Hoda Kotb

Hoda Kotb is an Egyptian broadcast journalist, television personality, and novelist. She is a co-host of the NBC News morning show Today and co-anchor of the show's entertainment-focused Fourth Hour. Kotb previously worked as a correspondent for Dateline NBC, a television news magazine program.'

Background and Education

Hoda Kotb was born on August 9, 1964, in Norman, Oklahoma. As the middle child of Egyptian workers who left Cairo to study at the University of Oklahoma, Kotb was brought up in an English-speaking family. She described her assimilated guardians as individuals who wanted their children to grow up as American culturally to succeed in their new home. Kotb spent her adolescence in Morgantown, West Virginia, and Alexandria, Virginia. She spent a year abroad in Nigeria and also took vacations back home with her family in Egypt.

After going to Fort Hunt High School in Alexandria, Kotb remained near her home to go to Virginia Tech University. She wound up joining the Delta sorority and WUVT, the college radio station, before winning her Bachelor's Degree in broadcast news coverage in 1986.

Career

On January 2, 2018, Hoda Kotb started the New Year with the declaration that she took over as co-host of the 7 and 8 a.m hours of NBC's daily morning television show Today with Savannah Guthrie.

Kotb had filled in as a temporary host when past anchor Matt Lauer was terminated for sexual misconduct. Her on-screen chemistry with Guthrie had demonstrated a triumphant mix. Today outperformed the ratings of the opponent ABC program Good Morning America for four successive weeks, inciting Today executives to make a permanent move.

Awards

• For her reporting, Kotb received the Edward R. Murrow Award in 2002.
• In 2003 and 2008, Kotb got her first Gracie Awards.
• In 2004, for Dateline NBC's "Saving Dane - Adoptees Rage," Kotb won a Headliner Award.
• Kotb won a Peabody Award in 2006 for Dateline NBC's "The Education of Ms. Groves," which also earned her a Headliner Award in 2007,[38] and the Alfred I. DuPont–Columbia University Award in 2008.
• Today earned a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Morning Program in 2010, 2011, and 2012, all while Kotb was a part of the Today morning host roster.
• Her song video "Truly Brave," which she made with Sara Bareilles and Cyndi Lauper to raise awareness for pediatric cancer, earned a Webby Award for Online Film & Video – Public Service & Activism in 2015.
• She also won a Gracie Award for Outstanding Host in News/Non-Fiction in 2015, the same year.
• For her Sirius XM show, Kotb received a Gracie Award for Outstanding Host in Entertainment/Information in 2016.
• Kolb was named to Time magazine's 2018 list of the 100 Most Influential People.
• As co-hosts, Kotb and Gifford received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host in 2019.

Personal Life

Burzis Kanga, a former tennis coach at the University of New Orleans, married Kotb in 2005. In 2008, the marriage terminated in divorce. Kotb had a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery for breast cancer in March 2007 and has become a breast cancer awareness champion. Throughout her cancer fight, Kotb permitted cameras from Today to accompany her. She has continued to film and use her narrative on the show to raise awareness for breast cancer after she was certified cancer-free. Joel Schiffman, a New York banker, has been Kotb's boyfriend since 2013. Kotb announced her engagement to Schiffman live on Today on November 25, 2019. Kotb announced on Today on February 21, 2017, that she had adopted a baby girl called Haley Joy Kotb. Kotb announced by phone Today, on April 16, 2019, that she had adopted a second baby girl named Hope Catherine Kotb.