Today Show

Working From Home Just Got Way Cooler As Savannah Guthrie Returns Home - To Work For Today Show

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The COVID-19 pandemic is opening our eyes to many things. One of them is working from home and being close to family. Granted, one can hardly work from home if there are small children around, but Savannah Guthrie’s decision to return to work from home - after self-quarantining herself after a coronavirus scare - is a testament to how working from home will become our new normal as the governors of this country band together to figure out our “new normal,” a term embraced by Rhode Island’s Governor, Gina Raimondo during today’s group teal-briefing with New York’s Governor Cuomo as he introduced the 6-governor task force to reopen the country. Oops! I mean region.

This an opportunity for all makeup artists, all stylists, all hair experts. You need to help her! Just kidding. She has her peeps of course, employed by the Today Show, to fix her up But this is the type of opportunity that experts in the beauty field can get creative in. What can you tell her for beauty tips? To make herself on-air ready if her hair and makeup crew isn’t going to come into her home?

  • False eyelashes: How to falsify the false eyelash when you can’t get to your stylist

  • Is having kids in the picture OK now in the time of coronavirus?

  • What’s your work/life schedule like when you need to hit a deadline - like going on air?

Read The Highlights At People.com

Tin Shingle’s beat reporter for the Today Show, Teslie Andrade, loved this article at People.com. There are a few highlights she wants you to read:

“After briefly returning to the studio last week, the newscaster anchored Monday’s broadcast of Today from home, explaining to her co-host Hoda Kotb that she wanted to be close to her family amid the coronavirus pandemic. Guthrie shares 3-year-old son Charley and 5-year-old daughter Vale with husband Michael Feldman.

“‘I’m home. You know, the reason, Hoda — my family is upstate, and so I’m sticking close to the family and coming to the city less and less,” said Guthrie, 48. “So I’m trying to work from home. And also, frankly, that’s what these officials are telling us to do, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do.’”

Savannah sets the scene at 30 Rock right now in the People article:

“Several other Today show stars are also working remotely, and in a new interview with Page Six, Kotb opened up about the strange experience of coming into the deserted office.

“‘The Today show is normally teeming with people. Even when I arrive, there are people outside 30 Rock waiting for the show to start — they’ve made trips to come see us. But [now] there’s literally not a soul outside,” she said. “I go into the studio and you can hear your footsteps echoing [because] there’s no one there.’”

Hoda Kotb shares what her in-studio experience is like:

“With no stylists or makeup artists, Kotb has been doing her own hair and makeup.

’“I do my hair with, like, a curling iron from the ’80s and really don’t lay eyes on anyone until Savannah pops up on the monitor,” she said.’”

So great. So honest. More of it!

Annnnd, She's Back! Savannah Guthrie Is Officially Back On Air At The Today Show

Photo Credit: People.com via screenshot

Photo Credit: People.com via screenshot

Annnnnnd she’s back! Savannah Guthrie is officially back on air alongside Hoda Kotb (6 feet away, of course). Savannah spent the last two weeks working from home with a sore throat and runny nose out of caution due to the coronavirus pandemic.

She said at the time she felt “good” but after an employee who works on The TODAY Show tested positive for coronavirus, Savannah erred on the side of caution.

Al Roker (weatherman & co-host of 3rd hour of today) and Craig Melvin (news anchor) are continuing to work entirely remotely. Both men had some contact with the employee who tested positive, however, they both feel good. Al is still delivering weather from his home and Craig is on air from home (sometimes letting his son joins!)

And, in light of recent events, Hoda announced on Monday that she and her boyfriend, Joel Schiffman, are engaged after six years together.

What else is happening on The TODAY Show?

  • Filing for unemployment.

  • Couples hoping to expand their families have been struggling with IVF cancellations amid the coronavirus pandemic.

  • Two cruise ships heading to Florida are experiencing roadblocks- desperate to dock".

Dream Come True: Hudson Henry's Good News Granola Featured on Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda 4th Hour

This morning, I was watching the Today Show at my sister-in-law's house while on a family visit. I watched a few segments that featured some products and organizational ideas (that possibly were sourced by organization experts in other small business communities like In Good Company), and I thought about Hope Lawrence at Hudson Henry Baking Co., and how her dream (as stated even on her packaging) is to have her "Good News Granola" featured on the Today Show. She's been working towards that dream and it's actually how she found Tin Shingle: she wanted to get on the Today Show, and discovered that our business membership program had the components to make that dream a reality.

After making my children's breakfast, I'd actually turned off the Today Show so that I could focus on getting them dressed and getting out the door. Moments later, Sabina, Tin Shingle's co-founder and my business partner, emailed me saying: "It happened!!"

"What happened?", I wondered. I dove into the email to learn that Kathie Lee and Hoda just aired a feature of Good News Granola as one of their Favorite Things. (It's also my favorite granola snack that is always stocked in my cupboards...)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a glorious way to start a Monday!  Now here's something you should know: Tin Shingle is all about empowering entrepreneurs like Hope to build buzz - that's what we do, day in and day out.  We demystify PR, social and online marketing via education, motivation tools and tips so that you can be sure people hear, see and read about your business.

The founder of this granola company that was featured on the Today Show, Hope Lawrence, is a member of Tin Shingle and is especially inspiring to me because she is a mother of two boys who started her granola business so that she could build a business and raise a family. Every decision she makes is made around her family. She doesn't move as quickly as other entrepreneurs because she's on a family vacation, or picking up her son, or is baking granola. But she does it at her own pace. Sabina and I call that a "holistic business" approach, and it's one we try to live by as well. Very often, entrepreneurs in our field don't have families, and they have many more hours in the day and night to grow their business. But the pace of an entrepreneur with a family is slower, and that pace just paid off for Hope.

Hope landed this segment with persistence, patience and by following Tin Shingle's Membership Program. She used several Tin Shingle membership tools to help her get featured on the Today Show. Here is how Hope got featured on the Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda:

  • Hope read our (free) articles in the Ask the Expert section to learn how to pitch the Today Show and Kathie Lee & Hoda 4th Hour.
  • She attended our #PRTuneUps including the virtual classes about how to land a spot on a morning show.
  • Hope used our community and resources to check and get feedback on her pitch to strengthen it before she sent in to the show's producers. This helped ensure her pitch was in tip top Today Show shape.
  • Hope used our Media Contacts to pitch her product to the right producers.
  • Hope then used strategic emails to follow up with the producers and then waited when she needed to. When she had questions she took them to our Community Forum to get thoughts from others who'd been in her position.

And really, Hope had hope for her product, created fantastic packaging, has a darn cute website, and has enough spunk and "wow factor" that her brand was a fit for the show.

We are so thrilled!

See her packaging here, which truly illustrates her belief in the power of good messages. She states her mantras, one of which is to "Ask for what you want". See the first sentence in the packaging "My dream is that this little granola company will allow me to spend my days with my boys and land a spot on the Today Show":

Done. Mission accomplished thanks to Tin Shingle's Membership Program. Play the clip below: