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WNBA.com Celebrates Women's History Month:
Tamika Williams on Oprah Winfrey

WNBA.com asked Minnesota Lynx forward Tamika Williams to name the woman she most admires and with whom she would most want to spend a day. Williams shares her thoughts on talk-show host Oprah Winfrey and on how she views herself and the WNBA in the context of women's history.

In addition to hosting the "Oprah Winfrey Show" since 1986, Winfrey also owns a production company, Harpo, and runs "O" magazine. She also appeared in films such as "The Color Purple" and "Beloved."


Tamika Williams admires Oprah.
Jennifer Pottheiser/WNBAE
Getty Images
"I would have to say Oprah Winfrey. Not only is she the richest woman in America, but just the things that she gives out, she’s such a positive person. We actually got to meet her a couple of years ago on Fisher’s Island in Miami. We were out there visiting some of our donors and she was in a car and we got to meet her. My mother likes her, and I watched her so young and I learned so many things. And it was one of the shows that you could watch and cry every time you watch it. And just knowing all that she’s been through and knowing where she’s come from, she’s just very inspirational, I believe.

"If I could spend a day with Oprah, I would probably do what she does to other people – I would love her job! – but I would probably try to interview her. Not ask her questions like how were you treated. I know she was molested as a young child and all that stuff. But like, where do you see yourself now? How does it really feel knowing that she’s in her forties, she hasn’t had a kid, she’s not married, how has money really [affected her life]. Just kind of like a fly on the wall, just kind of ask her questions like that."

Do you think of yourself as a part of women's history?
"Definitely. Just like the Lisa Leslie's and the Teresa Weatherspoon's and the Sheryl Swoopes's have left their legacies, and Jennifer Gillom, Debbie Black, even some of the older players – I want to be remembered as somebody who was pivotal in changing women’s sports. I think what we did last year changed women’s sports. It put it to a whole other level. Now people have to play here. The Dukes have to play here. Considering what’s going on still with us being undefeated, I think there are just new levels rising – breaking records and with women in sports."

What do you want to leave as your legacy?
"And absolutely the ability to balance both life and basketball. I mean, I’m in grad school [Tamika’s currently studing Sports Management at Ohio State] and I’m a professional athlete, so is Lisa Leslie. So I think just showing girls that there is so much to do – some people go overseas, some people here are working for a big time company. I think that because my mother never had the opportunity. She’s 6’3”, she’s taller than I am, but she couldn’t play sports. She just had to be a teacher, a nurse or a secretary. She chose to be a teacher because she wanted to go to college, but I just think just from her to even my sister, who’s about eight years older than me, to now, there’s so many things that have changed. And I just want to be remembered as having a little drop into this big ocean of change for women’s sports."

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