'Today' co-anchor Hoda Kotb announces engagement to Joel Schiffman

"I have to tell you something that a friend of mine, a friend of ours, asked me to let you guys in on a secret,'' Kotb said during Monday's broadcast. "I'll give you her initials. Her initials are Hoda Kotb, and she's engaged."

Kotb, 55, said Schiffman, 61, proposed while they were having "a little dinner on the beach," People reported.

Kotb hid her engagement ring and slipped it on her finger shortly before making her on-air announcement, Today reported.

"My heart has literally been pounding,'' Kotb told her co-anchors. “I was totally shocked. He had a good poker face.”

Kotb said she has not told her two daughters -- Haley Joy, 2, and Hope Catherine, who she adopted in April -- about the upcoming wedding.

“We’re still trying to figure out that part,” Kotb said.