I could not believe How I met Stedman and Oprah Before Facebook! The universe has a way of creating social serendipity for sure.

 

Discover the advanced power of networing before social media was a term as my life changed forever when I met Stedman and Oprah! 

 

Years ago if anybody ever told me that I would be able to one day answer the question, “How I met Stedman and Oprah Before Facebook” and that I would have the opportunity interview Stedman Graham on several occasions, I would say that person was on wack on crack! But it happened to me!

 

How I met Stedman and Oprah before Facebook happened years before there was such a thing or term as a “social network”. I personally experienced the power of high end networking and how it happened cannot be scripted, but it can be traced to the understanding of having a powerful network.

One night while surfing the Internet, I ran across a woman named Bonnie St. John who I thought would be a perfect fit for an up coming episode of the Philippe Matthews Show. She was a woman who at age five had her right leg amputated and went on to become a Rhodes Scholar, an award-winning IBM Sales Rep, a White House Official, founder of her own business, plus winner of the Silver Medal for downhill skiing in the 1984 Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria. A true slacker…NOT! Lol!

Having established a great rapport with Bonnie, one day she asked me if I knew a radio talk show host by the name of John St. Augustine. I said no, and she proceeded to tell me about the phenomenal interviews he had with her and how he would really enjoy my story. I contacted John or he contacted me (I can’t remember which), and instantly we had great rapport and common interests. After about six months of being in contact with John and being on his radio show, PowerTalk, he called me up one day and we exchanged the following dialogue.

John: You’ll never guess who I just interviewed

Philippe: Who?

John: Stedman Graham!

Philippe: Really? You go boy! You are in the big leagues.

John: I told him about the Philippe Matthews Show and he’s waiting for you to call him.

Philippe: Are you serious?! Thank you, John!

Sure enough, I called and got the interview with Stedman Graham. After the interview, I looked at my calendar and noticed that the Book Expo was coming to Chicago, and on Sunday, Quincy Jones was to speak at a special book signing. Ironically, the date that Quincy was to speak, June 1st, was the same date that Stedman was to debut on the Philippe Matthews Show.

Once I got situated in my seat and I introduced myself at the table, I noticed Stedman walking into the room from the opposite side. By the time I got up to personally introduce myself, I saw Oprah coming in, wearing a beautiful peach dress and big hat – she lit up the room! After greeting Stedman, he quickly said, “Let me introduce you to Oprah.” I exchanged a hand shake and pleasantries with the power couple and at that moment, Stedman became one of my personal mentors in marketing and branding, and I truly realized the power of building a network.

Indecently, the day at the conference I was scheduled to interview Mark Victor Hansen where he went on video, endorsing me as the “Oprah of Internet!”

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