Latest news with #WomenoftheYear
USA Today
6 days ago
- Business
- USA Today
Gannett taps former People editor-in-chief as executive editor of entertainment
USA TODAY parent company Gannett named Wendy Naugle, former editor-in-chief for People, as its new executive editor of entertainment. USA TODAY parent company Gannett has tapped former People editor-in-chief Wendy Naugle as its new executive editor of entertainment. Naugle will oversee the entertainment strategy at USA TODAY and Gannett's 200-plus local publications with a focus on driving audience and revenue growth. She will report to Monica Richardson, senior vice president of USA TODAY, starting July 28. 'Wendy's exceptional editorial vision and deep industry knowledge will be instrumental in shaping the future of our entertainment coverage," Richardson said in a Gannett news release. 'We are confident that her experience will help connect with our audiences in meaningful and innovative ways across all platforms.' Naugle's introduction to the company comes amid a shift at Gannett toward deep engagement with readers on a local level across its national network of community-based newsrooms and a strategic focus at the national level on competitive subject areas like entertainment and sports, in addition to national breaking news, wellness and consumer-focused coverage. 'We're giving our consumers more reasons to come to us, more reasons to stay, more reasons to engage with our partners and more reasons to subscribe,' President of Gannett Media Kristin Roberts said in a May earnings call. Naugle's role in that strategy includes transforming the USA TODAY Network into the country's leading entertainment brand, going head-to-head with top entertainment sites. Naugle's arrival is the latest change in Gannett's leadership team. The company in June named Joe Miranda, former executive vice president, chief digital and technology officer of Herbalife, as chief technology and data officer. Trisha Gosser was named chief financial officer in March after serving as the deputy CFO, succeeding Douglas Horne. A graduate from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Naugle joined Dotdash Meredith's People in 2019 as deputy editor before moving into the role of editor-in-chief in 2022. She helped transform the brand into a top 10 site in the U.S., reinvigorated franchises like Sexiest Man Alive, and led issues on climate change, LGBTQ+ Pride, Black History Month and People of the Year, according to Gannett. She left the company in January to complete a novel. Previously, she worked as executive editor at Condé Nast's Glamour for nearly 20 years, where she managed its transition into digital-first content, as well as its annual Women of the Year awards and summit. She also oversaw the launch of Glamour's first podcast series and an award-winning campaign against domestic violence. Her stories on subjects like breast implants, health insurance and reproductive rights won two National Magazine Awards for Personal Service and a National Press Club Consumer Journalism Award, among other honors, according to Dotdash Meredith. Naugle also served on the board of the NYU Center for Publishing. Naugle said she aims to use entertainment news to connect communities across the country. 'It's an incredible opportunity in entertainment right now. Of course, we all think of Hollywood and Los Angeles, but entertainment is so much more than that,' she said. 'We see exciting things happening in music in Nashville, and there's more filming than ever in Atlanta. So, entertainment is changing, and I think Gannett and the USA TODAY Network are really uniquely suited to capitalize on all of those opportunities in the entertainment landscape.'
