Nate Berkus
In 2001, Oprah invited interior designer Nate Berkus onto The Oprah Winfrey Show for a single-room makeover, and hasn’t let him out of her sight since. The Chicago-area designer already had his own firm with a long clientele list, but Berkus’ career was propelled into its own stratosphere when he was named the show’s featured design expert. Since then he’s become a best-selling author and Sirius XM radio talk-show host; most recently he launched a line of products on the Home Shopping Network. In 2008, Berkus was also the host of Harpo Productions’ first shot at a reality series, Oprah’s Big Give, which wasn’t picked up for a second season. Some observers speculate he’s next in line to join the ranks of Dr. Phil and Rachael Ray with his own television show — assuming that hosting misstep doesn’t knock him out of the running.
