Hoda Kotb — Phenomenal Journalist, Even Better Human
In today’s confusing, controversial and crazy news landscape, it is seemingly impossible to find someone whose voice spans across all platforms and audiences. Many of the world’s television news anchors have not adapted to our current digital era, and many ‘new age’ journalists still have a relatively narrow audience. For that reason, my media idol is none other than Hoda Kotb. Superstar journalist, positive media presence and simply a kind human being.
Hoda has earned all of her incredible accomplishments through hard work and dedication. She started at a station in a place most have never heard of and today anchors America’s favorite morning news show (maybe I’m bias but I stand by that assessment). She worked in places where it was hard for her to be herself, yet she never lost who she was. Hoda never let go of the primary role of a journalist, to tell the stories of those who cannot speak for themselves.
Before the TODAY Show, Hoda worked for Dateline, and covered stories that are capable of breaking a person’s heart and spirit. Clearly that did not happen to Hoda. She took what she learned from these difficult stories, and mastered the practice of telling them, even when it wasn’t easy. Now she is one of the most beloved news people in the country, with a smile guaranteed to bring you joy.
Hoda on Dateline: https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/video/hoda-kotb-previews-fatal-attraction-37573699786
I admire her positivity more than I admire anybody else’s. In this industry, with all one witnesses and has to report, it can be hard not to give in to the negativity. Hoda has not done that in the slightest. She takes the good with the bad and applies it to her personal and journalistic growth. In her book ‘Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee’ she said something that really stuck with me:
“If you fall-and trust me, you will- make sure you fall on your back. Because if you fall on your back, you can see up. And if you can see up, you can get up. And you can keep going and going and going.”
I have learned so much from her about not only what it means to never give up on a story, but also to never give up on yourself.
In terms of adapting to the modern world, she has done so in a way that she could have easily neglected to. She uses her Instagram not to simply to repost stories she covered on the show, but to share the stories of those who do not have the same platform. She promotes stories from a variety of outlets, including accounts such as ‘Good News Movement.’
Hoda’s Instagram reposts from ‘Good News Movement’: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEQ9s1ihwAq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDgHQjPlKrH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
She takes the time to find these stories she feels a duty to share with her audience. Many journalists develop an ego once they reach a certain level of stature and feel that their own stories are the only one’s worth telling. Hoda is not like that, she always feels that she has more to learn. She is so incredibly humble, something I cannot say that for most others in her position.
Hoda never stops striving to be her best self either. This year she wrote a beautiful book about words that inspire her, something that she did not need to do, but wanted to. We are so fortunate to have her as a journalist and human in this world, and that is why she is my media idol.
