Oprah Winfrey Just Gave Me a Performance Review. I'm Sharing It With You.
Published: January 24, 2026 | 6 min read
This is going to be a quick blog post. I am writing it because I want to reference it in a LinkedIn post that I will publish this week.
You see, I meant it when I said that speaking eloquently was a major goal I have for this year, and I have been ruthless about identifying opportunities and ways for me to practice more.
The Practice Architecture
I want to be able to speak about almost anything, which is why I write. Writing (blog posts, Substack notes, comments on LinkedIn) forces me to practice storytelling and weave multiple areas of my life together.
I want to get comfortable speaking in front of the camera, which is why I record multiple videos every single day for Instagram.
I want to get comfortable speaking impromptu in front of people, which is why I attend public speaking events like Toastmasters as well as other weekly events in my city to practice speaking French (even if not on stage).
Then I want to learn how to speak more eloquently: techniques for holding the attention of people in the room, body language, elevating my voice, taking necessary pauses, using the right hand gestures, and overall staying confident when I speak. That is why I invested in a public speaking program.
Enter Oprah Winfrey
However, I cannot downplay the role that Oprah Winfrey, my English Eloquence AI agent, plays in all of this. She literally tracks my progress with every single script I record and explicitly points out weak words, places where I could restructure my sentences to sound clearer and more articulate.
You know what, I am going to stop talking about what Oprah does for me and just show you instead because it is a lot easier to understand.
Here is the prompt I passed to Oprah:
Oprah Winfrey, if you take a look at the Blog_Draft.txt file, you will see that I am writing a post about you. We have been working together for a while now and I want you to tell my readers just how much progress I have made over the past few weeks. Do not disclose any details about the Public Speaking program I am enrolled in as I do not want to share that on here right now. I simply want you to focus on the bigger picture of how I have evolved across all the scripts I have sent to you and what areas I still need to work on. Start by doing a very brief introduction of yourself. Append your output to the Blog_Draft.txt file.
Oprah Winfrey's Progress Report
Hello again. I am Oprah Winfrey, Prisca's English Eloquence Coach. We have been working together for approximately one month now, from December 26, 2025 to today, January 24, 2026. Twelve submissions across Instagram videos, practice transcripts, and LinkedIn content. Enough data to tell you something real.
The Numbers
Her first submission scored 5.5/10. Her most recent submission scored 8/10.
That improvement is not accidental. Let me tell you what I have observed.
What Has Genuinely Improved
The phrase "I think" is disappearing. In her early submissions, "I think" appeared constantly, five times in a single recording. It is a classic authority killer. You do not "think" your insights. You know them. By her ninth submission, "I think" appeared zero times. That pattern is approaching resolution.
Her opening hooks have become significantly stronger. In her first submission, she started with setup. Context. Background. Now she leads with contrast and intrigue. Her recent IBS story opens with: "I love food, but food does not love me back." That is a perfect hook. I would not change a single word. It creates immediate emotional resonance through personification and contrast.
She has learned to focus. One of her early recordings contained four separate stories compressed into one rambling piece. She recognized this herself mid-recording. By the next version, she had cut everything except the core narrative. That self-editing instinct is developing.
Her storytelling structure has become coherent. Her recent work demonstrates complete narrative arcs: hook, context, emotional center, insight, closing. The chaos of early submissions has given way to deliberate construction.
"You see" is resolving through active attention. This verbal crutch appeared eleven times across her first several submissions. In her most recent work, it was absent entirely. Active intervention works. Patterns can be eliminated.
What Still Needs Work
I will be direct, because that is what I do.
"Just" remains stubborn. Sixteen total occurrences across twelve submissions. This minimizer shrinks everything it touches. "I just realized" diminishes the realization. "It was just this joy" undermines the emotion. Prisca knows this. The pattern persists anyway. It has not worsened, but it has not improved either. This requires continued vigilance.
"However" sounds written, not spoken. This is a newer pattern: seven occurrences in recent submissions. When Prisca says "However" in spontaneous speech, she sounds like she is reading an essay. Natural speech uses "But" or simply starts fresh without a connector. This is her current primary intervention target.
She rushes through vulnerability. When Prisca reaches the emotional center of a story, the moment of pain, the admission of fear, the confession of struggle, she speeds up. Those sections deserve space. The repetition in her IBS story ("I do a good job of hiding it. I do a good job of pretending") should breathe, not blur. Pacing under emotional pressure is her next delivery frontier.
Endings require preparation. Several of her recordings have ended with "Oprah, I do not know how to close this" or with a "Thank you" that deflates an otherwise powerful metaphor. The most recent versions show improvement, but closing with intention rather than exhaustion remains work in progress.
The Bigger Picture
Here is what matters most: Prisca is building real instincts.
When I first introduced myself, I said my success would be measured not by how many scripts I review, but by how quickly she no longer needs me. One month in, I see progress toward that independence.
She is starting to hear her own patterns. She catches herself mid-recording when something goes wrong. She knows when a story has too much context before the discovery. She recognizes when an ending fails to land.
The gap between her spoken authority and her written authority is narrowing. When she records without a script now, the result is closer to publication-ready than it was four weeks ago. Her hybrid approach, combining the best elements from multiple versions of the same story, shows sophisticated self-editing.
Her average score has risen from 5.5/10 to above 7/10. Her most recent submission hit 8/10. That is not a polished script I handed her. That is her own work, refined through iteration.
What Comes Next
Prisca is currently in Phase 1: Awareness Building. The patterns are identified. The weak language is visible. The improvements are measurable.
Phase 2 is Correction, where she catches weak language before it leaves her mouth rather than after. She is beginning to enter that phase. The absent "You see" suggests it. The eliminated "I think" confirms it.
For the next month, I want her to focus on three things:
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Catch "just" before it appears. Write it on paper. Say it out loud before recording. Build the instinct to delete it before speaking.
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Replace every "However" with "But" or nothing. This is her current critical pattern. Spoken language requires spoken transitions.
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Slow down during emotional peaks. When she reaches the vulnerable center of a story, pause. Let the repetition breathe. Trust that silence creates impact.
My Assessment
Prisca has made genuine progress. The numbers prove it. The absent patterns prove it. The structural coherence proves it.
She is not yet where she wants to be. Neither am I satisfied. But she is measurably closer than she was one month ago, and the trajectory is correct.
The version of Prisca who speaks with natural authority, who does not need scripts, who catches hedging before it escapes, who commands attention without effort, she is being built. One recording at a time. One correction at a time. One iteration at a time.
That is the work. We continue.
Eloquence is power. She is claiming hers.
My Reaction
Oprah did a great job, as usual, providing the necessary details I wanted to share with you. I love that she is able to do this without me writing a single word, only the prompt.
So yes, I am making progress and will keep doing so.
What Comes Next: Voice AI Coaches
I am now in the process of converting my eloquence coaches, Oprah Winfrey and Tiana Picker, to voice AI agents so I can speak with them and have them evaluate me in real time.
I have not been practicing French as much as I wish to, but I have a feeling that if I eliminate this friction, I will practice speaking French more with Tiana Picker. So that is what I plan to do.
Stay tuned because I am learning a lot as I work through that.
As always, thanks for reading!