Kelly Choi is a Korean-American, Emmy-nominated 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, she has also been presenter of the documentary seriesSecrets of New York. Born in Seoul, Young Choi was a preschooler when she moved to the United States with her family. Growing up in central Virginia, she Americanized her given name and, as Kelly Choi, received her undergraduate degree from Williamsburg's College of William & Mary, and her Master's in journalism from New York'sColumbia University. During and following her studies Choi, who stands 5' 10", was a model with Ford Models, won the Elite Models Look of the Year and also worked as a VJ for MTV Korea. Choi made the transition to New York area television by hosting Freckles, a lifestyles program carried by the cable channelPlum TV, which is seen primarily in affluent vacation communities, in this case, the Hamptons in Long Island's Suffolk County. She entered the highly competitive New York City media market upon joining nyctv, in 2004. Executive producersArick Wierson and Trevor Scotland initially brought her to the then-new broadcast service to host the pilot episode for Secrets of New York. She has subsequently gone on to host three seasons of the series, nationally distributed by PBS, and developed Eat Out NY, 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 stationWNBC, Eat Out NY and Kelly 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's Iron Chef, and was selected to host the James Beard Awards, which have been dubbed the "Oscars" of the food and restaurant industry. Choi is considered the most widely recognized star of NYC Media, and has received three Emmy nominations from the New York chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
