Hoda Kotb is a famous American television news personality. She is a news anchor as well as a TV host and co-hosts the popular Today Show in the fourth hour on NBC along with Kathie Lee Gifford. Kotb is an Egyptian American, with her family having ancestral roots in Egypt. She, along with her team members on the Today Show, won a daytime Emmy in the year 2010. Kotb also functions as a correspondent on Dateline NBC.
Kotb started her career in CBS News in Cairo, Egypt, as a news assistant. After working at many big and small networks in a bid to establish herself, Kotb’s first prominent role was that of an anchor and reporter at WWL-TV, a top news station in New Orleans, Louisiana. Although she has had a very long career in the field of broadcast Journalism, she only became a household name after she joined the Today Show.
Early life and Education
Kotb was born on 9th August 1964 in Norman, Oklahoma to Sameha and A.K. Kotb. Both her parents are from Egypt. She also has two siblings; a sister named Hala and a brother named Adel Kotb. Although she was born in the United States, she and her family lived for a year in Egypt and Nigeria.
Kotb was raised in Morgantown, West Virginia and in Alexandria, Virginia. Throughout the 1990’s, she lived in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. She attended Fort Hunt High School from where she graduated in 1982. Kotb was named Homecoming Queen and was also selected as Graduating class speaker at its Baccalaureate service. Kotab went to college at Virginia Tech and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in the field of broadcast journalism. In 2010 she was elected on the Board of Directors for the Virginia Tech Alumni Association for a period of three years.
Career Rise
Kotb has had an active career since 1986. Kotb has been a correspondent on Dateline NBC since 1998, a role she still fulfils till date. In 2008, she was added as the fourth hour co-anchor for NBC’s Today Show that she co-hosts along with Kathie Lee Gifford. It was at the Today Show that she received nation-wide prominence. She also fills in for Savannah Guthrie and Matt Lauer as a co-anchor on the network. Since March 2017, Kotb acts as the third co-anchor on the Today Show, although she doesn’t appear in the first hour.
Kotb is also a best-selling author, having written ‘Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee’. The book was released in October 2010. Other books she wrote include ‘Ten Years Later: Six People Who Faced Adversity and Transformed Their Lives’ released in 2013 and ‘Where They Belong: The Best Decisions People Almost Never Made’ released in 2016.
As part of the Today Show, Kotb and her cast-mates won a Daytime Emmy in 2010.
Personal Life
Kotb was married to Burzis Kanga, a former tennis coach at the University of New Orleans from 2005-2007. She was diagnosed of Breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery in March 2007.
Since her diagnosis, she has been an active advocate of breast cancer awareness. Throughout her battle with cancer, she allowed the cameras of Today Show to follow her. Her story was documented and aired after she announced that she was cancer-free. As of January 2015, she has been in a relationship with Joel Schiffman, a New York financier. Kotb adopted a baby girl called Haley Joy Kotb in Early 2017.
Hoda Kotb – Net worth and Salary
Hoba Kotb has an estimated net worth of $12 million and draws an annual salary of $2 million