Let’s start with one of your favorite quotes from Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” How do you seek to embody that? 

This quote is so meaningful to me because when I sit with someone on the Today show, I don’t want the conversation to be about me or reflect what I want to say. I want to give them the ultimate space to say what they want to say and be exactly who they are. Whenever I think, Who do I want to interview? I want to interview someone who’s telling the truth. I don’t care what the subject is. If you’re telling the truth, we’re here. We’re connected.

At the end of an interview, or at the end of a conversation with a friend, I want the person sitting across from me to feel lighter, like the heavy backpack can be put down. We get one ride around the sun. That’s all. When I think of it that way, whoever I’m sitting across from, I think, This is my one moment with you. What’s it going to be? How are we going to make this feel? I hope they feel heard because being heard is like saying “I love you.” I often say “I love you” at the end, and they’re like, “Me too.” Some people dig it and some people go, “We just met.” But that’s my thing.

Rewinding to the early days, you shared a beautiful story about Neal Shapiro [former president of NBC News] teaching you how to say “And then, something amazing happened” when you joined Dateline. It illuminates that seemingly small moments can make a pivotal impact on someone’s life and career. Let’s expand on the power of those moments and how you strive to embrace them for others. 

I always wondered when I started working here, Am I worthy of this place? This place has the best and the smartest, so I felt “less than.” What made that Neal moment so significant was that I felt like I was behind in everything: My writing wasn’t up to snuff. My interview style wasn’t. The way I structured stories wasn’t. I had a whole list of “wasn’t’s,” but I did have my voice.

So when Neal said, “Come on in, I need to talk to you about something. We need to work on your voice,” I was like, Oh my god, that’s all I have. He said, “Let’s work on it.” So, this man looked me in the eye, saw me, and said, “We’re going to do something together.” He was teaching me. I was supposed to be taught by the time I got there.

He said, “Read from this piece of paper.” Then, he wrote down: “And then, something amazing happened.” I remember saying, “And then, something amazing happened.” He said, “Punch it.” So I said, “And then, something amazing happened!!!!” He said, “Not louder, punch it.”

I said, “Neal, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I remember how small I felt saying that I didn’t know how to read those words on a piece of paper. He took the paper and said, “And then, something amazing happened. See what I did?”

I did. It was a life lesson that transformed the way I felt about myself.

Now I needed a tool. How could I do what he did? I walked by the audio booth and heard [Dateline correspondent] Keith Morrison doing an incredible reading of a script. I waited for an hour and when he came out, I asked, “What are you doing in there?” He said, “I was reading a children’s story to my kid.” The light bulb went off. That’s how you do it. You emphasize what you would emphasize when you’re reading your kid a story.

Neal and Keith were my teachers. And all of these people who didn’t have to be [my teachers] taught me. I always felt like the outside kid who wasn’t as good. So my tendency is to see someone and ask if they need help because I was always the one who needed it. All those tiny lessons were building blocks of someone telling me I see you. You’re worthy. You can do this. I try to do the same for the people who have stepped into my life too.

You’ve shared another powerful mentorship moment when your former coanchor Kathie Lee Gifford told you to throw away your cards, which helped you develop a sense of trust and authenticity with your team. What was your journey embracing that authenticity, and how do you continue to find your flow with your coanchors today?

I thought you had to be perfect. When you’re perfect, you don’t stumble. You turn to camera one. Then, you turn to camera two, hit the sound bite, and get out right on time. Kathie Lee reminded me that perfection isn’t interesting to watch. Perfection isn’t something you should strive for. Being real is what you should strive for.

I remember she looked at me and said, “I’m right here,” because I was preoccupied with my cards. She taught me the most important lesson not just in television but in life, which is: Be here now. Be where your feet are planted. It doesn’t count if you’re in your head thinking about what to say next. That’s not listening. I spent my career doing that, not realizing it. It changed not only my professional life but my personal life.

The other lesson Kathie Lee taught me, and others have, too, is: Clear is kind. You’re kind when you’re telling the truth. She showed me that too: Say exactly what it is and kindness will follow.

Now, talk about people who changed my life. Kathie Lee changed my life completely. There were many options of who she could have hosted with—and I had just met her—but she said to the bosses: “I want her or I’m not coming.”

You highlight the importance of openness and vulnerability in relationships. What was your journey to embodying that with your coanchors and team, on and off the screen, and how did it elevate your dynamic?

It wasn’t easy, because when you start you’re colleagues first. Savannah [Guthrie] and I were put together because of the circumstances at NBC. It was like, Now it’s you two. Sometimes adversity will bring you together. So it was “you and me.” But after a while, then what was it? You have to develop something.

There have been moments with Savannah—because we’re colleagues who became dear friends—when I look at her and start crying because I’ll think, I have her back. It’s the same with me. If I’m lost in my script, she doesn’t sit there. She slides it to me. She says it. She’ll tap me, like, You need me? I’ll tap her, Do you need help? It’s trust. If they say the way you spend your days is the way you spend your life, I spend a lot of time at work—I want the way I spend my life to matter. The time I spend with Savannah is so important. It’s how I level-set my day.

Jenna [Bush Hager] and I are next level. I’ll never forget when she was having a baby and knew I was trying to adopt a second. She was in tears, and I said, “Oh my god, what happened?” She said, “I’m pregnant and you want a child so badly.” It’s that kind of love; when someone loves you so much that expressing a beautiful moment in their life feels painful because they’re concerned about how you’re feeling.

Your team actively supports each other’s growth. How have they supported you to achieve your dreams beyond the screen, like with your new book, Hope Is a Rainbow, and how do you aspire to do the same? What have you learned about the impact we can have encouraging each other to live our purpose? 

There are no better cheerleaders and people on your team than my friends on the show. When my daughter got sick, I was sitting in the hospital room and Savannah walked in before anybody. I looked up and said, “I can’t believe you’re standing there.” I sobbed, because it was like when you’re at your lowest, here comes everybody.

So, yes, when I write a book Savannah is going to be holding that book and telling her friends about it because she knows it matters to me. I’ll do the same for them, no matter what it is. The idea that we get to be out there with pom-poms is pretty cool. There isn’t one moment in my life that they’ve missed; the highs and the lows, all of it. They’re there. Everyone always says, “There’s work and there’s family.” There is, but there’s also a “work family,” and I have that.