I have met Oprah 4 times in my life but this is the only picture I have to prove it.

My journey to meeting Oprah Winfrey all started with my dream interview experience with Whitney Houston. It was after watching one of her awe-inspiring shows that I gained the confidence to finally send in my video submission to MTV’s show FANatic. “God can dream a bigger dream than you!” was the Oprah quote that seemed to embody my moment with Whitney. When the show aired on MTV, my family hovered around the TV like it was the Super Bowl. The excitement in the room was so high that it literally gave me goose bumps. When the show started, I stared at the TV with my mouth agape. I couldn’t believe that this really happened and seeing it replay before my very eyes again was like night and day. You can describe what you remembered, but it is hard to truly find the words to express the emotion that came from watching yourself interact with Whitney Houston. To be sitting in the same room where I waited hours just to catch one of Whitney’s new videos on MTV left me speechless. Twelve years later, I’m waiting to see myself with Whitney Houston on MTV. It was truly a full circle moment.

The phone rung off the hook throughout the entire interview—my friends and family were calling frantically to speak to me. But I sat frozen in amazement. The nervous shake in my hands was the only movement from my body. Was the girl laughing with Whitney, talking with Whitney, hugging Whitney really me? I was so shocked I couldn’t even cry. Everyone in the house was dead silent, that is, until the first commercial came on. Next, all you could hear was screams.

“Oh my God! That was you and Whitney.” My sister said jumping up out of the chair.

“Yes that was you!” My mom screamed as she ran over to hug me.

“This is so good.” My brother said. “I can’t believe that’s actually you.”

“I love it!” One of my cousins screamed. “And you don’t have to guess what family you come from either. You are as loud and crazy as all of us. Just like you are around here.”

Right then, the commercials were over and the interview came back on.

My mom said, “Shhh everybody! It’s back on.” My mom said shaking both hands by her lips.

We all witnessed the remainder of my dream interview with Whitney and talked the rest of the evening about how blown away we all were that it really happened. Everyone was really happy for me. When the house cleared and it was time to go to bed, I stayed up and watched the tape of that interview over and over again. It was hard for me to digest my 12 year journey in the twelve minutes shown on MTV. Days, weeks and months later, MTV played re-runs of the interview. People seemed to recognize me everywhere I went. I had no idea how big MTV really was until I went traveling different places and found out people would still recognize me from my MTV moment.

The brief Whitney fame I had was enjoyable. For the first time I got to understand the true scope of Whitney’s legendary status through unexpected encounters with die hard Whitney fans online and in person. Fans would walk up to me randomly and talk about how long they too have loved Whitney Houston. I slowly began to realize that I wasn’t Whitney Houston’s number one fan at all. I was one of the hundreds of thousands of self-proclaimed number one Whitney fans that surrounded the globe.

As I would listen to other fans I would quietly think, Wow! They love Whitney just as much as I do. I am blessed that I was even chosen, it could have so easily been one of them. Where were they when I was fifteen? My Whitney journey was lonely. I can’t believe I thought I was the only number one fan, but I did. Listening to other fans made me feel even more grateful for my experience.

In addition to becoming aware of all of Whitney’s fans, I also started to receive many invitations to speak at high schools, churches and youth organizations about never giving up on your dreams. My experience was not just mine anymore. It was now a tool for me to help encourage others to follow their dreams. It blew my mind to see people be inspired to go after their dream just because I went after mine. This new truth made me want to thank anyone who was even remotely involved in making my dream come true. And at the top of my list was none other than media mogul, Oprah Winfrey. I felt like I just had to thank Oprah. But I didn’t want to write or email Oprah because that just seemed too impersonal. I wanted to thank her in person, for reigniting the hope in my dream. I just had to figure out how little ole me was going to get to Oprah Winfrey.

