Hoda Kotb Recalls Multiple Rejections Before Getting To Her Shine
We all know Hoda Kotb. But did you know that she was rejected multiple times before she even got her first news job?
We all have a job that we really want but can we all push through the rejection that may come with it? Being rejected so much but keep going because you must get a yes?
The bubbly, confident and witty Today Show co-host did exactly that and she's speaking up about it. Giving us all hope to keep going.
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Kotb's first on-air job was at the then-CBS affiliate. From 1998 to 1998 had been an anchor and reporter for different affiliates such as CBS and ABC.
Then Kotb officially joined NBC News in April 1998 as a correspondent for Dateline NBC plus all of the network's News platforms.
September 2007 she became the first host of the Today Show first fourth-hour weekday morning broadcast at 10:00 a.m. Eventually in April 2008 Kathie Lee Gifford joined as a co-host. Kotb became a fan favorite quickly.
In 2006, Kotb was awarded a Peabody Award for Dateline NBC's "The Education of Ms. Groves.
In 2010 she released her New York Times bestselling book.
In 2010, 2011, and 2012, the time Kotb was a part of the Today lineup, the show won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Morning Program.
Hoda was awarded a Gracie Award for her SiriusXM show in 2016 and in 2019, Kotb and Gifford were awarded a Daytime Emmy Award during their time as co-hosts.
Even after all of her successful accomplishments, Hoda reveals that she was getting rejected right and left.
“I remember the news director, he took my tape, he put it in the machine, he played it for a couple of minutes and he stopped it and he said, ‘Oh, Hoda, you are not ready for Richmond,” She recounts about a TV job she applied to right out of college. “‘I don’t know why somebody sent you here, but you’re too green, you’re not good.’”
The now successful co-anchor tried her luck at several other stations only to run into even more rejections.
“I was in that car driving around for 10 days,” Kotb says “I got rejected everywhere. Anywhere you can think of in the Southeast, I got rejected.”
Hoda confessed to being rejected 27 times before her luck literally changed by luck.
“You know, the whole God gives you a sign — I literally got lost in Mississippi because I was listening to James Taylor and sad and driving aimlessly, and I saw a physical sign that said, ‘Greenville, Mississippi, Our eye is on you,’” she shared, according to CNBC. “It had like a CBS eye. News center 15, WXVT. I said, ‘I’m gonna go there and get rejected.’”
The particular aha moment even gave her more insight. “It just reminded me that you just need one person to love you,” she said. “You don’t need everybody.”