Imagine surviving a childhood most of us couldn't bear to picture, becoming one of the most influential women in the world, and then, at 56, starting a new chapter that makes you question everything you've worked for.

Welcome to Episode 10 of The Reinvention Series.

I'm Wanda, founder of Estetika. I started my own ecommerce business at 50, and now, at 54, I'm building a global beauty accessories brand. This series is where I share the stories of women whose second, third and fourth acts remind us how much can still be ahead.

This time, it's Oprah Winfrey.

From rural Mississippi to finding her voice

Today, at 72, Oprah is one of the most recognisable women in the world. But her story began in Kosciusko, Mississippi, in 1954, where she spent her first six years living in poverty with her grandmother.

Her childhood was marked by enormous hardship, including sexual abuse that she has spoken about publicly since the 1980s. It's hard to read about, and I don't want to rush past it.

What strikes me is where she found her way out. Her grandmother taught her to read before she was three. As a teenager in Nashville she joined the school speech team, won an oratory contest that earned her a university scholarship, and was reading the news on local radio by 17. Reading, public speaking and, eventually, broadcasting gave her a voice.

Demoted at 23, and the turn that changed everything

At 22, Oprah moved to Baltimore to co-anchor the evening news at WJZ-TV. Less than eight months later, at 23, she was taken off the news desk. She took stories to heart, and she simply wasn't considered suited to traditional news reporting. She has described being devastated.

But the very thing that didn't fit the news desk, her ability to connect with people, was exactly what daytime television needed. She was moved to a local talk show, then on to Chicago, and by 32 The Oprah Winfrey Show had gone national. It ran for 25 years and became one of the most successful talk shows in television history.

She built a media empire, became a billionaire, and inspired millions of women around the world. In 2013 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Reinventing at 56: the OWN years

Here's the part of the story I find most moving.

On 1 January 2011, at 56, Oprah launched OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, her own network created as a joint venture with Discovery. After everything she had achieved, you might expect it to be a sure thing.

It wasn't. In its early years the network struggled. Ratings disappointed, the financial pressure mounted, and critics openly questioned whether she had made a terrible mistake.

Oprah has been honest about how hard that period was. She later said people were counting her out, that after 25 years at number one she hadn't expected failure, and that she was tested and had to dig deep. She even admitted to making "101 mistakes" with the launch.

Rather than walk away, she stayed. She stepped in as CEO herself, changed direction, invested in new programming, and kept going. By mid-2013 the network had turned the corner.

What I took from her story

We often imagine that by our 50s, successful women have everything figured out. That the hard, uncertain beginnings are behind us.

Oprah reminds me that experience doesn't protect us from failure. It doesn't stop a new venture from being difficult, and it doesn't make criticism sting any less. What it can give us is the steadiness to stay, to adjust, and to keep going when the first version doesn't work.

She once said failure is a great teacher, and that it's one thing to know it intellectually and another to live it. I think many women over 50 understand that better than anyone.

My own reinvention at 50

When I started Estetika at 50, I didn't have it all figured out either. I had years of experience in other parts of my life, but building an ecommerce brand from scratch was new territory. There have been things I got right, and plenty I've had to rethink along the way. I wrote more about why I started again in The Reinvention Series: Why I Started Again at 50.

Every quilted case we make, from our White HOMEE to the Pink HOMEE you might have spotted in the video, was designed in Sydney and shaped by lessons I only learned by doing. Some of those lessons came from mistakes. I've stopped seeing that as a sign I started too late, and started seeing it as part of the work. If you'd like to see the full range, it's all in our makeup bags and cosmetic cases collection.

Stories like Oprah's, and the earlier episodes on women like Trinny Woodall and Martha Stewart, remind me that a wobbly chapter doesn't mean the story is going badly. Sometimes it means it's just getting interesting.

Over to you

I'd love to hear your story. What's something you have overcome, or are reinventing right now?

Leave a comment below, or join the conversation on the YouTube episode. I read every one.

Watch Episode 10 of The Reinvention Series: Oprah Winfrey

Wanda x
Founder, Estetika