I decided that the best way for me to see her in person was to travel to Chicago and attend one of her show tapings at Harpo Studios. It took me a couple of weeks to get through those busy Oprah phone lines, but when I did, I secured my friend and I a seat in the audience. My plan was to get Oprah’s attention for ten seconds. In those ten seconds, I would thank her for inspiring me to manifest my dream moment with Whitney Houston.

On April 20, 1999, I entered Harpo Studios for an Oprah Winfrey Show taping. As soon as I took a seat in the audience, I sent up a quick prayer. God please let Oprah give me ten seconds, even if she doesn’t know why. As always, God delivered! I recommend always making room for God. During one of the show’s commercial breaks, I summoned the courage to put up ten fingers in front of Oprah’s face. The only reason she even saw me was because I was literally sitting three rows from the front, dead center. She couldn’t miss seeing me if she tried. Where I was sitting was no coincidence. I had persuaded Oprah’s audience supervisor, David Gloor, to sit me this close. After a little begging and prodding, he agreed and sat my friend and I in seats right in front of Oprah!

Oprah looked me right in the eyes and said, “Ten what?”

I couldn’t believe she was actually speaking to me. I knew I had better not half step with the queen of talk. I had to speak up and I HAD TO DO IT NOW!

“Ten seconds I would like to have with you before the show is over.” I quickly replied. Oprah smiled, nodded and went on with the show. I’m sure she has a heard some of everything from people in her audience over the twenty-five years she did her show. I didn’t know if this was her way of saying no, yes or maybe later. And since I’m an optimist at heart, I convinced myself that Oprah meant we would talk later. Don’t laugh or roll your eyes! It’s what I really told myself. When the taping was finally over, I was eager for my ten seconds with Oprah. Unfortunately, after thanking everyone for coming to the show, Oprah was on her way out of the studio. Before she turned around to leave, I was able to make eye contact with her. She caught my desperate puppy dog look out the corner of her eye.

Oprah looked at me and said “I gotta go (pointing at her watch), I can’t stay. I have to get ready for the second show.” She then smiled and turned around to leave.

Before she could take one step I said, “Uh, uh Oprah.” Talk about making a daring moment even more intense. The people in the studio were so quiet. Everyone heard me. I could see some of Oprah’s employees side eye me like, “Who does she think she is to stop Oprah from leaving her own studio?” But I was relentless. I had to block out the frightening silence and the hostile side eyes to focus on the reason I had even come, which was to thank Oprah. And that’s exactly what I planned to do.

Oprah looked at me again and said, “I just can’t stay. I really must go.”

“Oprah please.” I said looking at her like she would be literally killing me if she took one step away from me. “Ten seconds is all I need.”

“Alright then.” She said. “Go ahead then.

“What! Did I really just convince Oprah to actually listen to me. This had God written all over it, because in no way did she want to stop and listen to me. But my prayer was for to give me 10 seconds even if she didn’t know why. And that’s exactly what happened.

Photo courtesy of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Oprah then walked back to her big yellow chair on the set and sat down to listen to me. Although the show was technically over as soon as I began to speak there was a camera person at my feet, pointing his lens into my face. My only thought was, Quencie, this better be good. You better have your act together to stop Lady O from leaving.

The spirit was indeed with me because everything I wanted to tell Oprah came rolling off my tongue without any hesitation. My ten seconds turned into ten minutes, which perhaps was Oprah’s fear in the first place. When I was finished thanking her for the show that inspired me to hold onto my dreams, out of nowhere the audience erupted in applause. I was not expecting that kind of love from Oprah’s audience, especially when they were supposed to be on their way out. Afterwards, Oprah came over to where I was sitting and gave me a big hug. I gave her a picture of me and Whitney with the words “You Will Win, When you Believe” written at the bottom. Oprah smiled and read the words out loud.

“You will win, when you believe. Fantastic!” Oprah said. “This picture is too cute.”

“Thank you Oprah.” I replied.

“You’re most welcome.” she said.

