From the University of Iowa to Oprah, always a Hawkeye fan

The co-president of the Oprah Winfrey Network considers the Rose Bowl a housewarming present.

'It's a little miracle in my life,' said Sheri Salata, who has worked for Winfrey since 1995. 'I'm moving to Los Angeles full-time and arrive the night of the 29th at my new permanent home. It's amazing how this is working out for me.'

Salata is a 1980 University of Iowa graduate, with a bachelor's degree in business administration. She gave the commencement address at the UI's Tippie College of Business graduation in May 2013, and is a member of Tippie's advisory board.

'Iowa Hawkeye' is part of Salata's Twitter profile. She is a devoted Hawkeye football fan who will be in Pasadena to watch her team play Stanford Jan. 1. in the Rose Bowl.

'Nothing could keep me from it,' she said.

Salata grew up in the Chicago area. She made Iowa her college choice before ever visiting the campus.

'I was accepted at the University of Illinois and some private schools,' she said, 'but I got a brochure from Iowa and it seemed perfect for me.'

She had several jobs out of college before returning to Chicago in 1987 and going to work for an advertising agency. She later applied for a job at Winfrey's Harpo Studios in Chicago. She didn't get it, but a few years later Harpo called her about a job there as promotions producer.

So Salata went to work for Winfrey in 1995. She became the executive producer of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' in 2006, and held that job through the end of the show's 25-year run in 2011.

'It was very, very intense,' Salata said, 'It was a 90-hour workweek, working seven days a week. But it was thrilling. I got the ride of my life.'

After the last Oprah show in May 2011, Winfrey made Salata and Erik Logan presidents of OWN, which debuted that year.

The network started slowly from a viewership standpoint, but has made significant ratings gains the last couple years. It's available in 85 million homes.

'As a creative person, it's been exhilarating and intense,' Salata said. 'We did have some difficult days and felt we were doing things quite publicly. But we're accomplishing something that's very rewarding.'

For the last 4 1/2 years, Salata has traveled weekly between Los Angeles and Chicago. Next week, she becomes a resident of southern California.

Almost immediately, she'll reunite with sorority sisters and other longtime college friends, and will ring in 2016 at an Iowa football game.

'My closet is full of black and gold,' Salata said.

'I get back to Iowa twice a year for the Tippie board, and I try to get to at least one football game a year. This year I was at the Maryland game, tailgating in the pouring rain. There's nothing like a Hawkeye game in Kinnick.'

She said she rooted hard for Iowa as she watched the telecast of the Big Ten championship game from Indianapolis. But the Hawkeyes' loss in that game lost its sting for her the next day when she learned Iowa was Rose Bowl-bound.

'This season has been wonderful,' she said. 'I've loved how this year's team has marched through the season with such humility and grace, winning, winning, winning.'