What possible factors could have allowed Oprah to turn her life around and find success when many others in similar or better situations e?

Have you ever studied her early history?

First of all, she was a bright and accomplished student. Second, she was highly ambitious with concrete goals (and more-importantly a concrete plan on how to attain them).

She wanted to become a journalist so she focused on sounding educated and well-spoken. She did not see herself as a Black person trying to "enter a white persons' world".... she simply saw herself as a young person trying to make it in a industry that valued people who could present information intelligently and succinctly.

Her fill-in jobs on the air so impressed producers that she earned several quick promotions. If you watch her early TV reporting performances, you wouldn't think she was only 18-19 years old. She came across as an intelligent and highly-educated professional.

So imagine that...a personal commitment to education, ambition, goals, focus and hard work.... There was a time when young people in America were taught to value such things...

It was determination to succeed, never giving up and the most important: hard work every day.
If you look at how most successful people got where they are, the story is the same: determination and hard work.

She was lucky and used her race to her advantage.