I left Harpo studios walking on sunshine. I thanked God the whole way home. This encounter taught me don’t give up 5 minutes before the miracle, which is something I have heard Iyanla Vanzant say many, many times. If I had accepted Oprah’s first rejection, well that just would have been the end of it. She was literally on her way out of the studios. I wasn’t rude, but I was persistent and most of all I didn’t give up. Nothing at all looked like I would get what I got.

But instead, she stopped and gave me more than the ten seconds I had asked for. Oprah proved once again her quote to be true. “God can dream a dream bigger than you!”

This was not the first time I met Oprah, but it was the first time I stopped her from leaving her own studio to talk to me. I have met Oprah a total of four times in my life but, I only have one picture to prove it. All of my encounters hail from the audience of The Oprah Winfrey Show and her Life Class show on OWN.

My first Oprah encounter dated back to when I was in my first or second year of college. I went with a teacher who I had become friends with during my last years in high school. She taught me how to drive a stick shift so that I could help her make that 4 hour drive to Chicago from Springfield to attend the show taping. It still remains the only time I have ever driven a stick shift! We even got stopped by the police during our midnight practice session. I literally learned how to drive her car over a couple of hours. Looking back, I can’t believe we didn’t crash with me behind the wheel.

When we finally attended the show taping, we both were beyond excited. We sat in a section at the far left end of the studio. We were basically behind Oprah’s shoulder, which was close but not in a good way. I can’t remember what the topic of the show was but I quickly raised my hand when Oprah opened the floor for audience questions. Oprah’s producers immediately came over to find out what my question was. I guess it was their job to determine if it was worthy enough to even ask. When they heard my question, they directed me to go stand at the microphone to eventually ask it to Oprah. When I finally got to the mic, Oprah looked at me and said we are running out of time and we are not going to get to you. I put my hands up like what! My body language and facial expressions inspired the audience in the section I was sitting in to moan in disapproval. “Did you turn the whole section against me?” Oprah asked. We all laughed. She then came over to where I was and gave me a hug. I gave her an envelope, which included a short note and picture of me. I don’t have a picture of this moment with Oprah, but Oprah Winfrey actually spoke to me and gave me a hug during my first ever visit to her show. Epic!

The third time I met Oprah was in 2011. It was the last season of The Oprah Winfrey Show and I attended a taping that was all about Best Friends. Oprah’s best friend Gayle King was the only guest, and the audience was filled with best friends. For the first time ever, I had no parts in making this happen. My best friend Tam had never been to a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show and wanted to attend at least one show before it was all over. She found out there was going to be a special taping and the show was looking for only best friends. Tam wrote a letter about our friendship and all the things that made us best friends. Based on her letter, the show reached out and said we were selected to attend the show. We were super excited! I’m pretty sure there were thousands of people that wrote in, but her letter was actually chosen. We flew to Chicago with the excitement of two school girls going to Disneyland. Even though I had been to The Oprah Winfrey Show, you couldn’t tell it by my enthusiasm. It was as if I had never been. Nothing about this experience was old had for me.

When we finally made it to Harpo Studios, we took all kind of photos to memorialize our experience. After we wrapped up our mini photo shoot and crossed the street to get in the Oprah line, we ran into Oprah’s Executive Producer Sheri Salata. I can’t believe we got to take a picture with the lady who was responsible for managing Oprah’s team behind the scenes. The finale shows that Sheri Salata produced for Oprah at The United Center were iconic, so I was honored that we got this chance meeting with her.

We had a ball throughout this entire experience. From standing in line, to talking to other Oprah audience members, to actually sitting three rows back from Oprah right in the center. Yes we were that close! I couldn’t believe how much pixie dust was around us. It was like angels orchestrated our flow. Everything just fell into place. The show was all about best friends, and Oprah and Gayle shared all kind of experiences they shared as friends. It was a fun time.

