Kelly Choi
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Kelly Choi (born February 7, 1976) is an American television personality on NYC Media, the official broadcast service of the City of New York. A former host of Bravo TV's '' Top Chef'' spin-off, ''
Top Chef Masters ''Top Chef Masters'' is an American reality competition series that aired on the cable television network Bravo (American TV network), Bravo, and premiered June 10, 2009. It is a spinoff (media), spinoff of Bravo's hit show ''Top Chef''. In the ...
'', she has also been presenter of the documentary series '' Secrets of New York''.


Early life and career

Choi was a preschooler when she immigrated to the U.S. with her family. Growing up in central
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, she Americanized her given name and, as Kelly Choi, received her
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
from the
College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public university, public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III of England, William III and Queen ...
and her master's in
journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...
from
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
. During and following her studies, Choi, who stands , was a model with Ford Models, won the Elite Models Look of the Year and worked as a VJ for MTV Korea.


Career

Choi made the professional transition to the New York area by hosting ''Freckles'', a lifestyle program on the cable channel Plum TV, which is seen primarily in affluent vacation communities, in this case,
the Hamptons The Hamptons, part of the East End (Long Island), East End of Long Island, consist of the town (New York), towns of Southampton (town), New York, Southampton and East Hampton (town), New York, East Hampton, which together compose the South Fork ...
in
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
's Suffolk County. She entered the highly competitive New York media market after joining nyctv (now NYC Media), in 2004. Executive producers Arick Wierson and Trevor Scotland initially brought her to host the pilot episode for '' Secrets of New York''. She subsequently went on to host three seasons of the series, nationally distributed by PBS, and developed ''
Eat Out NY ''Eat Out NY'' is a local television series that explores New York City's restaurants. The program runs in the New York City area on WNYE-TV (channel 25) and on WNBC (channel 4). Hosted and produced by former Ford model '' Kelly Choi'', the show h ...
'', another nyctv program in which, as the host/guide to the city's restaurants, she gained high visibility and popularity. For a few months in 2006, as part of a unique content-sharing arrangement between nyctv and NBC's
flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...
WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey†...
, ''Eat Out NY'' and Choi became popular fixtures of the Tri-State Region's noontime viewing. In 2007, she was invited as a guest judge on the
Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...
's ''
Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, is a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle buil ...
'' and selected to host the James Beard Awards, which are considered the "
Oscars The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence i ...
" of the food and restaurant industry. In 2011, she was a host of Late Night Kung Fu, a weekly series that celebrates classic, English-dubbed kung fu films. Choi has received three Emmy nominations from the New York chapter of the
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), also known as the National Television Academy until 2007, is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of televisio ...
.


See also

* Koreans in New York City *
New Yorkers in journalism New York City has been called the Media in New York City, media capital of the world. Many journalists work in Manhattan, reporting about international, American, sports journalism, sports, business journalism, business, entertainment journalism ...
*
Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Choi, Kelly 1976 births Living people Mass media people from Seoul Television personalities from Virginia Entertainers from New York City American female models College of William & Mary alumni South Korean emigrants to the United States American women journalists American television journalists American video jockeys Participants in American reality television series Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni