Oprah Winfrey was born January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi, and raised in inner-city Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a single teenage mother. She landed a job in radio while still in high school as a co-anchor for the local evening news. By 2007, she was often ranked as the most influential woman in the world. In 2013, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.