Hoda Kotb Opens Up About Getting Rejected 27 Times Prior To Television Success

The Today Show‘s Hoda Kotb is currently one of the most well-known television news hosts. However, her career got off to a rocky start. It took her years to be able to enjoy the success she has now. In a candid interview, Kotb opened up about how she was rejected 27 times prior to landing her first television news job and how she kept pushing forward, despite all the disappointments, according to Yahoo News.

After graduating from college, Kotb began her job search hopeful and excited about starting her career as a journalist. But her first experience applying for a job was disheartening.

“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. I don’t know why somebody sent you here, but you’re too green, you’re not good,'” she recalled.

However, she continued to push for her dream, despite the 27 rejections.

“I was in that car driving around for 10 days. I got rejected everywhere. Anywhere you can think of in the Southeast, I got rejected,” she said.

Kotb eventually landed a job with a then-CBS news affiliate. She later scored a position at NBC News in April 1998 as a correspondent. From there, she continued to work her way up, eventually becoming one of the hosts of The Today Show‘s fourth hour, alongside Kathy Lee Gifford. She has since been the recipient of multiple awards, published best-selling books, and has become one of the primary hosts of The Today Show in the wake of Matt Lauer’s firing.

She said she has learned a lot from this process and she had some advice for others looking to reach the same level of success she has. She mentioned she would like to remind them of one thing.

“It just reminded me that you just need one person to love you. You don’t need everybody,” she said.

Now, Kotb continues to co-host the lighthearted fourth hour of The Today Show, alongside Jenna Bush Hager, after Gifford retired this past year. The two are currently prepping for a major change coming to their show. As The Inquisitr previously reported, beginning in February, the Thursday and Friday episodes of their show will be hosted in front of a live audience. It will be called Hoda & Jenna & Friends.