Oprah Winfrey: Work is hard

02 February 2012Oprah Winfrey believes that "starting something from scratch" is a challenge.

The billionaire philanthropist spent $40 million to create the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, a single sex boarding school in South Africa that officially opened in 2007.

Oprah is also deeply involved in running her OWN television network, which went live in January 2011.

The superstar was happy to travel to South Africa to celebrate the first graduating class of her academy recently, but won't open another school anytime soon.

"Can you believe it? And not only are 100 percent graduating, 100 percent are also going to college!" Oprah gushed to Extra at the graduation ceremony. "No, you will not see another [academy]... well, maybe you will. Starting from scratch is hard. Whether you're building a network or building a school, starting from scratch is hard."

Although her schedule is frenetic, Oprah is compelled to motivate others through her work.

"The reason I did OWN was I wanted to continue the platform to speak to people in a way that made them feel inspired," she explained. "And that's been harder than I thought it would be, but it's also been as exciting as I thought it would be."

A dynamic businesswoman, Oprah has learned one major new skill as the CEO of OWN.

"What I know now is you start one show at a time, one night at a time... building your nights instead of trying to do it all at one time," Oprah shared. © Cover Media