It’s been two months since Hoda Kotb said goodbye to Today, and the exit inspired an exciting new project.
During the “Pop Start” segment on the Monday, March 10, episode of the morning show, Carson Daly announced that Kotb, 60, will release her new book, Jump and Find Joy, later this year.
In a video message, Kotb shared more about the meaning behind the title. “Everybody in their life, at one point, stands on the edge of something and says, ‘Should I jump? Should I try? Should I go for it?’” she said. “And I felt that way about the Today show, and I was terrified to even think about jumping.”
Kotb noted that her pal Maria Shriver helped her come to terms with her decision to leave the NBC morning show. “She was like, ‘You’ve jumped your whole life. You were in small markets in television [and] you jumped from city to city. You jumped into relationships and out of them. You jumped into motherhood. You have a history of jumping, so don’t tell me that you can’t jump,’” Kotb shared.
The idea of “jumping” from one chapter of life to the next struck a chord for Kotb. “I started thinking about different people who I’ve loved and respected and admired who have been afraid to do something and have done it, and I included some of them in the book,” she explained. “Viola Davis: This woman went from on her knees to this incredible spot, and it was an image that caused her to jump. Sarah Jakes, who’s also in the book, T.D. Jakes’ daughter, she’s a pastor and she said, ‘When you jump, you have to imagine yourself on the other side.’”
She concluded, “Here’s my thing, you get one life. That’s all. That’s it. It’s ready for the taking. It only takes a jump.”
Jump and Find Joy hits bookstores on September 23 and is available for preorder now.
Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager Nathan Congleton/NBC
The book marks Kotb’s first official project since leaving her role as Savannah Guthrie’s Today coanchor and Jenna Bush Hager’s fourth hour cohost on January 10. Kotb has a few other ideas in the works, including a “wellness app and company,” which she announced during the January 6 episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show.
“[It] will involve retreats and a podcast and all kinds of things that we can get together, do things that I love,” she told host Kelly Clarkson. “It’s not like going to Mexico with your girls, which is fun, but this is something that when you leave, you’ll go like, ‘’Oh my gosh, I feel transformed. I feel different.’”
At the time, Kotb noted that the company was still in the “building process” and that the app was set to launch this spring.
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Kotb later shared in an interview with Page Six that she would continue to work as a special correspondent for NBC. The role will include making occasional appearances on Today and continuing to cover the next two Olympic Games.
“I want to be a supporting character on a team that is already in place so that I’ll come in and just have a role there. And then I’m going to do my ‘Making Space’ podcast, which I enjoy and love so much,” she told the outlet in January. “And for the Today show, I think we talked about doing something every four to six weeks, just a little something.”
Last month, Kotb exclusively told Us Weekly that she has “no FOMO” about leaving Today, adding, “I knew 100 [percent]. I don’t have an ounce of it. [It] doesn’t mean I didn’t love it. At the end when my heart broke, I was like, ‘That’s love.’ But it also is, I feel like my gaze is set forward.”