Daily Mirror
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Inside Lauren Sanchez's £15m wedding glam squad - including drag queen tailor
Amazon boss, Jeff Bezos, has pulled out all the stops for his $20 million (£15m) wedding to Lauren Sanchez in Venice on Friday, which will be attended by a whole host of Hollywood stars Jeff Bezos' bride Lauren Sanchez is flying in her most trusted glam squad for her $20 million (£15m) wedding in Venice on Friday. The former journalist, 55, has pulled out all the stops to make sure she looks picture-perfect for the eye-wateringly lavish nuptials, which will be attended by a whole host of Hollywood stars. Ahead of the ceremony, which is said to be taking place at the stunning Arsenale fortress after Venetians threatened to block the canals with inflatable crocodiles at Bezos' former choice of venue in the city, a tour guide was hired to welcome guests was snapped holding a clipboard of names. READ MORE: Jeff Bezos forced to move wedding venue after locals threaten to block Venice canals Prominent among the list, which included names, flight numbers, and hotel destinations - were members of Lauren's 'glam squad', according to the Mail. So, as Ms Sanchez gets ready to waltz down the aisle with one of the richest men in the world, here's all we know about those tasked with giving the bride her perfect day, from the makeup artist who chose Lauren's lippy for her recent trip to space - to a drag queen tailor... Makeup artist Laura Ann Mele Make-up artist, Laura Ann Mele, has been trusted with Lauren's look since at least November 2023, when the former newsreader first appeared on Laura's Instagram page. At the time, the New Yorker got Lauren ready for the Glamour magazine's Women of the Year awards, opting for natural makeup with a sultry shimmer. Laura, who arrived in Venice on June 24, has worked with Lauren several times, including for her 53rd birthday party, multiple award ceremonies, and the bride-to-be's debut Met Gala appearance in 2024. Most recently, she did Lauren's makeup for her much-criticised trip to space on Jeff's Blue Origin rocket. Joined by Katy Perry, Lauren skipped onto the rocket in a skin-tight blue jumpsuit, but was slammed by many for a 'monumental waste of money'. Hairstylist Sophie Rose Another long-standing member of Lauren's glam squad is hairstylist, Sophie Rose. The Californian's name was reportedly on the wedding guest spreadsheet, which is no surprise considering how many times she's worked with Lauren. Lauren often pops up on Sophie's Instagram page, including in March when the celebrity hairdresser shared a picture of her client's 'bridal' look for the Vanity Fair's Oscars party that she attended with Jeff. For the ceremony, the former journalist sported picked a strapless white mermaid gown, with a feathered hem and train, which many thought screamed 'bride to be'. Her long raven locks were styled in tumbling waves, which is a style Sophie might reinvent for the wedding. British makeup artist to the stars Buster Knight Also flying in for the big day is British makeup artist, Buster Knight. The London-based creative shared his flight details on Instagram from the UK earlier this morning before the leaked spreadsheet confirmed Buster's arrival in Italy around lunchtime. Buster has been in charge of several of Lauren's looks, including her appearance at the Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda show in Sardinia last July. While lifting the lid on her makeup for Milan Fashion Week last January, Buster revealed he used Hourglass Cosmetics' lipstick in the shade 'Dove 306' as well as a Kylie Cosmetics mascara over fake lashes from UK-based brand, Eyelure. Dolce and Gabbana executive Samuel Horowitz Dolce and Gabanna executive Samuel Horowitz's name on the list hints that Lauren could be wearing a wedding dress designed by the Italian duo. She's a big fan of the iconic brand, having been spotted at the D&G flagship store in Milan in March armed with huge bags, maybe after a dress fitting. Lauren's son, Nikko, 24, also modelled for the fashion house last year. Drag Queen tailor Mindy L'amour One of the most jaw-dropping names said to be on the list is drag queen tailor, Mindy L'amour. The Californian stylitst specialises in corsets and has dressed a whole host of stars, including drag queens. Lauren is a big fan of a corset, which she's worn to a number of high profile events, including US President Trump's inauguration in January. The bride-to-be ignored the backlash accusing her of dressing inappropriately for the ceremony, as a source close to her reportedly told Page Six: "She does what she wants". Lauren also wore a low-cut white corset for her star-studded hen party in Paris, which was attended by Kim Kardashian, who is also going to the wedding. Maybe Mindy, who shared a video of herself enjoying a water taxi ride upon arrival in Venice earlier today, will be putting Lauren in a corset for her wedding. We can't wait to find out!
