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 joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

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 Lawton is a city in and the county seat of Comanche County, in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Located in southwestern Oklahoma, approximately southwest of Oklahoma City, it is the principal city of the Lawton, Oklahoma, metropolitan statistical ...

, and grew up as an Army brat, which allowed her to travel the world (living in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

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

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

, and upon her graduation, she joined the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

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

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. 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 th ...

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 a long-term condition that results in inflammation and ulcers of the colon and rectum. The primary symptoms of active disease are abdominal pain and diarrhea mixed with blood (hematochezia). Weight loss, fever, and ...

. 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 KONO-FM (101.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Helotes, Texas and it serves Greater San Antonio. It is owned by Cox Radio and airs a classic hits radio format. Its studios are located in Northwest San Antonio near the South Texas ...

in San Antonio, WYLD-FM and KUMX in

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

, WJWZ in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County, Alabama, Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the Gulf Coastal Plain, coas ...

, and WDTJ in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

. Anderson settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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

WQHT WQHT (97.1 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 and operated by Emmis Communications under a shared servi ...

) 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 service 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 servi ...

company based in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

in October 2005 (as a guest on the ''

Emeril Live ''Emeril Live'' is a television program that aired on Food Network from October 6, 1997, to December 11, 2007, and then on Fine Living (now The Cooking Channel) from July 7, 2008, to December 14, 2010. Hosted by Emeril Lagasse, ''Emeril Live'' f ...

'' 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. Hist ...

'' magazine. In January 2014, Anderson became a co-host on the Food Network's series ''

The Kitchen The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary avant-garde performance and experimental art institution located at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was foun ...

'' along with

Jeff Mauro Jeff Mauro (born July 24, 1978) is the co-host of the Food Network series ''The Kitchen'' and host of ''Sandwich King'' and ''$24 in 24''. Prior to this, he was the winner of the seventh season of the ''Food Network Star'' competition. Mauro, w ...

, Katie Lee, Marcela Valladolid, 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 The 44th Daytime Emmy Awards, presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), "recognizes outstanding achievement in all fields of daytime television production and are presented to individuals and programs broadcast fro ...

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 morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...

'' , ''

The Early Show ''The Early Show'' is an American morning television show that aired on CBS from November 1, 1999 to January 7, 2012, and the ninth attempt at a morning news-talk program by the network since 1954. The program aired Monday through Friday from ...

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

The Wendy Williams Show ''The Wendy Williams Show'' (often shortened to ''Wendy'') is an American syndicated talk show created and hosted by Wendy Williams, and produced by Wendy Williams Productions, along with Perler Productions. The show is distributed by Debmar- ...

.'' In 2022, Anderson hosted NFL Tailgate Takedown along with

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

Hall-of-Famer

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

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

References

External links

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

Early life

Career

See also

References

External links