Hoda Kotb
Kotb in 2010, photo by Prphotos
Place of Birth: Norman, Oklahoma, U.S.
Date of Birth: August 9, 1964
Ethnicity: Egyptian
Hoda Kotb is an American broadcast journalist, television personality, and author. She has co-hosted the show Today since 2018.
Her parents, Sameha Mahmoud Kotb and Abdel Kader Kotb, were born in Egypt, with her father, a fossil energy specialist, being from Cairo. Her name, Hoda, is Arabic, and means guidance, while her surname is a common Egyptian surname meaning pole, as in North or South Pole. She was raised in Egypt, Nigeria, West Virginia, Virginia, and Louisiana.
Hoda has two children, who are adopted.
Hoda’s paternal grandfather was named Mohamed Katb Eissa.
Hoda’s paternal grandmother was named Sekina Abdel Kader Mohamed.
Kotb in 2009, Rena Schild / Shutterstock.com
When she was on “Dateline NBC”, they always sent her to cover stories involving black people. I guess they figured “Close enough”.
She looks white to me. She just bronzed herself to death.
She doesn’t look “white” and looks more South Asian than anything although she could probably pass as Ethiopian.
She does not Not look South Asian or White she looks black to me and looks like a lot of African American women.
I don’t think she “looks South Asian” either. If I was not aware of her Egyptian ancestry, I would have thought she was of African American and other mixed ancestry.
Have you seen South Asians? A lot are dark brown or black in skin tone mainly due to their location near the equator. Hoda is technically “African American” since Egypt is in Africa. Her father looked more like a modern day Nubian, who have more Eurasian features due to the history of Egypt’s admixture. Her mother looked more “black”, for lack of a better word, when she was younger but now looks more West Asian but I do believe her genetics are of Africa.
Looks Indian.
i saw her picture on the side and thought she was biracial
Ahem. I simply want to point out the Egypt IS in Africa. People seem not to be aware of this fact. Egyptians are Africans.
Well yeah but they don’t have anything in common with black africans, unless they are partially of black descent.
Sub-Saharan Africans who are racially black and Egyptians who are racially Middle Eastern/Eurasian/North African, are both geographically African. However, they’re racial, genetic, and ethnic makeups are usually different.
*their
People simply forget that Africa is a continent with a wide variety of ethnic groups some that have always been there and some that left for generations and came back. Egypt has ethnic diversity in groups like Siwa Berbers, Copts, Dom (Persians), Beja, Saudis, Yemeni, and Nubians. Some Egyptians look fair skinned with thick hair and others are very dark. Hoda to me looks like a modern day Nubian, who are dark skinned but have more Eurasian ancestry as well as indigenous Africans. Berbers are indigenous Africans of the North but are genetic siblings of Sub Saharans (y dnaE1b1b and E1B1a), who moved south due to climate changes. Africans vary in phenotypes and genetics.
North Africans(Berbers) are not genetically Sub-Saharan African. And most Egyptians are a mix of Berber and Arab. She probably has Sub-Saharan African ancestry mixed in with Arab.
http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/1004/images/expand-women01.jpg
Her mother looks just Caucasian though :P so the possible black ancestry must be from her paternal side.
Actually all North Africans (Egyptians included) have black african ancestry to varying degrees. The average is around 20%. Forgive me previous statement.
“She probably has Sub-Saharan African ancestry mixed in with Arab. Her mother looks just Caucasian though so the possible black ancestry must be from her paternal side.”
Good observation. I think Hoda appears to have visible SSA, but not her mother.
North African DNA is genetically tied to the continent. Amazigh Berbers, Egyptians, Somalis, Nubians, Beja, some Massai and Horn Africans are genetically related. Contributions from Phoenicians, Turks, Arabs, Vandals, Iberians have an affect on the North African phenotype.
So? The term Africa was invented by the Romans to refer to North Africa only.