Hoda Kotb Interview

By Karen McNew
WSLS10 Anchor
Published: March 31, 2008

If you look under the local news section on the front page of http://www.wsls.com you can watch my entire interview with NBC’s hoda Kotb… I got 5 minutes to talk to Hoda about being selected at Virginia Tech’s Speaker for Graduation… her love of the school and this area and ask a question or two about Kathy Lee joining her in the 4th hour of Today here on WSLS.

She was so delightful… I can only imagine how hectic her schedule must be… even still she took the time to talk sincerely about her time as a student at Virginia Tech and the emotional rebuilding that has gone on in the Hokie Nation since the April 16th shootings… never once did she seem rushed or treat me any differently than she would an old friend… it did my heart good to talk to someone I look up to as a journalist and find that she is as normal and upbeat “in person” as she is on Today… it was also special for me because Hoda actually spoke at my Communication Studies Department Graduation many years ago and was part of what motivated me to pursue my career in television news reporting… she had such an energy for what we do and that energy is contagious…

*Luckie Dog Note - I’ll elaborate tomorrow but Luckie is doing AMAZINGLY well since we have been giving him Chinese Herbs in conjunction with the Lysodren medication… and he is doing so well we have been able to back off the dose of his prescription medication even more… It’s good to have the little guy back…