VivaDash

Nowadays, Hoda Kotb is the first face many people see on TV each morning. But it wasn't always that way.

The Today show host, who turns 60 on Aug. 9, 2024, began a career in broadcast journalism after graduating from college in the late ‘80s. After stints at local news channels in Mississippi, Illinois, Florida and Louisiana, the anchor landed a position as a correspondent for Dateline NBC in 1998. 

When the first fourth-hour segment of the Today show launched in 2007, Kotb was tapped to host alongside Kathie Lee Gifford. In addition to being a mainstay of the morning news program, Kotb is a New York Times bestselling author.

See Kotb’s journey in photos, from bouncing around local news stations to becoming a nationally adored morning staple.

Proud College Graduate

Hoda Kotb graduated from Virginia Tech in 1986 with a degree in broadcast journalism. During her college career, she was a member and pledge trainer of the Delta Delta Delta women's sorority.

Reflecting on her decision to attend the university, Kotb said in 2023 that felt like she was "supposed" to attend Virginia Tech, drawn to the large student population. She called the decision one of the "best" in her life, crediting the school with teaching her "how to learn" and the importance of curiousity.

"It taught me skills that still serve me to this day, things that are far beyond the books and the pulling the all-nighters," Kotb told Virginia Tech's Dawn Jefferies.

On the Local News

After graduation, Hoda Kotb landed her first on-air gig at WXVT in Greenville, Mississippi. She recounted to Hotty Toddy in 2014 how she searched far and wide for a job to little success, until the Greenville station's news and sports director Stan Sandroni gave her a chance.

The journalist then moved to Moline, Illinois, for a reporter position at WQAD from 1988 to 1989 before becoming a weekend anchor and reporter at WINK in Fort Myers, Florida. Her last local news job prior to her big break was at WWL in New Orleans, where she stayed for six years as an anchor and reporter.

"A lot of it was just timing and luck along with hard work," she told Media Bistro of her early career. "A lot of people work hard, but I think I got lucky with timing. While I was working in a place, I fell in love with that place. I wasn’t about, ‘What’s the next place?’ "

Moving to NBC News

While working in New Orleans, a vice president of NBC called Hoda Kotb up for an interview. In April 1998, Kotb officially joined the NBC News team as a correspondent for Dateline NBC and all the network's platforms.

On a Today with Hoda & Jenna episode in 2022, looking back at her first days at Dateline, she recalled feeling inferior to her peers.

"I show up at Dateline and suddenly I'm in first grade and everybody else is a senior in high school," the anchor said. "And I realized that when I thought I was top of my game, I had a whole new thing to learn."

Her Breast Cancer Diagnosis

In March 2007, Hoda Kotb's gynecologist found a lump under her breast during a routine checkup, requiring her to undergo a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery to treat breast cancer. She went public with her experience in an October 2007 interview on the Today show with Ann Curry, and she told the Today show in 2008 that some responses made her "heart burst."

"This is an incredible platform to be able to help people. Now I walk down Broadway, and women hug me — and many have been through far worse," the journalist said. "My god, no matter what you’ve been through, someone has been through worse, and it’s our responsibility as human beings to help people.”

Joining 'Today' Fourth Hour

Her breast cancer diagnosis and recovery did not hinder Hoda Kotb from continuing her ascension. In fact, it motivated her to make big moves in her career. After her mastectomy, she told NBC that she wanted to host the fourth hour of Today, and in September 2007, she sat alongside Ann Curry and Natalie Morales for its first edition.

Kathie Lee Gifford later replaced Curry and Morales as Kotb's co-host, and for the following 11 years, Today with Kathie Lee & Hoda established itself as a cornerstone of daytime TV.

Her Autobiography

In 2010, Hoda Kotb published her first memoir through Simon and Schuster, Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee, which launched into the New York Times bestseller list. According to the synopsis, the autobiography chronicles her journey from breast cancer survivor to Today show anchor, as well as her adventures traveling for network television. She has since published seven books in total, three of which are children's books.

Becoming 'Today' Co-Anchor

Hoda Kotb officially became one of the co-anchors of Today with Savannah Guthrie in 2018 after Matt Lauer was fired in November of the previous year.

"We were just trying to make it through those days together,” Kotb explained to PEOPLE after news broke of her appointment. “Sometimes when you go through something with someone, you see something special. I think that’s what happened. I didn’t think about whether it would be me."

Winning a Daytime Emmy

In May 2019, Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford won the Daytime Emmy for outstanding informative talk show host as the presenters of Today's fourth hour. Gifford, who departed the morning show after 11 years the month prior to accepting the award, called into the Today show to celebrate with her former co-host.

"This was kind of the last Emmy Award ceremony for our show," Kotb said to Gifford on-air. "The fact that there you were on that stage holding that hardware was so amazing. That's how you put a period on the end of a sentence."

Motherhood and 'Hope Is a Rainbow'

Following her youngest daughter Hope's health scare in February 2023, Hoda Kotb took two weeks off from the Today show to look after her. During Hope's recovery, Kotb —who is also a mom to daughter Haley Joy — was inspired to pen her third children's book, Hope Is a Rainbow, which released in 2024.

"A rainbow to me represents something that you can’t quite touch, but it’s magical and amazing. So when I thought about how I carry Hope in my heart, I realized, ‘She IS a rainbow,' " the anchor explained of the title to Today.com in August 2023.

She continued, referencing her daughter's health scare earlier that year, "She’s taught me that resilience comes in all kinds of packages and that kids are incredibly strong. She’s also taught me to find wonder in the smallest things."

In March 2024, the mother of two told PEOPLE, “The book was written initially because of who [Hope] is. I thought her goodness should be spread around."

'Today with Hoda & Jenna'

Since 2019, Hoda Kotb has shared the fourth hour of Today slot with NBC's Jenna Bush Hager, with the two bringing their signature brands of humor and approachability to the anchor desk. The stars' off-screen friendship often comes into play on the show — like when Hager offered to try setting Kotb up with Lenny Kravitz.

ncG1vNJzZmiolaS9rbGNnKamZ5iksaJ5yqirm2WcnrOmecKaqZ6domK2r3nPoaatp6NihXeFkGtvbg%3D%3D