Such a meteoric rise to the top doesn’t come without its challenges, however.
Kotb’s journey to becoming an icon is a truly inspiring one.
Think of how many people you might help.'
Her illness also forced Kotb to change the way she looked at her life and at her career.
“Before getting sick, I always felt very lucky to have my career,” she toldHealth.
“I felt kind of like I didn’t deserve it.
My illness empowered me in a way I didn’t expect.
Before, I never would’ve asked for my current job….
But it gave me courage… suddenly, it isn’t so scary.”
But it was really hard to come to terms with it."
Instead of accepting that she couldn’t have children, Kotb turned to adoption.
She brought home her daughter, Haley Joy, in early 2017.
“But I just didn’t know that this kind of love existed.”
Kotb’s realization of her dream to be a mother was even better than she had hoped for.
“Like you have your dreams, and then this.”
“When you love doing something, who cares?”
After graduating from Virginia Tech, Kotb was confident that she’d nail her first job interview.
“I thought my life was going to be great,” she said.
Disappointed, Kotb went on a series of interviews, only to be turned down each time.
“I stayed in that car driving around for 10 days,” she said.
“I kept driving and getting rejected and driving and getting rejected.
I got rejected in the whole southeastern United States of America… She finally landed her first job in Mississippi, and the rest is history.
Kotb offered advice to others pursuing their goals.
“Everybody doesn’t have to love you,” she said.
“You just need one person.
You only need one.”
“Every cabinet door is open and has been since the last time I needed something inside.
In this drawer: two old BlackBerry phones, a turkey baster, an old checkbook.
Is that a driver’s license?
Yes expired in 2013.
I think I’m just wired to be disorganized.”
Kotb’s purse is even more chaotic.
“Except for when I’m exhausted,” she added.
“I get to the door and I need my keys.
That’s a nightmare.”
Anyone who has ever dug for something at the bottom of their bag can relate.
Kotb has an unusual and ingenious way of battling her “dysfunctional love affair with sweets.”
When she can’t resist temptation, she sprays her sweets with Windex.
“I struggled all through college,” she toldPrevention.
“I started really putting on weight after my dad passed, and I just didn’t realize it.
Her relationship with her body changed after she had cancer and she became more confident.
“I guess I feel freer now than I ever did before,” Kotb toldHealth.
“I don’t think I ever wore a bikini before I got sick.
But now I feel like ‘OK, this is my body,’ you know?
‘Have at it.'”
Her parents were immigrants from Egypt who moved to the United States so that achieve education and career goals.
In spite of being raised in America, Kotb said that she often felt different growing up.
School was especially difficult.
“You have to work extra hard to make friends.
And just when you do, it’s time for the next grade and a new roll call.”
“It’s a little daunting,” she told theRichmond Times-Dispatch.
“To be part of the coverage is beyond an honor…
I’m so excited.”
She journals to stay positive
Kotb believes in the power of positivity.
In an interview withInsideChic,Kotb revealed some of her secrets to staying happy.
She said that the key is to remind herself of how blessed she is.
She added that “literally if you write down those three things your brain starts to change.”
