Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee

Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee

by Hoda Kotb
Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee

Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee

by Hoda Kotb

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Overview

Hoda is a memoir of lessons Kotb has learned along her journey, from breast cancer survivor to Today show anchor.

She’s just like the rest of us: overstuffed purse, always losing keys, high-maintenance hair, snack guilt after an evening binge. But she’s something different, too.

Hoda Kotb grew up in two cultures—one where summers meant playing at the foot of the ancient pyramids and another where she had to meet her junior prom date at the local 7-Eleven to spare them both the wrath of her conservative Egyptian parents. She’s traveled the globe for network television, smuggling videotapes in her shoes and stepping along roads riddled with land mines. She’s weathered the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and a personal Category 5 as well: divorce and breast cancer in the same year. And if that’s not scary enough, she then began cohosting the fourth hour of Today with Kathie Lee Gifford. (Oh, c’mon, KLG! That’s funny...put down the huge pour of Chardonnay and laugh with us.)

Hoda reads just like Kotb herself—light, funny, positive, and positively inspiring.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781439189504
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: 10/12/2010
Sold by: SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format: eBook
Pages: 288
Sales rank: 403,591
File size: 10 MB

About the Author

About The Author
Hoda Kotb was named co-anchor of the fourth hour of Today in 2007. She has also been a Dateline NBC correspondent since 1998 and is a New York Times bestselling author for her book, Hoda. The three-time Emmy winner also won the prestigious 2006 Peabody Award, the 2003 Gracie Award, and the 2002 Edward R. Murrow Award. Her most recent book is Where We Belong, and she resides in New York City.

Read an Excerpt


INTRODUCTION

Recently, I was walking through one of New York City’s terrific neighborhood street fairs teeming with colorful booths. Banners promised “Millions of Socks!” and vendors proudly displayed tie-dyed scarves and chocolate-covered marshmallows on skewers. The crowd had a Sunday pace and I happily relaxed into the mix of sun-soakers and serious shoppers. As I wandered, some who watch a bit of television offered their kind hellos as they passed by. A friendly guy selling piano lessons wanted to chat. He asked one of the two questions I most often hear.

One is, “Where are you from?”

He asked the other: “How did you get to where you are today?”

It’s always that second question that makes me want to pull out a vinyl pocket photo file. It would flip-flop-flip all the way down to the ground, filled with pictures of the extraordinary people who guided me, who took a chance on me, who supported me. They are the answer. They are how I got to where I am today.

Think of all the people who’d fill your pocket photo file. Or even the pages of your book. I never really considered writing a book, and wondered—when someone suggested the idea—whether I could. I can’t remember a damn thing! Big problem. A good friend of mine, aware of my recall issues, mailed me a package of dried blueberries when she heard about my book project. The enclosed card (I’m told) read, “Good for your memory. Start eating these by the bushel!” Well, the package never arrived. Classic. The berries got lost, just like my memories.

Turns out, though, several hundred pages later, I did have a book in me. I do remember things once I dig around in the fuzzy matter a bit. (I wisely issued shovels to my siblings, too.) So, what’s my book about? It’s about where I’m from. My family. The hunt for my first television job. And the double whammy that took my breast and broke my heart at the same time. It’s about stories I’ve covered around the globe. Hurricanes Katrina and Kathie Lee. What I’ve learned so far in my life. It’s about how the dirt that gets kicked in our faces sometimes transforms into magic dust. Most important, though, these pages are a way to give credit and thanks to the people who boldly stepped up when no one else would, and who quietly sat down next to me without being asked. My book is about all that and a random guy on a plane who told me, “Don’t hog your journey.”

Okay, I won’t. Here’s my journey. I’m so glad you’re here. Pass the blueberries.

© 2010 Hoda Kotb

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

My Vinyl Photo File xi

Part 1 The Back Story 1

1 What Is You? 3

2 My Family 19

Part 2 Going Live 45

3 The Trek 47

4 Tv News 57

5 The Network 63

6 Hot Zones 67

7 MS. Groves 99

8 Dateline 107

9 New Orleans 113

10 Hurricane Katrina 133

11 Super Bowl XLIV 145

Part 3 Shit Storms and Silver Linings 153

12 The Bad Year 155

13 Man on the Plane 183

14 The Game Changer 187

15 Get In The Game 195

Part 4 Life Without Cue Cards 199

16 You Cant Scare Me 201

17 The Fourth Hour 205

18 Kathie Lee 211

19 The Big Top 235

20 Guest Hosts and Guests 239

21 The Peacock Family 249

22 Dating 255

23 Forward 261

Where are They Now? 265

Acknowledgments 271

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