Elle
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Elle
Amal Clooney Wore a Stunning Strapless Summer Dress For Dinner Date With George Clooney
On Friday, Amal and George Clooney enjoyed dinner with close friend Bono of U2 at Polo Bar in Manhattan. Amal wore a stunning strapless summer dress in white by Stella McCartney, which was wrapped in mesh fabric printed with a graphic cherry design. She accessorized with a black clutch, dangling gold earrings, and metallic heels with pointed toes. The human rights lawyer was wearing a natural makeup palette with a hint of a smokey eye. Holding her hand, George wore a navy suit over a black polo and a matching baseball cap, plus a pair of shiny black dress shoes. The couple has been friends with Bono and his wife, Alison Hewson, for many years, though the rock star appeared to be solo at dinner. Amal and George were recently separated as they traveled around the world. Amal attended the Cannes Film Festival for a screening of Bono's documentary, Stories of Surrender. There, she wore an off-the-shoulder black gown with a short train. It was an archival Christian Dior gown from John Galliano's time at the fashion house. On May 29, they were reunited at an event celebrating his hit Broadway play Good Night, and Good Luck. They were also photographed posing backstage with Nancy Pelosi, Tanya Taylor, Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, and Huma Abedin. In 2022, after being named Women of the Year by Time magazine, Amal talked about her marriage and being mom to her twins, Ella and Alexander. 'Marriage has been wonderful,' she shared. 'I have in my husband a partner who is incredibly inspirational and supportive, and we have a home filled with love and laughter.' Of parenthood, she said, 'It is a joy beyond anything I could ever have imagined. I feel so lucky to have found a great love in my life, and to be a mother—this is how I get my balance.'
USA Today
30-05-2025
- General
- USA Today
Public housing failed miserably in Chicago. Why is the city now opening a housing museum?
Public housing failed miserably in Chicago. Why is the city now opening a housing museum? The National Museum of Public Housing puts visitors in the shoes of former tenants through recreated apartments. Residents hope people see there's more to life in the projects than the news shows. Show Caption Hide Caption Jen Hampton named among USA TODAY's Women of the Year for North Carolina Following Hurricane Helene, Jen Hampton visited each of Asheville's public housing communities to ensure residents knew how to get help. She's one of USA TODAY's Women of the Year. CHICAGO – A 7-year-old boy walking to school dies under sniper fire. A 13-year-old girl taking the elevator is assaulted when a man slips in behind her. Conditions in hallways are hardly fit for rats. Public housing in the U.S. invokes images so horrible it begs the question why Chicago – where America's grand housing experiment arguably went more wrong than anywhere else – built the country's first museum of public housing and turned a spotlight on a past many people would prefer to forget. Chicago's National Public Housing Museum opened in April in the last remaining building of a public housing complex, located some two miles from the city's iconic downtown. The opening comes decades after former residents called for a museum in response to the city destroying much of Chicago's public housing in the early 2000s. America had soured on public housing then and was on a nationwide demolition derby, blowing up decrepit high rises from Philadelphia to San Francisco. Museum leaders say the questions the exhibits ask are more urgent than ever as President Donald Trump enacts sweeping cuts to Housing and Urban Development, the federal agency that handles public housing. Budget cuts are already expected to result in the loss of 32,000 housing vouchers. 'Ultimately, the big question the museum asks is what is the responsibility of government to its people,' museum Executive Director Lisa Yun Lee told USA TODAY. And about public housing, 'what were the successes that got drowned out by its loudest failures?' The institution is the first public housing museum of its kind, experts told USA TODAY. General admission is free. Admission to the historic apartments costs up to $25. The over $16 million museum was built with public and private funding, including $4.5 million from a city Community Development Grant. Federal officials began building public housing in the 1930s. Over the course of a century, 10 million people lived in public developments, according to the museum. They became synonymous with urban life. TV shows including Good Times celebrated residents striving for a better life but the image that endures in series like The Wire show people caught instead in an American nightmare. Chicago's new museum aims to broaden the debate through guided tours of three apartments: one belonging to a Jewish family in the 1930s, a Polish and an Italian family in the '50s and a Black family in the '60s. Visitors can take a gefilte fish recipe from the Turovitz apartment or see the apartment that a Chicago pastor credits for his development into a prominent voice for peace in the city. Other exhibitions highlight everyday objects from former public housing residents, including Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor; historic government posters that promoted public housing; and the impact of public housing residents on American music. Stars from Elvis Presley to Jimi Hendrix and Barbra Streisand all lived in public housing. But the uncelebrated life of everyday people is at the heart of the museum. For them, the museum stands as a witness to the stories of resilience and community that filled their days. 'These housing developments were not always bad,' The Reverend Marshall Hatch told USA TODAY. Hatch is the prominent West Side pastor who grew up in the Jane Addams Homes complex, where the museum is today. 'Even in the worst of times, people had community, had love, they had friendship, they had celebration, they were thoroughly human.' 'New, different and demonstratively better': Early public housing Public housing in America has always been for the nation's poor and working class. The earliest projects date back to the Great Depression and the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who declared in horror during his second inaugural address in 1937: 'I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.' Already the progressive icon was building public housing projects around the country. Laborers lived in slums then and federal 'planned housing' was pitched as a panacea for everything from diseases associated with unsanitary conditions to juvenile delinquency and deaths from house fires, according to federal promotional posters at the museum in Chicago. 'It was built to be new, different and demonstratively better,' said Lawrence Vale, a scholar of public housing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But the projects weren't for everyone. Entry requirements were so strict, applicants had a better chance of getting into Harvard, according to Vale. Early projects accepted people who could cover rent; lived in tight nuclear families instead of large extended families; and had the 'right racial composition for the neighborhood' which usually meant being White, Vale said. Getting accepted for them was a sure step towards achieving the American dream. 'If you got a spot in public housing it was like a seal of approval of your prospects,' said Vale. Growth of public housing Federal housing programs became popular and soon cities and towns around the nation had started housing authorities aimed at helping more Americans enjoy a better life. In Chicago they sprang up with names that matched their utopian visions, including Jane Addams, the social reformer known for launching a movement in the U.S. to improve the lives of the poor, and Ida B. Wells, the Black journalist born into slavery whose reporting on lynching propelled the Civil Rights Movement. A total of nearly 1.4 million public housing units were built nationwide. Decades of demolitions have reduced the number to 877,000 units but still federal maps of public housing show towns from Glasgow, Montana, – population 3,000 – to Itta Bena, Mississippi, – population 1,700 – have agencies overseeing public housing. They even exist in U.S. territories. According to federal data, there are over 300 public housing developments in Puerto Rico alone, the largest of any single housing authority, although New York City has more total units at 180,000 to the island's 54,000. The vast majority of sites are low-rise complexes, according to experts. 1.6 million people live in public housing and 2.3 million households use housing vouchers, according to federal data. 'Grandest place to live,' says former resident Public housing aims to give people a chance at the American dream, according to Crystal Palmer, a former public housing resident in Chicago who works for the city's housing agency. Palmer, who is Black, moved into Chicago's Henry Horner Homes – a sprawling network of high-rises once located near the stadium where the Chicago Bulls play – in 1968 when she was nine years old. The high rises were destroyed by 2008. The complex was among several built in the '50s and '60s when Chicago's Black population was booming, growing from 230,000 people in 1930 to 810,000 in 1960. Martin Luther King Jr. blasted the slums that Black migrants were confined to before the Civil Rights era. King moved into a tenement in solidarity with residents in 1966 and told the Chicago Tribune: "We don't have wall-to-wall carpeting, but we have wall-to-wall rats and roaches." Palmer's family then was among Black West Siders taken from slums into the city's newest housing projects. It felt like no less a seal of approval. 