Hoda Kotb's new book may be about overcoming adversity, but attendees at her Friday evening book signing at the Wilton Library didn't find it difficult to enjoy her presentation. The entertaining "Today" show morning star kept the audience laughing and hanging on every word for the entire 30-minute talk she gave to promote her new book.
Titled "Ten Years Later: Six People Who Faced Adversity and Transformed Their Lives," the book profiles individuals who overcame major life obstacles to find success. Kotb chose these six people to write about because she said their stories would be relatable and universally inspiring.
"Sometimes you feel despair and you feel trapped. Sometimes you need to know that there's a road out. All of these people may not be on your same exact path out, but these guys all show you that there's a road. It may be filled with hairpin turns, it may be laden with potholes and landmines, but there's a way out."
Writing the book took finding inspiration in her own experience with overcoming adversity; Kotb told the audience that she simultaneously had faced two challenges that were potentially devastating, and hadn't been sure how she could deal with one, let alone both.
“Five years ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and going through a divorce simultaneously. When it’s something like that, you feel like, ‘How am I ever going to get out of this hole?’I think if any of us have ever been in front of something so daunting, if we’ve ever been in the weeds, you wish you could see someone who’s stronger at the end, who’s been through what you’ve been through,” she recounted.
Much like her on-air personality, Kotb was entertaining and crowd-rousing for the entire time she was in front of the packed audience. Her career anecdotes and take on life generated laugh after laugh from the standing-room-only crowd. Afterward, many of the attendees waited on line to get an autograph from the author.
"I watch you every day!" was something many of those audience members said as they approached her for a signature on their book copy. One woman asked if Kotb–known for drinking wine with her on-air co-host, Kathie Lee Gifford–would join her for a drink after the book signing.
