s list, LatinWorks, a Hispanic-focused shop, was honored as multicultural agency of the year, and the number three advertising agency, Grey, has Michael Houston serving as managing director and CMO.
Read more at http://madamenoire.com/259579/ad-age-honors-black-ceo-as-exec-of-the-year/#a2gHhHY3ohZxcBVd.99
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/57615262 w=400&h=300]
GBN may be a bit biased, but every time Prince puts out new music, we are compelled to define it as good news. What’s more, he has a new website, 20princ3.com, where you can view and get share codes of his latest videos and protégés. The New Yorker recently published an article entitled “Has Prince Made Peace With The Internet?”, which we certainly hope he has, and that more music videos from him, past and present, will be available for all to enjoy.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
Now that she’s got the platform, Octavia Spencer is utilizing her celebrity to reach other young stars in the making.
The actress announced on her Facebook fanpage that she’s launching an opportunity for young filmmakers to compete to follow their dreams on her dime.
She first shared a story about following dreams and explaining that many people on this path don’t reach success but 15 years later. But she also encouraged her audience to continue being creative and pushing past limitations to achieve those goals.
“What many people don’t know is that it takes an average of 15 years to become an over night success. In that time you must create and continue to hone your skills. If you are a musician, write poetry and turn it into an amazing song. If you are a filmmaker write a short and shoot it. I’ve done it twice now. I know it’s not easy,” she wrote. “Two of my friends shot beautiful, award winning shorts on the CANON EOS 60D. One of those films was shortlisted to potentially receive an Oscar nomination yesterday. Trust me I know money is tight. So, in honor of Award Season, I’d like to help someone else see their dream realized.”
Ryan Coogler accepts the Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic for Fruitvale onstage at the Awards Night Ceremony during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival at Basin Recreation Field House on January 26, 2013 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — The dramatic film “Fruitvale” and the documentary “Blood Brother” won over audiences and Sundance Film Festival judges. Both American films won audience awards and grand jury prizes Saturday at the Sundance Awards.
“Fruitvale” is based on the true story of Oscar Grant, who was 22 years old when he was shot and killed in a public transit station in Oakland, California. First-time filmmaker Ryan Coogler wrote and directed the dramatic narrative.
Quvenzhané Wallis, the 9-year-old Oscar nominated star of Beasts of the Southern Wild, is really enjoying her moment in the spotlight.
She has talked about fashion with Vogue’s guru André Leon Talley. She has also appeared on NBC’s Rock Center, where she boasted that she is a “triple threat.”
Now the pint-size star is gracing the cover of Entertainment Weekly. Wallis made history this month when she became the young nominee in history in the lead actress Academy Award category.
article via thegrio.com
Born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles, CA on January 25, 1938, Etta James was an American singer whose style spanned a variety of music genres including blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, gospel and jazz. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as “Roll With Me, Henry“, “At Last“, “Tell Mama“, “Something’s Got a Hold on Me“, and “I’d Rather Go Blind” for which she wrote the lyrics. James is regarded as having bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and is the winner of six Grammys and 17 Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both 1999 and 2008. Rolling Stone ranked James number 22 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and number 62 on the list of the 100 Greatest Artists. To learn more about Etta James, click here, and watch her perform “Something’s Got A Hold On Me” below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ0ObhAYo4M
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
Essence is honoring some powerful black women who have done some extraordinary work in the film and television industry at the 6th annual Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon. The prestigious event will take place at the Beverly Hills Hotel on February 21. This year’s honorees include Oprah Winfrey, Alfre Woodard, Gabrielle Union, Mara Brock-Akil, Naomie Harris, and breakthrough performer, Quvenzhané Wallis.
“The ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon recognizes the ‘Power of our Presence’, by spotlighting the stellar accomplishments of African-American female performers and creators in film and television,” says Essence editor-in-chief, Constance C.R. White. ”More importantly, the annual luncheon serves as a source of support and inspiration for the incredibly talented community of Black women who are often overlooked in Hollywood.”
Over the years, others like Viola Davis, Zoe Saldana, Angela Bassett and Pam Grier have been honored for their phenomenal contributions.
article by Brittney M. Walker via eurweb.com
WASHINGTON (AP) — Just in time for inauguration coverage, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has joined CBS News as a contributor.
Rice, who served as secretary of state during President George W. Bush’s second term, made her debut on “Face the Nation” Sunday and will be included in inauguration coverage on Monday.
CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager and president David Rhodes made the announcement Sunday, saying Rice “will use her insight and vast experience to explore issues facing America at home and abroad.”
Rice was the first African-American woman to serve as secretary of state, following Colin Powell in the office. She was Bush’s national security adviser during his first term and worked on the National Security Council under his father, President George H.W. Bush.
The Herb Alpert School of Music at the University of California at Los Angeles has announced that jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter have joined the faculty of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance. The institute is a two-year graduate program for jazz performing artists. There are currently seven students enrolled in the program. Hancock and Shorter will work with the seven students individually and as a group on composition, improvisation, and artistic expression.
Professor Hancock stated, “Wayne and I look forward to working with and guiding the new class of Monk Fellows. These exceptionally gifted young artists are destined to become some of the most influential jazz musicians of their generation. The mentoring experience will be profound for us, as well. The gift of inspiration in the classroom that develops from the master-apprentice relationship enhances our personal creativity on the bandstand and in the recording studio.”
article via jbhe.com