World ' s Richest Black Women Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele Tallahassee , Florida April 2015
BY : DIANA OZEMEBHOYA EROMOSELE GUEST COLUMNIST
SOME ARE SELF-MADE MILLIONAIRES OR BILLIONAIRES WHO LEVERAGED THEIR BUSINESSES INTO EMPIRES . OTHERS TOOK INHERITANCES AND FLIPPED THE MONEY INTO EVEN BIGGER VENTURES .
Becoming successful in the world of business is no easy feat , especially for a woman . This is especially true in patriarchal societies where women are not schooled at the same level as men and are considered second-class citizens . That ' s what makes this elite group of multimillionaire and billionaire women even more impressive .
OPRAH WINFREY
Oprah partly credits her $ 3 billion fortune to a conversation she had with film critic Roger Ebert in the 1980s while the two were out on a date . Ebert convinced Winfrey to take ownership of her talk show by producing the program herself and taking it into syndication . More than 20 years later , Winfrey , 61 , has leveraged her media imprint into a solid acting career , a movie production company , healthy real estate acquisitions , a television network ( OWN ), a lucrative self-help tour and countless other endeavors that keep the big bucks coming in . And she ' s not slowing down : She recently announced that her Chicago-based Harpo Studios will close by year ' s end to merge with OWN headquarters in Los Angeles , where both production company and network can work together to expand Winfrey ' s reach even further .
These black women amassed their fortunes by building media empires ; investing in oil blocks , telecommunication products and mining companies in Africa ; and managing diverse portfolios chock-full of lucrative businesses . Have a look at their paths to fortune .
BEYONCE KNOWLES-CARTER
Beyonce is one of the most successful recording artists of our time . She began her career at age 9 with the girl group Destiny ' s Child and went on to become an even more successful solo artist , putting out five studio albums and embarking on sold-out world tours . She inked a multimillion-dollar endorsement deal with Pepsi and has a line of fragrances with Tommy Hilfiger , as well as a women ' s clothing line that she co-owns with her mother called House of Dereon . Beyonce is also currently developing an athletic-wear clothing line with United Kingdom fashion house Top Shop . The 33-year-old has said that her most impressive achievement is creating her own management and production company in 2008 called Parkwood Entertainment , which produces all of her videos , television specials and a few movies she ' s starred in . It doesn ' t hurt that when her reported net worth ($ 450 million ) is combined with her husband Jay Z ' s , they ' re one smoking-hot billionaire couple .