'It was the grandest place to live,' said Palmer, adding there was green grass, fences around the yards and flower beds as well as a ballfield and candy stand. The buildings represented a chance to go from a house that often had problems with water and electricity and where rodents had the run of the place to instead a 'decent, safe, sanitary environment,' she said. Pleasant conditions gave way to years when the building fell into disrepair, gangs took over and police were afraid to come or brutalized people if they did, according to Palmer. But 'The Hornets,' as they became known, still offered her a place to fall back upon and save to become the homeowner she is today. 'I know what it is to leave home when I could and come back when I really needed it,' she said. 'It's important because it gives people a leg up to do better, it gives their family an opportunity to do better.' 'Most notorious' housing project in the nation Public housing around Chicago and the nation fell into despair in the '80s and '90s when federal funding dropped precipitously. The country went from funding the federal public housing agency with $83 billion in 1978 to just $18 billion in 1983, as measured in 2004 dollars. Buildings became exactly what they were built to replace — slums. And the decline was perhaps most horrific of all in Chicago. A USA TODAY cover story from Oct. 21, 1992, titled 'Life, death in 'Little Hell'' called one Chicago housing project – the Cabrini-Green Homes – 'arguably the nation's most-notorious.' The complex was located just blocks away from Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood, one of the ritziest in the nation, but it stood a world apart. The story was written in response to the death of 7-year-old Dantrell Davis who died by sniper fire while walking to school with his mother. 'No name invokes a grimmer image of urban blight, violence and poverty than this 70-acre, 7,000 person 'city' of isolation and dead-end despair,' the paper reported. 'Three children dead in eight months, a rubble-strewn, graffiti covered war zone just blocks from some of the richest downtown real estate in the USA.' Davis' story created a lasting image for the complex. It came to national attention in the '70s as the setting of the popular sitcom Good Times. Cabrini-Green became a symbol of the failures of public housing nationwide even though it represented just .5% of the 3.8 million people living at that time in public housing nationwide. Data from the period shows public housing residents in New York City were even safer than other New Yorkers, according to USA TODAY reporting at the time. Stepping over bodies to get to school The failures were awful. Francine Washington survived a decades-long horror show at a high rise on the South Side she moved into in the mid-1970s. Washington lived through the police beat covering Stateway Gardens, the complex where she lived until they were demolished in 2006, becoming among the most dangerous in Chicago. People overdosed in the buildings, women Washington knew were raped and wayward bullets killed children in their apartments. Some flew into Washington's apartment, hitting where her husband usually sat. 'Ping, ping,' she said, recalling the sound to a USA TODAY reporter recently. 'The bullets came through the window, if he had still been there, he would have been dead.' In 1990, no city police beat saw more murders or sexual assaults than the 7,400 residents living at Stateway, the Chicago Tribune reported. The 20 homicides in the 16-block area were more than in Montana, Delaware, Alaska, New Hampshire, Maine, the Dakotas, Vermont, Wyoming and Idaho, according to the Tribune. Washington was left to raise two sons under the conditions. One son wanted to skip school one day after finding a body in the hallway outside the apartment. 'Step over that damn body and get your ass to school,' she remembers telling him. A teacher called asking her how she could send her son to school after such a scare and Washington replied, 'he's gonna see that more than one time, he might as well get used to it.' Community despite odds Nearly 20 years after leaving the demolished high rise apartment building, Washington can recall terrible moments in detail but she also becomes sentimental in speaking about her neighbors. 'Even though we had all the problems and all the ills, it was still a community, everyone knew your name,' she says. 'You always had somewhere to go and somebody to visit. You weren't lonely.' Washington moved to another public housing site after her building was destroyed in 2006 but hasn't formed close relationships with her neighbors who aren't public housing residents. 