There was a time when everything Oprah Winfrey touched seemed to turn to gold. From the San Francisco Bay Area to parts east, north, and south she has earned respect as a career expert, tackling one new job after another, creating an enviable professional resume and offering inspiration for many.
Her nationally syndicated talk show debuted in 1986 and pulled in higher ratings than any show of its kind.
She was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as Sofia in Steven Spielberg's "The Color Purple." Two decades later, she would produce a Broadway musical based on the film. That effort resulted in 11 Tony Award nominations.
In 2000, she helped to co-found Oxygen, a television network that was sold to NBC for $925 million just seven years later.
Oprah also published "O," a highly successful magazine with subscriptions still going strong to this day. She has her own satellite radio station.
Plus, any book that she recommends through her "Oprah's Book Club" seemed to win a golden ticket straight to the top of the best-seller list. Regular guests to her talk show like Dr. Phil and Nate Berkus get spun off into highly successful shows left and right.
It was thought that Oprah could do no wrong, which is why it was shocking to many that her latest venture has failed to live up to the very high bar that anything with the Oprah name seems to have set for it.
In 2008, Oprah announced she was starting her own television network. In fact, that's exactly what she named it: OWN, which stands for the Oprah Winfrey Network. After several failed starts, the network went live on January 1, 2011.
However, instead of dominating the airwaves, Oprah's network has struggled to get by. Fans who were too busy following the last few episodes of Oprah's network talk show, which finally came to an end on May 25, 2011, didn't seem to notice OWN. Since then, the network has failed to make a big splash and has remained well below the radar of most viewers.
Perhaps it is unfair to say that Oprah has failed just yet. Anyone attempting to start a new career will make a few mistakes along the way. It takes time to figure out the ins and outs of a new business venture, especially when you're not devoting 100 percent of your attention to it.
Now that Oprah is done with her "old job" she has decided to jump into the new venture with both feet. She has taken over the role of CEO of the network and has starting airing episodes of a new interview show that she is hosting.
In other words, Oprah is not giving up. She will keep polishing that professional resume because she understands that big career changes requires a lengthy adjustment period, and you can't bail out after a bit of a rocky start. And given her track record, is there anyone who really doubts that in this new job that she'll once again find that pot of gold at the end of this rainbow?
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