Sunny Anderson (born April 9, 1975) is a

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 ...

personality. She began hosting '' How'd That Get On My Plate?'' in July 2008. She also hosts the Food Network program ''Cooking for Real'' (beginning in April 2008), and served as co-host with Marc Istook of the Food Network program ''Gotta Get It'' (beginning in April 2007).

Early life

Sunny Anderson was born in Lawton, Oklahoma, and grew up as an

Army brat A military brat (colloquial or military slang) is a child of serving or retired military personnel. Military brats are associated with a unique subcultureDavid C. Pollock, Ruth E. van Reken. ''Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds'', Revise ...

, which allowed her to travel the world (living in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and other places) and sample many local cuisines with her parents, who were food enthusiasts. She attended Madison High School in

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

, Texas, and upon her graduation, she joined the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

in June 1993, where she earned the rank of Senior Airman and worked as a military radio host in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. She then worked for Air Force News Agency radio and television in San Antonio from 1993 to 1997. Anderson was

honorably discharged A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...

from the Air Force in June 1997. She went to school in New Orleans at Loyola University. At age 19, Anderson was diagnosed with

ulcerative colitis Ulcerative colitis (UC) is one of the two types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), with the other type being Crohn's disease. It is a long-term condition that results in inflammation and ulcers of the colon and rectum. The primary sympto ...

. in 2014, she teamed up with the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America to raise awareness of this disease.

Career

Between 1995 and 2001, Anderson worked as a radio personality at KCJZ and KONO-FM in San Antonio,

WYLD-FM WYLD-FM (98.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station in New Orleans, Louisiana, and one of the highest-rated radio stations in the market. It airs an urban adult contemporary radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and office ...

and KUMX in

Fort Polk Fort Polk, formerly Fort Johnson, is a United States Army installation located in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, about 10 miles (15 km) east of Leesville and 30 miles (50 km) north of DeRidder in Beauregard Parish. Named after New Yo ...

, Louisiana, WJWZ in Montgomery, Alabama, and WDTJ in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. Anderson settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 2001 at the age of 26, and worked as a radio personality for HOT 97 (

WQHT WQHT (97.1 FM broadcasting, FM, ''Hot 97'') is a commercial radio station, licensed to New York, New York, which broadcasts an urban contemporary music format. The station is owned by Mediaco Holding, a subsidiary of the Standard General hedge ...

) in New York City from 2001 to 2003. From 2003 to 2005, she was the owner of Sunny's Delicious Dishes, a

catering Catering is the business of providing food services at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major service ...

company based in

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

, New Jersey. She first appeared on the

in October 2005 (as a guest on the ''

Emeril Live ''Emeril Live'' is a television cooking program that aired first on 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 divis ...

'' program) and began hosting '' How'd That Get On My Plate?'' in July 2008. She also hosts the Food Network program ''Cooking for Real'' (beginning in April 2008), and served as co-host with Marc Istook of the Food Network program ''Gotta Get It'', beginning in April 2007. In 2006 and 2007, she served as Food and Lifestyle Editor for ''

Hip Hop Weekly ''Hip Hop Weekly'' is an American hip hop news and entertainment magazine founded in 2006. The magazine covers celebrity news, music, film, fashion, sports and features exclusive interviews with many notable figures within popular culture. His ...

'' magazine. In January 2014, Anderson became a co-host on the Food Network's series '' The Kitchen'' along with Jeff Mauro, Katie Lee,

Marcela Valladolid Marcela Luz Valladolid (born July 19, 1978) is an American chef and author. She was the host of the Food Network television series ''Mexican Made Easy'', and a judge on the Food Network series ''Best Baker in America''. Early life Valladolid was ...

, and

Geoffrey Zakarian Geoffrey Zakarian (born July 25, 1959) is an American chef, restaurateur, television personality, and author. He is the executive chef of several restaurants in New York City, Atlantic City, and Miami. Gillespie, Nick and Amanda Winkler (2013-11 ...

. Anderson was a contender for the 44th Daytime Emmy Awards for the Outstanding Talk Show/Informative award with the cast of ''The Kitchen,'' but lost. Anderson has been a guest chef on several talk shows and morning news programs including ''The Rachael Ray Show'', ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

'' , ''

The Early Show ''The Early Show'' is an American morning television show that aired on CBS from November 1, 1999, to January 7, 2012, replacing the original incarnation of '' CBS This Morning'', and the ninth attempt at a morning news-talk program by the n ...

'', ''

The View ''The View'' is an American talk show created by broadcast journalist Barbara Walters. , in its 28th season, the show has aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC as part of the network's ABC Daytime, daytime programming block since August ...

'', '' The Talk'', as well as ''

The Wendy Williams Show ''The Wendy Williams Show'' (often shortened to ''Wendy'') is an American Broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show created and hosted by Wendy Williams, and produced by Wendy Williams Productions, along with Perler Productions. The show was d ...

.'' In 2022, Anderson hosted

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

Tailgate Takedown along with

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

Hall-of-Famer

Vince Wilfork Vincent Lamar Wilfork (born November 4, 1981) is an American former professional football player who was a nose tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college football fo ...

. In October 2022 she hosted Season 3 of Outrageous Pumpkins on

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Sunny Living people 1975 births 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women African-American female military personnel African-American television personalities American radio personalities American television chefs American women chefs Television chefs Chefs from New York City Chefs from Oklahoma Female United States Air Force personnel Food Network chefs Military personnel from Oklahoma People from Lawton, Oklahoma People with ulcerative colitis United States Air Force airmen

Early life

Career

See also

References

External links