00:00It is so appropriate that Oprah is getting this power award because to my mind, the mark of a true leader is someone who's not afraid to pass their power, knowledge and leadership on.
00:21And I have had the privilege of watching her do just that with her girls, as she likes to call them, at the extraordinary Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.
00:34I introduce you to the alumni of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.
00:51When you need some more, I'll be your angel When you're going to fly, I feel calm running And we can touch the sky, we can touch the sky
01:06Oh, we can touch the sky
01:09Good afternoon. I am Shaday Stephens, and we represent the second graduating class of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.
01:28You all know her as Oprah Winfrey, but to us, she's Mom Oprah.
01:34Almost six years ago, the trajectory of our lives changed.
01:39The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls took us in.
01:43Mom Oprah took us in and groomed us into the young woman that you see before you today.
01:49Her role as consultant mom, her grace, her wisdom has helped me and carried me through some of the toughest times in my life.
01:59Mom Oprah, you inspire us.
02:03Every day, you live the best and highest expression of yourself.
02:08And your example allows us to do the same.
02:11Because of you, all nine of us will be attending college here in the United States this fall.
02:18This is something we would have never imagined possible.
02:33We know that we can excel because of your love.
02:37We live our dreams because of your light.
02:40You define the very essence of power.
02:43Not only because you use your voice, but also because you have given us our voice.
02:50We love you.
02:51We admire you.
02:53And we are humbled by the opportunity to share this day with you.
02:57It is our very honor to present you with the 2013 Essence Black Woman in Hollywood Power Award.
03:06Ladies and gentlemen, Oprah Winfrey.
03:10Nobody would be able to say a whole new day.
03:11Everybody, be able to say yeah.
03:13It is a new day.
03:16It is a new day.
03:18We are getting ready.
03:21Everybody ready, yeah.
03:23For a new day.
03:25For a new day.
03:28Celebrate today.
03:29Hey, hey, hey, hey.
03:39Wow. My girls. My son. And I never wanted to be a mother. But it has come at just the most precious time.
03:54I am humbled by this day. And so grateful to Essence for this honor. I grew up with Essence, as Alfre said, from the very first issue.
04:15And what a thrill and a delight to see yourself reflected on the pages when you are a young, growing woman.
04:28I believed everything Essence said. Essence was my Bible.
04:33In the days when Marsha Ann Gillespie first was the editor, I would pull out her editorial comments every month.
04:44And I would keep them in a folder for myself. And I'd do speeches and quote her and give her no credit.
04:49So I believed Essence. And as I completed the color purple and was starting the Oprah Winfrey show,
05:06the Essence magazine was the first magazine to approach me about a national cover.
05:12And I was just, oh my God, I'm going to be on the cover of Essence.
05:16And when the magazine came out, it said that I was a self-made millionaire and listed how much money I was going to make that year.
05:27And I said, whoa, if Essence says it, it must be true.
05:36So I thank you for that great prophecy, Essence, that has come true.
05:43There is nothing better than being honored by your own.
05:58You know, in all the years of the Oprah Winfrey show, 4,651 of them,
06:04I, there was a theme that ran through every single show, whether I was talking to people who had committed great crimes,
06:14or whether I was talking to people who had been the victims of some kind of issue or dysfunction,
06:20or whether it was Beyonce and all of her Beyonce-ness.
06:24At the end of every interview, in one form or another, every person has, even you, Gabrielle, when you were on,
06:33but you don't even know you did this, at the end of the interview, the person always in some way says,
06:38was that okay?
06:39Was that okay?
06:40Was that all right?
06:41Did I do okay?
06:43Did that work?
06:45Was that...
06:45And what I learned over the years, as that theme kept coming up in every single person, no matter who it was,
06:52was that okay, is that that really is what we're all looking for,
06:56is to know that we are seen, we are heard, that what we say means something.
07:05And that is whether you're talking to your two-year-old or talking to your boss, your spouse,
07:11everybody wants to know that they matter.
07:16And you can just dissolve any argument the moment the person recognizes that they are being heard,
07:26they are being seen, and what they say matters.
07:29This award, this award, this power award, means something special to me, and it matters,
07:38because what I learned after leaving the Oprah Winfrey Show is that you can make the top of the list,
07:46and when certain people decide that you're no longer on the top of the list,
07:51they can put you at the bottom of the list, or they can completely take you off the list,
07:55because they've decided, they have decided, that you are no longer worthy of their distinction of power.
08:04But when Essence says, I believe it is true.
08:13I believe it is true.
08:16And the reason is, is because Essence knows me, Essence knows us.
08:21And from the moment I started as a public figure, this magazine and its editors, its staff,
08:31Ms. Taylor, Mickey Taylor, love you,
08:35has been nothing but supportive of all of our stories,
08:40and us being able to tell our stories.
08:42I stand here in recognition that true power comes from what Gary Zukav says in his book,
08:50The Seat of the Soul.
08:51When the personality comes to serve the energy of the soul, that is authentic power.
09:00When you can use your personality to serve the real reason you are here,
09:11you let the personality work for the energy of the soul.
09:17That is authentic power.
09:20And when I discovered that, I knew that somehow as a young girl growing up,
09:24that it was the truth that really mattered.
09:27It was the truth that worked.
09:28And when I was in the middle of doing shows that didn't feel quite right to me
09:34and made a decision in the late 80s, early 90s,
09:37that I was no longer going to be used by television,
09:42that I was going to figure out a way to use television to serve a greater power.
09:49And Maya Angelou said to me,
09:50Baby, right now you're in show business,
09:52but one day you're going to figure out that it's really all about your father's business.
09:56And the truth is, everything that I do,
10:02who I am, who I strive to be,
10:06is about my father's business.
10:09Acts 17.28.
10:14In God, I move and breathe and have my being.
10:20I use it to comfort me.
10:23I use it to bring solace.
10:25I use it to bring strength.
10:27And many times, as all of you have experienced,
10:29when you're in the room and you're the only brown face in the room,
10:33you're the only one, Mara, sitting at that table,
10:35and there you are, surrounded by everybody else who doesn't look like you.
10:39I recite the line from Maya's poem that says,
10:43I come as one, but I stand as 10,000.
10:48I bring the 10,000 in there with me.
10:52Those whose shoulders we all have stood on,
10:55and those who've made a way out of no way,
10:57and have made it possible for all of us to be all so dignified in the room today.
11:02I am grateful that you see me and that you have heard me
11:09and that what I have said has mattered.
11:14Thank you for this award.
11:32Can I just say, before I step off the stage,
11:36I'm looking at Ms. Iyanla Van Dant.
11:38When I stepped down from the Oprah show
11:40and took on the mantle of building a network from the ground up,
11:44Lord, hello, hello, hello, hello.
11:46I had no idea how difficult that was going to be.
11:49And Iyanla and I came back,
11:54and she said, I'm going to help you birth this baby.
11:57And anybody who's seen her show, Iyanla Fixed My Life,
12:01knows that she does.
12:02Anybody whose life needs fixing, call 1-800-E-YAN-LA.
12:11But I just want to say, my sister,
12:13thank you so much for being there for me
12:15and for helping me make the pivot
12:17and to put OWN on the rise.
12:20Thank you all so much.
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