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Hoda Kotb’s path to national broadcasting fame began at Fort Hunt High School in Mount Vernon. More than four decades after graduating, she was named one of USA Today’s 2025 Women of the Year.

Kotb joined 61 women recognized across the country for using their voices and determination to advance change, equality and joy. Her career has been shaped by an optimistic outlook and a message encouraging women to advocate for themselves.

Kotb graduated from Fort Hunt in 1982, before the school was converted into Carl Sandburg Middle School. She continued to Virginia Tech, earning a Bachelor of Arts in broadcast journalism.

Her broadcasting career included local reporting jobs in New Orleans and Fort Myers, Florida. She later became a national television fixture, co-hosting the fourth hour of TODAY with Kathie Lee Gifford from 2008 to 2019. Kotb went on to serve as co-anchor of TODAY and co-host its fourth hour with Jenna Bush Hager.

Now in her 60s and no longer in those roles, Kotb is raising two daughters—another chapter of her life she has described with pride.

Other 2025 honorees included District of Columbia congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, astronaut Kellie Gerardi and Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a veteran advocate. Virginia’s Sabrina Burress also made the list. Burress founded and leads ARROW, which helps uninsured people obtain mental health care.

Kotb is also a cancer survivor who has supported efforts to raise awareness about the disease.

Her honors include a 2016 Gracie Award for outstanding entertainment and information host for her SiriusXM program, “The Hoda Show.” She received another Gracie Award for news and nonfiction hosting and a Webby Award in 2015.

Kotb also received an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award in 2008 and a Peabody Award in 2006 for a Dateline NBC report. She shared in several Daytime Emmy Awards earned by TODAY as the top morning news program.

Her ties to Fort Hunt have endured throughout her national career. In 2018, a group of fellow graduates traveled to New York City and gathered outside the studio where Kotb was filming TODAY.