This March, Simmons University’s Institute for Inclusive Leadership hosted its annual conference at the Westin Copley in Boston, centered around the theme, “The Connected Leader.” It made perfect sense, then, for Hoda Kotb, former NBC’s “Today” co-anchor and Founder and CEO of Joy101, to headline the event. In conversation with Susan MacKenty Brady, CEO of the Institute, Kotb reflected on how she’s built meaningful connections with audiences and guests over the past three decades, and how she’s now fostering community through her Joy101 app.
From the moment she stepped on stage, Kotb led with warmth. Before the conversation began, Brady introduced her to two women who had “looked to [Hoda] for joy” during some of the most difficult moments of their lives: Brady’s 85-year-old mother, who had recently lost her husband of 45 years, and her friend Jennifer, who had battled two bouts of aggressive cancer. Kotb didn’t just acknowledge them; she found them in the crowd, met their eyes, and waved. “Marty, you raised such a good girl. You did that,” she told Brady’s mother, turning a large ballroom into something that felt intimate.
Part of what has allowed Kotb to connect so authentically with viewers like Marty and Jennifer is her willingness to be vulnerable about her own journeys with breast cancer, relationships, and adoption. But authenticity didn’t come naturally at the start of her career as she tried to find her place in the industry. Early on, she moved between local news stations before making the jump to 30 Rockefeller Center, home of the “Today” show; a transition that came with uncertainty, a contract role, and a pay cut.
“I struggled for six months and was on the verge of getting fired multiple times,” Kotb admitted. “Everyone was just better. I wasn’t up to their caliber.”
However, she didn’t give up. She approached the challenge as a student. “I found the best interviewer and said, can you help me? I read scripts in the computer to figure out how they built a story. I just doubled down.”
It wasn’t until reporting from war-torn Baghdad that she realized something was off; she was operating at “baseline,” trying to force herself into a role that just didn’t fit.
“I was interviewing this doctor in front of a hospital in Baghdad, and there was all kinds of gunfire…and I was like, ‘should I put my helmet on?’” she recalled. “I felt like a fish out of water.”
That moment clarified what she already felt: she was “putting a circle in a square.”
It wasn’t until she joined Kathie Lee Gifford for “Kathie Lee & Hoda” that everything clicked.
For someone so naturally disarming now, letting her guard down took time. Kotb described her early days of rigidly reading from cue cards and relying on producers in her earpiece. It was Gifford who ultimately challenged her to loosen her grip, trust her instincts, and show up as herself, shifting not just her on-screen presence, but the way she connected with the world.
She recalled that pivotal moment: “I hadn’t done this format before. So I was very much like, camera one, camera two, where are my notes? And I had an earpiece in, so the producers could talk to me. And Kathie … She didn’t have a note, didn’t care. I think the producers were like, ‘thank god you’re there, wrap her, wrap her.’…One day in the middle of it, she looked at me because I was nodding to what [the producers] were saying…and she goes, ‘hey, hey, hey.’ And I looked at her, and she goes, ‘I’m right here. Get rid of your cards.’…So I threw the cards up in the air, and I watched our show fall to the floor. And for the first time, we had a real conversation.”
Those real conversations continued for 11 years. Then, when Gifford signed off in 2019, Jenna Bush Hager joined the show, and Kotb carried that same sense of flow into a new chapter.
Just as Kotb has long looked to others as her teachers, her two daughters ultimately showed her when it was time to move on from “Today” and pursue her next chapter. Sitting in her front yard one day, her six-year-old daughter repeatedly climbed the same tree, each time looking for affirmation when she reached the top. “And finally after like the fourth or fifth time, she was like, ‘look, I’m up here again,’” Kotb recalled, “And I go, ‘wow, honey, what are you gonna do now?’ …And she goes, ‘I guess it’s time to find a different tree.’”
For Kotb, the message was clear: she had reached the top of her career at NBC and was ready for a new “tree.” She eventually said a tearful goodbye and set her sights on Joy101, a wellness app she designed to help users connect with her and reconnect with themselves through breathwork and meditation.
Her reason for starting the app is as simple as it is profound: “I decided I get one ride around the sun, put good in the world.” For a woman who has spent her career looking to the world as her teacher, Kotb now has just as much to offer, especially when it comes to building connection and embracing the power of showing up as your authentic self.
For more information on Joy101, visit joy101.com
To learn more about the Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership, visit inclusiveleadership.com
Amelia Cordischi, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Juice Box Press, is an accomplished digital marketing professional with over a decade of experience in media and communications. Her work has been featured in notable publications, including The Boston Globe. A communications graduate of Simmons University in Boston, Amelia served as manager of Simmons College Radio (“The Shark”), where she also launched and co-hosted her radio show, The Find.
In addition to her editorial work, Amelia is an established freelance photographer, with bylines in Blended Magazine and CelebMix, capturing artists and cultural moments across the music and media landscape. Her career began at WCVB-TV’s Chronicle, the ABC affiliate in Boston, where she gained firsthand experience in broadcast journalism and storytelling.
When she’s not taking photos from the photo pit, interviewing emerging artists, or crafting the next Juice Box Press feature, Amelia can be found thrifting and exploring the world of sustainable fashion.