Hoda Kotb Is Saving Every Sign Fans Bring toTodayPlaza During Her Final Week for This Sweet Reason (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Hoda Kotb on the ‘Today’ show on Dec. 19, 2023.Photo:Nathan Congleton/NBC/Getty

Nathan Congleton/NBC/Getty

Hoda Kotb’s been taking it all in during her last week at theTodayshow.

“It’s really been a ride,” Kotb, 60, tells PEOPLE. “I keep getting lost in people’s eyes. That’s what I keep feeling when I see people, especially on the [Today] Plaza. They relay a story about something that happened or something they made."

“Almost every bracelet I’m wearing came from someone on the Plaza. Some has my name. This one says, ‘Unicorn,’ this one says, ‘Leo’s roar.’ Someone made one with the date of my last day, 01/10/2025,” she continues. “Whether it’s a piece of jewelry or a stuffy or somebody crocheted something beautiful, there are constant reminders.”

And Kotb treasures them all. In fact, she loves them so much that she plans on keeping them to show her daughters Hayley, 7, and Hope, 5, one day,

“I asked our guys to roll up every sign that people made so I could take them home,” she says. “I want them in my house. They go, ‘We got you. We’re going to take them all home.’ One day my kids are going to unroll them and go, ‘What did you used to do?’ I’ll be like, ‘Look, it’s a long story,’ but I really want to hold onto things. I’m taking it. I’m wearing it, I’m drinking it, I’m eating it. I’m reading it. I mean, I can’t with the cards. The cards are my favorite part.”

On Tuesday, Jan. 7, Kotbreconnected with the family of a womanshe met with through the breast cancer community (Kotb was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007) while hosting the #PinkPowerTODAY series in 2016 that celebrated women who were diagnosed with the disease. Two days later, shereunited with a couplewhosewedding she officiatedon Valentine’s Day 2023 and they gave her flowers they preserved from their special day.

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With every passing day, Kotb finds herself wanting the week to slow down.

“On Monday, I used to wish for Wednesday, so I could wish for Friday, the weekend, and I was thinking about it in all the weeks,” theI Really Needed This Todayauthor says. “This is the first week that I don’t want Friday to come just yet. Because that Friday is going to be a big marker, so I was thinking to myself, slow down, slow everything down.”

The ‘Today’ show co-anchors (from left) Carson Daly, Craig Melvin, Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker on Jan. 3, 2024.Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

Still, the journalist expects Friday, Jan. 10, to start like any other workday.

“Eddie’s going to pick me up like he does every day and has every day. And we always have a playlist,” Kotb says. “I’m going to say, ‘Hi’ to our security guards like I do every day, I’m going to go in and see Laura and Mary, my long-time hair and makeup team, and we’re going to have deep and meaningful conversations. I’m going to pay attention, I’m going to read my scripts. I don’t know what I’m going to do except for hold on for as long as I can.”

Hoda Kotb on November 29, 2023 on NBC’s Today Show.Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

Kotbannounced in Septemberthat she’d be stepping away from theTodayshow after 17 years — and a total of 25 with NBC. She plans tospend more time with her childrenandstart a wellness appand company, which will involve retreats and a podcast launching this spring.

“Someone said to me, ‘Imagine yourself on the other side. Imagine what you feel like,’” Hotb says. “You’re nourishing people, you’re helping them with this wellness company. You feel lighter, you feel inspired, you have more creativity, you slept better. And more importantly than all of it is, you became a better mother every day because you got to be there. So I was thinking about all those things.”

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Kotb’s final episode ofTodayandToday with Hoda and Jennawill air on Friday, Jan. 10. TheTodayshow airs weekdays on NBC beginning at 7 a.m. ET.

source: people.com