Although Ellen’s is still on the air and Oprah has retired, they have both had great success in what they do (Caplan). They both came from backgrounds that are very different, but they both right at the beginning of their lives had a name confusion. Oprah had a letter switched out of her name! When she was born, her parents intended on naming her “Orpah…but the midwife transposed the name’s second and third letters on her birth certificate,” and it stuck (Winfrey, Oprah 1). Ellen on the other hand, always born Ellen, took the identity as simply, “Vance’s Sister.” She realized that she was treated as lesser than her brother when she realized her house had statues dedicated to him and when she asked to see pictures of herself they were not her at all (DeGeneres, Ellen 1). This made her extremely self-aware and realize she was more than just the nickname people have given her. They were both able to make big names for themselves having their own shows, appropriately named after …show more content…
In the years prior to quitting Oprah focused heavily on female power and motivating the young girls of the world. Oprah was not always respected as a female from an early age. She lived with her mother in a Milwaukee ghetto. Throughout her teenage years there, she experienced sexual abuse and started becoming rather delinquent (Garcia-Myers). Even through the hardships, people always knew she was meant to do something big. All throughout her life she helped people in any way she could. In January, 2005 though, she opened “The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa” (Garson 23). “Education is the way to move mountains, to build bridges, to change the world” and by building this school she has done, and is doing just that! (Poirier