Oprah
Entrepreneur, actress, educator, producer, philanthropist, and talk show host, Oprah Winfrey (1954- ) has had a wide-ranging effect on American culture. Despite her difficult childhood, she determined to make a better life for herself and others. Beginning her career as a television reporter and anchor, Oprah went on to find success as the first black woman to host a nationally-syndicated television show and the first black woman to own a production company. In 2003, Winfrey was named the first black woman billionaire and she has been named the world's most recognized person. Despite such wealth and popularity, much of her professional, voluntary and monetary efforts have gone to support the underprivileged. According to Oprah, "There really is nothing more important to me than striving to be a good human being" (Academy of Television Arts and Science 2003). Through her personal giving and support and her work through both Oprah's Angel Network and the Oprah Winfrey Foundation, Winfrey has been perhaps the most significant female African-American philanthropist in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Historic Roots
Oprah Gail Winfrey was born to Vernita Lee on 29 January 1954 in Kosciuscko, Mississippi. Initially raised by her grandmother, Oprah was a smart child with a gift for the spoken word; she could often be found reciting poetry or reading aloud at church. At the age of six, Oprah moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to live with her mother; she would spend most of the next seven years there (Academy of Achievement, "Oprah Winfrey Biography").
As a young adolescent, Oprah often acted out and misbehaved; once she attempted to run away. After initially trying to place her in a juvenile detention center, Lee sent Oprah to live with her father, Vernon Winfrey, in Nashville, Tennessee. Winfrey's strict demeanor had a considerably positive impact on his young daughter. In her commitment to school, Oprah found success, winning awards for speech and debate and securing a college scholarship at the age of sixteen.
When she was seventeen, Oprah obtained a job at a local radio station in Nashville, Tennessee. Majoring in speech communications and performing arts at Tennessee State University, Winfrey continued to work in media throughout her college years. She signed on with WTVF-TV as a reporter/anchor. In 1976, Oprah graduated from college and moved to Baltimore, Maryland, for a position at the ABC affiliate as a co-anchor. Just two years later, the station offered Oprah an opportunity to co-host
People Are Talking , a morning talk show (Encyclopaedia Britannica "Winfrey").
In a significant career move, Oprah moved to Chicago in January 1984, to take a position as the host of
AM Chicago . Competing against the top-rated talk show of its time, Winfrey proved she was able to attract a wide audience and, in 1985,
AM Chicago was renamed
The Oprah Winfrey Show . That year, Oprah also landed her first major acting role. Her work in
The Color Purple earned her nominations for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe award. Just one year later,
The Oprah Winfrey Show went national and, in 1988, Oprah became the first black woman to own her own television and film production company, Harpo Productions, which bought the rights to
The Oprah Winfrey Show . In 2003, Winfrey became the first black woman billionaire.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga came to prominence following the release of her debut studio album The Fame (2008), which included the hits "Just Dance," "Poker Face," "Bad Romance" and sold over 15 million copies worldwide. The album earned her six Grammy nominations and two wins as well as a slew of other awards recognition, including a record setting thirteen MTV Video Music Award nominations. Gaga is the first artist in history to claim four #1 hits from a debut album ("Just Dance," "Poker Face," "LoveGame" and "Paparazzi").
She is also the only artist in the digital era to top the 5 million sales mark with her first two hits. Gaga broke the record when her single "Poker Face" reached 5 million in sales after her debut single "Just Dance" accomplished the same feat the year before. She has over 1.3 billion combined views of all her videos online. She is also a staple in the social networking world
SRCH WAS HERE. She's one of the biggest living people on Facebook with over 33 million 'likes' and is #1 on Twitter with over 9.5 million followers.
Her third studio album, Born This Way, is scheduled for release on May 23, 2011. The first single from the album, title track "Born This Way", set a music industry record by becoming the fastest single in history to reach sales of 1,000,000 copies (five days after its February 11th release). Only the 19th single to ever debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (issue date February 26,2011), the recording was Lady Gaga's third #1 on the chart. On iTunes, the song debuted at the top spot in 14 countries, including the U.S., and hit #1 in all 23 iTunes stores worldwide its first week out. "Born This Way" was Gaga's 7th single to hit #1 at Top 40. The second single from the album, "Judas" has eclipsed 500,000 in sales and Lady Gaga's latest single, "The Edge of Glory," went straight to #1 on iTunes in its first day of release and stayed there for 3 days.
Gaga is well-recognized for her outré sense of style as a recording artist, in fashion, in performance and in her music videos. Her contributions to the music industry have garnered her numerous achievements including five Grammy Awards amongst twelve nominations, two Guinness World Records and the estimated sale of 15 million albums and 51 million singles worldwide. Billboard named her both the "2010 Artist of the Year" and the top selling artist of 2010 ranking her as the 73rd Artist of the 2000s decade. Gaga has been included in Time's annual "The 2010 Time 100" list of the most influential people in the world as well as Forbes' list of the "The World's Most Powerful Celebrities" in the world. Forbes also placed her at number seven on their annual list of the world's "100 Most Powerful Women."
Jonathan Ive
Jonathan Ive is
Apple's Senior Vice President of Industrial Design. Reporting directly to Apple CEO
Steve Jobs, Ive has led the Apple design team since
1996. During his tenure as Senior V.P. of Industrial Design, Ive has been involved in bringing to life such innovations as the
iMac,
iPod, and the
iPhone.
1 Jonathan Ive went to
Newcastle Polytechnic in the
United Kingdom to study design. Newcastle Polytechnic has since been renamed
Northumbria University. After finishing his studies, Ive went on to become one of the founders of the company
Tangerine.
2Tangerine was created in
1988 and designs specialized products and delves into research involving their clients' needs.
3
In
1992, Apple, which was one of Tangerine's clients, offered him a job. He worked on some projects with the company before accepting a full-time position and permanently moving to
California.
2
In
2003, Ives won the first
Designer of the Year award at the
Design Museum2 in
London.
4Two years later, in
2005, he was offered and accepted his current position of the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple. The next year, he acheived a
CBE award.
2CBE stands for
Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and is given to people who have demonstrated their importance and significance as leaders in organizations or businesses.
5 Jonathan Ives has received other awards in the recent years including a
National Design Award and an
MDA Personal Achievement Award both for the work he did on the
iPhone.
2