It’s ‘Life According to Hoda’ in DSS season finale

Former “TODAY” show co-anchor Hoda Kotb brought UB’s 2025-26 Distinguished Speakers Series to a rousing close Tuesday night, mixing star power, a shorthand life coach session and even a brief bout of the “giggles” to a sold-out, admiring Center for the Arts audience.

Kotb — pronounced correctly as KOT-be by President Satish K, Tripathi, who in his introduction praised her “authenticity, commitment to understanding others … for drawing attention to stories that inspire, challenge and remind us of our shared humanity” — came to the podium smiling and started talking. Before she finished about 35 minutes later, she touched several crowd-pleasing bases, including her early failures, eventual triumphs, quick admittance of her age — she’s 61 — and realization that her best days came after turning 50.

Kotb immediately and gracefully dealt with the tragic shadow of the search for the mother of her “TODAY” colleague Savannah Guthrie, who was abducted from her Tucson, Arizona, home Jan. 31 and remains missing. Kotb wore a yellow ribbon in recognition of the Guthrie family’s suffering. Most of the audience also wore a yellow ribbon after workers with large baskets with ribbons handed them out to those coming into the theater. Kotb said she was “very touched” by the gesture.

Kotb’s last day on NBC’s “TODAY” show was Jan. 10, 2025. She has temporarily returned to the show to fill in for Guthrie during her absence.

“My dear friend and her family have been going through a lot. And the only thing Savannah requests to me is prayers,” Kotb said to audience applause. “Keep them coming because that’s where we live. We live in the land of hope.”

With that, Kotb launched into one personal story and punchline after another, borrowing liberally from her “Making Space with Hoda Kotb” podcasts and her new wellness community and platform, Joy 101.

“I am 61 years old — shout out!” Kotb began. “But I’ve learned a bunch of life lessons along the way, so I want to share some.”

Kotb talked about the “master plan” she had to get a television job in Richmond, Va., when she drove her mother’s car to the city’s leading television station.

“I remember pulling up to the parking lot and walking in the newsroom and thinking, ‘This is awesome. I’m going to sit there, and I’m going to date him,’” Kotb said.

But after 27 rejections throughout the Southeastern U.S. — several of which she recounted in detail — she found her first job and a sympathetic news director in Mississippi. Like her other stories, they were runways to her life truths.

“Who cares if everyone doesn’t like you,” she said. “You only need one person to believe in you. Find your one.”

Kotb urged her audience to be aware of everyday, unlikely people who change the course of your life.

Kotb talked about the time her life was going very well. She was working for “Dateline” in New York, had just gotten married and couldn’t believe how fortunate her life had become. Then, during a phone call while in her office, her doctor told her she had breast cancer.

Lesson No. 2: “Life changes when you least expect it,” she said.

Kotb told the audience about a chance encounter on an airplane with a stranger that helped her reframe her diagnosis. “Don’t hog your journey,” he told her. “It’s not just for you.”

That conversation helped her realize her story could help others, she recounted. It gave her the courage to embrace change, including leaving her marriage, and start truly living.

“The third life lesson is that sometimes a stranger can change the course of your life,” Kotb said.

A highlight of the evening came during the question-and-answer session moderated by Stacy Knapper, chief executive officer of the UB Foundation. A 9-year-old girl in the audience named Vivian submitted a question about who inspired Kotb’s career.

After acknowledging the girl sitting in the balcony, Kotb called the question “awesome” and thanked Vivian’s mother for letting her daughter stay up late.

She mentioned Oprah Winfrey, but Kotb saved the highest acclaim for broadcast journalist Meredith Vieira, best known as the original moderator of the daytime talk show “The View.”

“Meredith showed me you can be kind and make it,” said Kotb. “She did ‘The View.’ She did ‘the TODAY show,’ and she left when she was ready… I’m just doing my life my way. She did it all on her terms, and she did it with kindness. She helped every person she came in contact with.

“She showed that you don’t have to swim with the sharks,” Kotb said. “You can still have a tender heart and work in that industry, which I didn’t know was possible.”