SHES JUST LIKE THE REST OF US : overstuffed purse, always losing keys, high-maintenance hair, snack guilt after an evening binge. But shes something different, too. Hoda Kotb grew up in two culturesone 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. Shes traveled the globe for network television, smuggling videotapes in her shoes and stepping along roads riddled with land mines. Shes weathered the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and a personal Category 5 as well: divorce and breast cancer in the same year. And if thats not scary enough, she then began cohosting the fourth hour of Today with Kathie Lee Gifford. (Oh, cmon, KLG! Thats funny . put down the huge pour of Chardonnay and laugh with us.

) HODA reads just like Hodalight, funny, positive, and positively inspiring.