'I do miss it because it was family,' she said of her old high rise. Faith in public housing shaken The buildings where Hatch, Palmer and Washington spent formative years were all destroyed as officials slammed high rise buildings themselves as the reason for the desperate conditions in public housing. They came down amid a wave of highly publicized demolitions that dated back to the razing of the 33 buildings of Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis in the mid-70s. The complex of 11-story high rises designed by Minoru Yamasaki, the architect behind the original World Trade Center towers in New York City, was celebrated at its opening for its utopian vision. But that vision to landed on its face in less than 20 years. Famed American composer Philip Glass memorialized the rise and fall of the complex in 'Pruitt-Igoe,' a piece of music for an art film about the empty promises of modern life. Chicago officials called the policy of destroying high rises the 'Plan for Transformation.' Images celebrating the destruction of public housing came to typify how Americans felt about the project even as millions of people still relied on federal programs. 'It remains vivid in the public imagination because it is a major visible public failure,' said Akira Drake Rodriguez, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania's Weitzman School of Design. 'It's meant to say we solved the problem.' A litany of failures so bad that the sites had to be blown up left America's faith in public housing forever shaken. Chicago pastor aims to restore public housing village People who lived in the buildings officials destroyed or at uneventful public housing sites wish the rest of America knew there was more to the story. Hatch, the West Side pastor who grew up in the complex where the museum sits today, remembers a crowded, joyful household. The family moved in 1960 when he was 2 years old and stayed until he was 16. He slept on the couch so his parents could have a room and his seven sisters could have the other. And for him they were some of the best years of his life. 'During my childhood it was a beautiful little village,' said Hatch, 'almost like a dream.' The apartment was so crowded they spent their days outside with other children. Life was playing baseball in the complex courtyard where Art Deco statues of animals served as the basepath. It was about developing friendships that last a lifetime. And it was about developing pride in community that turned Hatch into a prominent voice for peace in a city often rocked by gun violence. Decades later, Hatch is still trying to recreate the feeling he had when he lived in public housing. The New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church pastor helps head a group that's aiming to build a similar community in West Side neighborhoods that have still never fully recovered from the riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. They hope to transform the area into a 'walkable village' with grocery stores, a health care clinic, an art center and credit union — everyday things that are out of reach for many in Chicago. The group was awarded $10 million for the project in 2023. For Hatch, the inspiration lies in his experience of public housing and the figures the projects were named after to begin with, who offer a different vision of the nation. 'These social reformers had this incredible vision of America being a place of inclusion and being able to support these immigrant and migrant families with what I call 'family-friendly public policies,'' Hatch said. 'And once we get through this current season that is almost embarrassingly amoral, I think these social reformers will offer a sense of what a more positive and spiritual vision of America looks like.'
USA Today
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Hoda Kotb on wellness company Joy 101 and starting over at 60
Hoda Kotb on wellness company Joy 101 and starting over at 60 A week before Hoda Kotb debuts her wellness company, Joy 101, she's in a haze of unrelenting meetings to secure sponsors, experts and more employees. 'It's stuff you don't think about. 'Who's going to do the frequently asked questions?'' Kotb, 60, says. 'All this stuff that goes into websites and apps and events.' Ahead of her company's launch on May 28 she was 'nervous' but 'ready.' 'I'm hopeful, and I'm also proud that we did something,' she says. 'We're not just talking about it. Something's going to be put out into the world. Is it going to be perfect? I doubt it, but it's going to be really good.' Kotb departed her 'Today' anchor chair on Jan. 10, the same day she bid adieu to 'Today with Hoda & Jenna,' culminations of her decades-long NBC career which began in 1998 at 'Dateline.' Craig Melvin replaced Kotb on NBC's morning news program while Jenna Bush Hager has entertained a revolving door of celebrity guests on 'Today with Jenna & Friends.' Kotb revealed in an interview at the start of a wellness weekend she hosted with 'Today' in October that a whisper nudged her to leave her former posts. 