Winfrey shared a story from the very beginning of her career in Baltimore, when male executives told her she needed to change her name because 'nobody is going to remember Oprah.' They suggested 'Susie' — a friendly, relatable name. She refused. Throughout her career, she said, she had been asked countless times to compromise and sell out, told that taking the high road would cost her advertisers, ratings, and survival in the business. She let them go. Twenty-one years later, she was still the number one show. She invoked Harriet Tubman, who said she could have liberated thousands more 'if only she could have convinced them that they were slaves,' urging graduates never to become slaves to any form of selling out. She also quoted James Baldwin: 'Your crown has been paid for, so put it on your head and wear it.'