La’Tonja Oliver
Inspiring Person
September 11, 2014
Business Communications E102
Ms. Mihelich

What is Inspiration? What does inspiration mean to you? Who inspires you? Hmmm….You’re not sure because you have never really thought about it. Well let me tell you what inspiration is to me! Inspiration is something that makes you want to make a change in your life for the better; or, someone who pushes you or sets an example. Or someone that makes you think about your life and how or why you want to change it. Inspiration to me is an honor, especially to be inspired. A few people who inspires me would be Donna Cusumano (My mother), Tina Turner (Great entertainer who took back full charge of her life from an abusive relationship), Harriet Tubman (helped other black slaves to freedom on the underground railroad), Madame CJ Walker (an female black inventor of the pressing home and first self-made female millionaire); but, the person who really inspires me is Oprah Winfrey.
Oprah Winfrey, you sit here to think to yourself, why her? Oprah Winfrey in one word “Billionaire”. The First black female billionaire to be exact. She was a young homely little girl who is now one of the most respectable, wealthiest and honorable people in the world. Oprah Gail Winfrey was born to a young girl named Vernita Lee on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi; Hattie Mae Lee whom was her grandmother. Her mother was only thirteen when she was pregnant. Oprah had no father because her mother was raped. Oprah was abononed by her mother at a very young age.
She was later adopted by a family that forced her to do drugs, were very irresponsible, very cruel, and they sexually and physically abused her for over fifteen years. She later went to live with Ms. Hattie Mae Lee at the age of three. Her grandmother who taught her how to read and write at the age of three. By the time she was five years old she was already starting kindergarten and already carried the knowledge of reading and writing. She soon was moved to the first grade. By age six Hattie Mae became very sick and Oprah was forced to live with her mother in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was so intelligent at such a young age that she had skipped two grades.
I was so proud of her even though this was before I knew her. She was placed into rehab for her drug abuse. She later on found out she was pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy who was a stillborn. She was also thirteen just as her mother. Oprah bounced from house to house between her mother and her father Mr. Winfrey. After the death of her child at the age of sixteen Oprah read the autobiography of the one and only Maya Angelou, I know why the Caged Bird Sings. She had read it over and over multiple times because it was like reading a story about her life. It really touched her heart. She than began her plan of getting her life back on track by focusing and concentrating on her education and public speaking just as she use to do in church as a small child.
Her public speaking won her the Elks Club speaking completion in in 1970.The prize from this completion was a full four year scholarship. She was invited or chosen to attend the White House Conference