“More energy. More clarity. More joy.”
Blacksburg – That’s the promise behind Joy 101, a new wellness app founded by former Today show anchor Hoda Kotb. Now the Virginia Tech alumna is partnering with students in Blacksburg to help test and refine the platform — and the collaboration is sparking conversations about mental health on college campuses.
Kotb recorded a personal message for the students involved in the project.
“I just want to say thank you guys so much for trying out our Joy 101 app, for giving it a go, for seeing how it works,” Kotb said. “It means a lot to me. This is a new company I founded not too many months ago and I was like, who can try it out to see what things we need to work on, what things are really good, and I thought, how about my people at Virginia Tech?”
158 students, five classes, one big-name app
A total of 158 students across five classes are getting free access to Joy 101 for a year — putting the app through its paces and offering real feedback to its founder.
Sophomore Anusha Dhungana is among those students. She says one feature in particular stood out.
“The little sayings, daily affirmations, that you can look at throughout the day, which I really like,” Dhungana said.
The app also offers short, in-app courses designed with busy users in mind. One feature — a “Movement Stack” — targets people who have spent hours glued to a screen.
“We’re students, we have class all day, five days a week, so we’re sitting in our chairs a lot at desks, or we’re in the library, in our bedrooms at our desks just doing work,” one student said while demoing the app.
Dhungana said the chair-stretching session built into the app was a welcome surprise.
“So we did kind of like a chair stretching session, which I did not know, but I really needed that,” she said.
The bite-sized nature of the exercises is also a draw for students juggling packed schedules.
“There are exercises as small as two minutes. I can always find the time for something that small,” Dhungana said.
Mental health, mindfulness, a moment to reset
With the pressures of classes, work and daily life, students say those small check-ins make a difference.
“It’s so important because as a culture, you’re kind of bouncing around everywhere,” Dhungana said.
When asked how the app might help students who are struggling, Dhungana didn’t hesitate.
“I think this app will bring more mindfulness to their day,” she said.
Professor Dawn Jefferies, who teaches at Virginia Tech, says the impact goes beyond personal wellness.
“Just seeing how students are finding ways to incorporate wellness and well-being into their daily lives, into their busy schedules is really important because I care about them,” Jefferies said. “Virginia Tech cares about them as well. Well-being and mental health is certainly important.”
A real client, a real career opportunity
For Jefferies, the project is also a launching pad for students entering the workforce. In her public relations class, students are treating Joy 101 like an actual client — pitching stories, developing content and building out their professional portfolios.
“They’re actually really getting to work with the media. They’re actually getting to pitch stories and develop content about something that they really have learned a lot about throughout the semester,” Jefferies said. “And that’s really great because, one, it’s memorable. Two, it gives them a great opportunity to have real work for their portfolios, which will make them career ready, which is what we really want to do for them.”
The Kotb connection doesn’t hurt either.
“It’s really great because it’s Hoda Kotb, it’s an alum, and everyone is excited about it and excited to work with it and be a part of it,” Jefferies said.
For Jefferies — a former WSLS 10 anchor — the collaboration is a full-circle moment.
“She is just so genuinely joyful,” Jefferies said of Kotb.
Jefferies got the chance to meet Hoda while she was working as a news anchor, and still has an autographed photo of her in her office at Virginia Tech.
Now these Hokies leave the semester with portfolio work tied to a national name — and, they hope, a little extra joy along the way.