Oprah Winfrey talks to thought leaders, influencers and celebrities about what Essence Magazine has meant to them over the 50 years it has been in print in OWN's new five-part docuseries, Time of Essence. The influential magazine still reaches a global community of more than 20 million Black women.

Winfrey is joined on various couches by actresses Halle Berry, Whoopi Goldberg, Regina Hall, Taraji P. Henson, Sheryl Lee and Gabrielle Union-Wade; singer and actress Vanessa Williams, who had to give back her crown as the first Black Miss America after erotic photos of her emerged in the press; fashion model Beverly Johnson and her daughter Anansa Sims; The View co-host Sunny Hostin; producer and former president of Motown Productions Suzanne de Passe; Essence Magazine editor Mikki Taylor; editor-in-chief Susan L. Taylor; current president and CEO Caroline Wanga and more.

OWN also is launching an activation across its social media platforms in which fans can use a “Time of Essence Cover Creator” to upload photos of themselves and design their own customized Essence covers to share with friends, family and online. To get started, fans can visit own.tv/essencecover and tag @Essence and @owntv.

Time of Essence is produced by 51 Minds and Essence Studios LLC for OWN. Executive producers are Christian Sarabia and Nicole Elliott for 51 Minds, Raymond Garcia for Major TV, and Emmet Dennis, Sidra Smith, Stephanie “NöNe'' Dunivan and Barkue Tubman-Zawolo for Essence Studios LLC.

Time of Essence premieres Friday, August 18 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on OWN and will be available to stream on Max.