'In different forms, it was saying, 'You're an adventurer,'' she said, adding that she also longed for more time with daughters, Haley Joy, 8, and Hope Catherine, 6. 'It was saying, 'What's this next chapter? It was (asking), have you done it all?'' Kotb first mentioned a desire to get into the wellness space when we'd connected in March of 2024 to talk about her children's book, 'Hope is a Rainbow.' 'I am dreaming about one day starting a kind of, sort of wellness, mind, body, spirit movement sort of thing,' she said timidly with a smile. She'd recently began a breath work practice and had an emotional breakthrough in her office the day prior. 'I laid on the ground with a breath works person on Zoom, and I was blubbering, after five minutes,' she said. 'It's just like a release.' TV host Hoda Kotb gets real about motherhood, mornings and moving on Veteran TV host and author Hoda Kotb is one of USA TODAY's 2025 Women of the Year. After the first session daughter Haley noticed a shift and told Kotb, 'You seem different.' Kotb says, 'They were calling me 'Calm Mom' and laughing.' Kotb says she routinely mediates in the morning and again around 2 p.m. before picking her kids up from school in her cherished minivan. She says she's gained perspective and feels more energized. 'I always was one to exercise my stress away, and that works, to a point,' Kotb says. 'But when you wake up again, the next day, there it is again. 'I got to outrun this. If I don't run, all my stress is going to come get me.' You're constantly like on the run from your stress. And then you're realizing, like, 'Well, what is it? Let's try to unload the stress.'' Hoda Kotb's journey to Joy 101: 'You can be a beginner again at 60' An insatiable curiosity about wellness and a desire to share all she's learned motivated Kotb to start Joy 101, which offers an app and events that aim to enhance the lives of its users, with a tailor-made program. Users can preorder the app, which goes live on June 11 and costs $16.99 for a monthly subscription or $99 for the year. 'Everybody seems really tired, and everybody seems like they've got more than they can carry and there's too much on their plate and it's like, 'Not one more thing!'' Kotb says. 'That's what I even found myself (saying), like, 'There's no more room. I'm tapped out. There's not room to pile one more thing on.' This is designed to take things off your plate.' Hoda Kotb returns to host 'Today' with Jenna Bush Hager: What to know On the app, Kotb provides a daily dose of her optimism and wisdom and greets users with a 21-day course, in which she shares life lessons. Kotb has also curated additional research-backed classes and wellness sessions focused on topics like brain health, breath work, mindfulness, personal growth and sleep. Membership includes two livestreams per month with Kotb and her trusted wellness experts. The first occurs on June 11 with Savannah Guthrie and Bush Hager. Users are also given early access to retreats and events, which Kotb says she's really leaning into. During October's regenerative weekend Kotb shared with attendees that before diving into wellness, she 'felt like I was carrying around a heavy backpack for so long and didn't know it.' During her journey, 'the backpack got emptied and I started feeling lighter and better.' At 60, she said, 'I feel better today than I have in decades.' Kotb says the biggest revelation she's realized 'is that you can be a beginner again at 60.' 'It taught me that the learning process is unending, and it showed me that anyone who says they're stuck in their ways is because they're choosing to be stuck in their ways,' Kotb says. 'You can evolve; you can change. You can see the world totally differently. You could try something brand new and risky. You can say goodbye to something that was the safest and most extraordinary career in the world.' Ready to make a change? 'Stop worrying about the odds' Maybe that feels jarring to anyone who fears change or the unknown. Kotb grew up 'in a home of optimism,' as she put it in 2024. 'When I was playing a basketball game, and we were down 5 points with 15 seconds, (my mom) believed that it was possible to win, and therefore I believed.' Hoda Kotb's favorite question is 'tell me more.' Now she shares what's next. Her breast cancer diagnosis in 2007 minimized things that previously felt scary or overwhelming, and she didn't allow rejection or criticism to hijack her hope. 'I was constantly rejected,' she previously said. 'The guys didn't like me; I didn't get the job. It didn't crush me. I didn't feel devastated. I was like, 'Ohh that's how it goes but also something, I think, good will happen.' 'Stop worrying about the odds,' Kotb says. 'Stop worrying about all that stuff, because if you think about the odds, you'll do nothing, ever.'