After the show was over, Oprah and Gayle stayed and spoke to the audience for about 30 to 40 minutes. During this time period, different audience members raised their hands to ask Oprah and Gayle questions. We had no idea that Oprah would entertain questions, but since I was an interviewer, I was going to have one ready regardless. I practiced the perfect question for days. The plan was for me to raise my hand and ask my question. Since I was literally right in front of Oprah, this would be easy, right? Or so I thought. I raised my hand to get Oprah’s attention, but I was unsuccessful. Each time I raised my hand, she called on other people, so I said forget it. So, Tam was like…uh uh Oprah (in her head). She waited until Oprah looked in our direction and raised her hand at the right moment. Oprah immediately called on Tam. When Oprah pointed at Tam to speak, Tam said, “my best friend has a question.” Then turned her entire body to me. So, when I tell you I had no parts of making this happen, I mean no parts!

After Tam said that, Oprah immediately looked at me for the question. I was so nervous that I stumbled the question, but was finally able to get it out. What was so cool about my question was that, not only did Oprah address it, but Gayle jumped in and gave her two cents too. Their answer went on for over 6 minutes. No other question asked that day yielded that kind of engagement. I was so elated by that!

I found out later that my question and Oprah’s answer had been posted to Oprah.com. Wow! After meeting Oprah twice with nothing to show for it there’s now a whole video of me asking Oprah a question! In my mind, this was my Oprah interview. Lol! And to think for a good while I didn’t even know this existed. I knew it happened because I was there, but to see it on video was a whole other thing! If it were not for my friend’s sister, Triska, who tagged me on Facebook with the video, I still would not know! I completely freaked out when I saw it. I am still so grateful that she shared that video with me.

Having the opportunity to ask Oprah Winfrey a question was my major highlight from the show. But I had no idea what was yet to come. Oprah gifted the entire audience with a two-day experience at The Miraval Spa in Arizona. It’s one of the best spas in the world and one of Oprah’s favorites. It’s the same one she and Gayle went to several years ago and filmed an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. But the awesomeness didn’t stop there. Oprah made sure we all had roundtrip flights, roundtrip car service from the airport to the spa and pajamas!!! She thought of everything and provided it to us all for FREE. What an amazing experience. In one day, I got to ask Oprah a question and leave her show with a trip to a world class spa. I was so grateful! I have seen Oprah give away amazing gifts to people on her show for the 20 plus years that I watched it, but I never thought I would ever be the receiver of any.

Once Tam and I decided that we would go to the spa on Memorial Day Weekend, I immediately tweeted Oprah. When I tweeted Oprah she had about 5 million followers ( she now has 43 million followers) and I was like Oprah is never gonna see my tweet. Well, Oprah not only saw my tweet but she replied to it.

When Tam saw that Oprah actually replied to my tweet she immediately tweeted her too. And guess what? Oprah replied to her tweet too!. Tam had sent Oprah a thank you gift for the trip and wanted to see if she had received it. Actually, we both asked if she had received it. Oprah rarely used Twitter so for her to even be on the app when we tweeted was a miracle. But then to respond to both of us was back to back was mind blowing.

Tam and I had an amazing time at The Miraval Spa! We even saw Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia there. Now you know you are at a swanky place when Ellen is staying there the same weekend you are. I will always be so grateful to Oprah for this gift. Not sure I would have ever experienced a weekend like this without her. It was memorable and amazing.

When Oprah replies to one of your tweets you never forget it. Afterwards, I started to regularly live tweet during my favorite programs on her new channel, The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). This lead to a few of my tweets finding their way in promos on OWN.

Yes, you read that right! My tweets jumped from my Twitter timeline to my TV screen. I had tweets featured in a promo for the following shows: Oprah’s Next Chapter, Iyanla’s Fix My Life and Super Soul Sunday! It was crazy seeing my tweets on TV. It was definitely an honor that they were featured on OWN. It made me feel apart of the shows that I really loved and supported.

