Winfrey posted a letter on Facebook today, explaining that Harpo Productions Inc. will join forces with OWN to run the network. The letter read:

So as of today… Harpo Team and OWN team become ONE.

Our intention is to use the cable platform and the internet platform and the mobile platform to create messages that fill you up and bring you to new levels of awareness about yourself, ourselves, and our world; our potential…

It’s an incredible challenge ahead trying to figure out what kind of shows and programming will resonate with you, inspire you, bring a little piece of light into your already crowded existence. But I feel called to do it, and will be relying on your feedback, emails and tweets and message boards to let me know what you think.

Read more at HuffingtonPost.com

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“I don’t think you ever stop giving. I really don’t. I think it’s an on-going process. And it’s not just about being able to write a check. It’s being able to touch somebody’s life.”

“Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.”

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”

“What God intended for you goes far beyond anything you can imagine.”

“Devote today to something so daring even you can’t believe you’re doing it.”

“Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”

“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.”

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Last week, Oprah invited past contributor, Iyanla Vanzant to her show. The hour long chat between the two unraveled their last interaction that resulted in Vanzant leaving Harpo Productions.  They also discussed her time starring in her own talk show with Executive Producer Barbara Walters.

The discussion was so powerful and positive that Part 2 airs today.  You don’t want to miss it. Click below for the preview.

http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/She-Lost-Her-Marriage-Her-House-Her-Fortune-Iyanla-Vanzant-Part-2

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1. Oprah Winfrey
Initially The Oprah Winfrey Show was just another talk show when it debuted in 1986. But what made it stand out and rise above the rest was the show’s host. Now The Oprah Winfrey Show is only a small part of Oprah’s empire, and in 2011, will cease to exist in its current format. But not because the show is cancelled, Oprah is moving onto something bigger than her own show. She’s starting her own network, appropriately called OWN.

2. Arsenio Hall
The Arsenio Hall Show revolutionized late night television. Just ask Bill Clinton who many say would have never won the 1992 presidential election had it not been for his surprise appearance on that show.

3. Mo’Nique
Unlike Arsenio, The Mo’Nique Show has a lot more competition in that late night slot. But the Oscar-winning comedienne has been able to hold her own against, pulling in her own unique audience on BET. While the rest of America was tuning into the drama of the late night talk show wars between Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno, plenty others tuned them out and tuned into Mo’Nique.

4. Tyra Banks
A show about service as much as it was celebrity, through The Tyra Show, Tyra used her beauty and brains for good. What Oprah is to the stay-at-home moms of America, Tyra was to the teenagers of America who came home after school and needed a big sister to understand them.

5. Wendy Williams
The popular radio DJ has successfully taken her format and gift of gossip to the small screen. Though Vh1 would air her radio show, The Wendy Williams Show has shown the queen of talk radio can also sit down on a couple of comfortable couch chairs and ask questions with the best of them.

6. Whoopi Goldberg

The moderator of The View is fearless and isn’t afraid to call it like she sees it. And if someone else is calling it like she sees it on the show, she’s not afraid to retort or even walk away.

7. Montell Williams
As a former Marine, and a victim to multiple scoliosis, Williams — an Emmy Award winning talk show host — used his show as a platform to bring awareness to various social issues in an aggressive style.

8. Star Jones
The controversial panel member on The View during it’s early years was one of the sharpest and most entertaining women on the panel.

9. Tavis Smiley
Many people were shocked when BET let Tavis Smiley’s contract as host of BET Tonight expire, but the charming media personality has landed on his feet. Now the host of his very own PBS show, Tavis Smiley, Smiley is doing what he does best, interviewing the people we’ve always wanted to talk to ourselves, asking them the questions we’ve always wanted to ask.

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Elev8 salutes Oprah Winfrey and celebrates another year of her remarkable life on earth!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY O!

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VIA PC MAG:

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey has been urging viewers to make their cars a “no phone zone” for weeks now, and she has joined forces with a variety of transportation safety organizations to designate Friday as “No Phone Zone Day.”

