Hoda Kotb

entered a new era of her life on Wednesday, and no one was happier for her than her two daughters,

Haley

and

Hope

.



The former
Today
host

took to

Instagram


to share the sweet messages of support that her children had given her ahead of her wellness brand launch, which they put up around the house for Hoda to find.


One poster read, “Happy launch day

Mom


!” in


rainbow-colored


letters, while another was pinned to the door and


simply


read, “Mo


m”.


“Lucky me,” Hoda captioned the post, alongside a red heart emoji.



Being present



Eight-year-old Haley and six-year-old Hope served as the catalyst behind Hoda’s departure from the morning

show,


after 17 years behind the desk.


“It’s really cool

to just realize


that there’s so much more to life,” she told




People


of her exit. “I wasn’t able to bear witness to my kids’ daily lives because of what I was doing. I got to see Haley sing ‘What a Wonderful World’ at 9:15 a.m. – I would have missed that. I used to think life was the big things, but it really is all the stuff that happens in between.”


She shares her two girls with her ex-partner, Joel Schiffman.



Hoda’s new venture




Hoda launched her new wellness platform, Joy 101

, on Wednesday, explaining in a statement that she felt compelled to share all she had learned about wellness and health.


“You know when you find something so special, so life-changing that you just have to share it? That’s me, and that’s Joy 101,” she said. “It’s a place to pass on the light, the lessons and the healing I’ve been lucky enough to receive from the very best in wellness. Think of it as an introduction into a more joyful, balanced, beautiful life. Let’s goooooo!”


The app will

include


programs on breathwork, meditation, and sleep techniques, as well as courses taught by college professors on topics


like


purpose and curiosity.


The 60-year-old spoke to

Today


about how

Jenna Bush Hager

‘s encouragement to do a breathwork class gave her the idea to create the wellness platform.


“It was transformative,” she said, recalling how she felt lightheaded before she “exploded in tears.”


“It’s just a release of whatever you’re lugging around,” Hoda added.



Sharing the love



As she began her wellness journey, the mother of two

realized


that she could


be spreading the


joy to a whole community of people who would benefit from the techniques she was learning.


“Everywhere I turned, I was trying something new, and I just felt like I was telling all my friends about it,” she said. “I was like, ‘Don’t keep it to yourself. Just share it, put it out there.'”


As for the

name,


Joy 101, Hoda explained that she wanted people to think of their childhood, when “we had joy without trying,” adding that it “gets kind of covered over and buried under life’s stuff, life’s heaviness, and it’s still in there.”


“It’s almost like a rite of passage in life and birth,” the journalist said.

“It’s like it’s in you, and so we’re just


kind of


peeling back the layers and letting it out again.


That’s what it feels like to me. Get rid of all the junk that’s covering up your joy.”


To see more of Hoda on
Today
, watch below…