My Tweet Reads: @IyanlaVanzant is doing great TV @Oprah thank you got knowing that and putting her on @OWNTV

I was even contacted to live tweet for a few shows on OWN one Saturday night. I took over the @Owners twitter handle and had so much fun leading the conversation with fellow fans. Social media enabled my Oprah connection to continue. Most of us didn’t grow up with social media, so this was beyond exciting. At one time all we could do was talk back to the TV screen now we can actually tweet the star!

Who knew my Oprah journey would include Twitter takeovers and a trip to a world class spa - But it did!

My last Oprah encounter was at a live taping of her show Life Class! This time, I was the one who wrote to the show and somehow secured two seats for Tam and I to attend the taping. This show was being taped in LA, so we didn’t have to hop on a plane to Chicago like last time. It was taped in the lunch area of the OWN offices, so the audience was much smaller than the one at Harpo Studios. When Tam and I arrived at the taping, we hung out in a waiting room before being seated in the audience. Not long after we entered the room, I looked up and saw Arianna Huffington. Pretty fancy audience this is, I thought to myself. Later that day, Arianna Huffington actually served the audience snacks. I feel like only at an Oprah event would you look up and see something like that.

We were the last to be seated in the audience but that turned out to be a great thing. I thought for sure we would be sitting somewhere way in the back but, do you know they directed us to the first row! We not only sat up front but we sat right next to Oprah’s sister, Patricia Lofton.

Tam, Patricia Lofton (Oprah’s sister) and me

When the show started, we were less than 12 feet away from both Oprah Winfrey and Iyanla Vanzant who was her guest for the show. No one could have predicted this awesomeness but we were here for it. I was able to give Oprah a small present before the show started. It is my all time favorite pen. When I gave it to her, Oprah immediately said “Is this a Uniball?” “Yes!” I squealed that she knew what brand it was. I mean how did she know this? I had taken it out of the wrapper so she could actually use it in the show if she needed to so she didn’t see the wrapper. I was so freaked out she predicted the brand of pen before I could even tell her. Great minds think alike! She held the pen throughout the whole episode. You would have thought I bought her a new car the way I beamed with pride watching her hold that pen from my seat.

a candid shot I took of Iyanla and Oprah before taping began.

During one of the commercial breaks, I was able to somehow get Oprah’s attention. I basically asked her for a picture after the show was over without uttering a word. I mouthed my ask using eye contact and hand gestures to communicate what I wanted. Oprah got it immediately and nodded her head yes to me. It was like a secret between she and I. I don’t think anyone else saw our exchange, but it happened. I was quiet and very discreet. But just like with the pen, Oprah got it immediately! She understood exactly what I was asking for and agreed to it. I was going crazy on the inside asking myself, did you really just communicate with Oprah right now? You did! You did!

At some point during this show, I was supposed to ask a question. The producers had spoken to me beforehand, but due to time constraints they didn’t get to me. Unlike years before, I was pretty happy that they ran out of time. It was a very deep show and I was relieved that my participation only included listening. Once the show wrapped, everyone from the back of the audience started filing out. I kept my eyes on Oprah because she had silently promised me that we could take a photo. Well, promise may be pushing it, but she did nod yes!

When it was finally time for us to leave I quickly turned to Oprah with a look of desperation. You know the look you give your parents when they forgot that they promised you McDonald’s on the way home form school? The only thing that came out of my mouth while looking at Oprah was But….. Oprah saw me and did not miss a beat. She motioned her hand for me and Tam to come over to where she was. One of her employees who had been trying to usher us out ended up taking the picture of us. I was so freaking happy! I had met Oprah a total of four times, but this was the only time I could prove it.

Do you know how many celebrities who are nowhere near Oprah’s media maven status would never do what she did. I’ll give you a hint: Most of them! All of my experiences with Oprah included her giving me a moment. We all know this is Oprah Winfrey for goodness sake she ain’t got to do nothing she don’t want to do. My encounters span a few decades so I can truly say she never changed up. And by never hanged up I mean always kind. I believe with her you get exactly what you see. Thank you Oprah! I am grateful I got to even have one moment with you, let alone all that I have shared in this blog.