Winfrey is asking people to sign the “no phone zone” pledge on her Web site, a promise to not text while driving, not text and use hands-free calling, or not text or make calls while driving. As of Friday morning, Winfrey has secured 228,076 signatures, including a variety of high-profile celebrities who have appeared on her show.

“A call or text isn’t worth taking a life,” Winfrey said in a statement. “We must not allow more mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, sisters and brothers to die before we take action against distracted driving. Let’s put a stop to it now, by joining together on April 30 for national ‘No Phone Zone Day’, and by making our cars a ‘No Phone Zone.’”

Winfrey has the support of the Department of Transportation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Organizations for Youth Safety, FocusDriven, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), and RADD, the entertainment industry’s voice for road safety.

“I’ve made it my mission at the DOT to end distracted driving,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. “We know that if we can get people to put away cell phones and other electronic devices when they are behind the wheel, we can save thousands of lives and prevent hundreds of thousands of injuries every year.”

Winfrey will dedicate Friday’s show to phone safety. She also has a variety of resources about texting while driving on her Web site.

According to data from the Governors Highway Safety Association, 23 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam have laws banning texting while driving. Eight states have partial bans on texting while driving, which primarily apply to novice drivers or school bus drivers who have minors in their vehicles.

There have been a number of studies released in the last year studying the effect of texting on a driver’s reaction time. A July 2009 report from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute concluded that texting while driving increases the risk of a crash by 20 times.

A December 2009 study from the University of Utah found similar results. Researchers said that the practice significantly increases the chance of having an accident – more so than talking on the phone or simply reading a text message while behind the wheel.

Read more here

There are several African Americans that have made strides for us in media, check out this gallery that pays tribute to a few of those people:

Twitter has taken the world by storm, and all of the hottest celebrities are using it.  Check out our list of the hottest African Americans to follow on twitter.

Oprah Winfrey is removing Gospel singer BeBe Winans from her show’s “Karaoke challenge” until charges against him for allegedly pushing his ex-wife to the ground are resolved. Winans appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” last week and was seen in promos for future appearances. Now he’ll be cut out of the segment, said Winfrey spokesman Don Halcombe on Thursday.

Winfrey was criticized by some bloggers this week for including Winans after she had taken a strong stand against domestic violence earlier this year. She did a show on the topic when singer Chris Brown assaulted his then-girlfriend Rihanna.

The daytime TV leader said at the time: “Domestic violence is something that I wouldn’t tolerate. Period.”

Halcombe would only say that the decision to eliminate Winans was made this week. It was not clear if Winfrey had been aware that Winans was charged with misdemeanor domestic assault in the Feb. 13 incident, where Winans and his ex-wife Debra were allegedly arguing about their children. Winans has a court date set for Jan. 20. Winans’ manager did not immediately return a telephone call for comment.

“Let’s just not have a double standard on domestic violence or even accusations of domestic violence,” said Joni Reynolds, a woman from the Baltimore area and author of a blog called Ebony Mom Politics.

She had called attention to Winans’ participation and wondered if Winfrey had overlooked the charges because the Winans were friends or because there were no photos that had become public as in Rihanna’s case.

Reynolds commended Winfrey for deciding to take Winans off the show.

VIA EURWEB:

TMZ.com has tracked down the ex-wife of gospel star BeBe Winans to get her reaction to his continued appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” despite his ongoing domestic violence case.

In February, Debra Winans made headlines after accusing her ex-husband of shoving her to the ground in front of their two kids, ages 10 and 13. According to the report, the two had a “verbal altercation” regarding “custody issues dealing with their children.”

In light of Winfrey’s stand against domestic violence, and particularly Chris Brown, who has pleaded guilty to assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna, Debra Winans tells TMZ she’s “hurt by Oprah’s decision to have BeBe on the show.”

Ironically, BeBe’s arrest in February came one day before Oprah aired her domestic violence special in response to the Chris Brown case.

With a domestic violence charge pending until another court hearing next year, BeBe was on “Oprah” Friday to promote “Still,” his new gospel album with sister CeCe. He is also the host of “Oprah’s Karaoke Challenge,” a nationwide competition to find the best karaoke singer.

Round 1 of the challenge will air on Thursday (Nov. 5).

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