Sheinelle Jones has a new gig at Today!

Nearly a year after Hoda Kotb left the morning news program, it was announced on Tuesday, Dec. 9, that Jones will become Kotb’s replacement to join Jenna Bush Hager as the permanent co-host of the 10 o’clock hour. 

Bush Hager announced on air that Jones’ first show will be on Jan. 12.

During the Dec. 9 broadcast, Bush Hager began crying right away while thanking the viewers. “We have got a very special show today. Over the last year, you guys, I have had the privilege of co-hosting this show with 60 incredible friends, who’ve all opened up to me, who inspired me, I’ve laughed, I’ve cried I’ve made some incredible friends and I’ve learned so much about myself,” Bush Hager said. “And you the audience have been with me for the entire time, so thank you so much.”

She continued, “Today I’m so thrilled to announce that I’ve found my forever friend and we’re gonna start a brand new journey in January. I couldn’t be more excited to share this person with you all. You all know her, she’s an extraordinary broadcaster. But more importantly, she exemplifies exactly what this show is all about.”

During a moving package of their friendship and time co-hosting segments together, Jones began by saying: “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry or scream or do what!”

She recalled her dream growing up and being on the news and said, “to have show like this, it’s beyond my wildest dreams.”

Bush Hager spoke about their long history together working on the show. “We were always the fill-ins for Kathie Lee and Hoda,” Jones said.

Bush Hager added, “I’m so excited about this new iteration of this show because it has been, first started by Kathie Lee and Hoda, a show about friendship, a show about the goodness that you can find in the world if you surround yourself with people who see you and who love you. So now to get to sit next to Sheinelle, I’ve known her for a decade but to get to fall even more in love with her.”

For Jones, she sees a “higher purpose” in the role. “I feel like it’s divine, but I actually feel a responsibility in it where we can bring joy, we can bring hope, we can bring comfort,” she said. “So just as healing as it is for me and fun, I hope we can bring that for people at home.”

Since Kotb’s departure on Jan. 10, the fourth hour was renamed Jenna & Friends, as Bush Hager welcomed different A-list stars and colleagues to the anchor desk.  

Jones currently co-hosts the 3rd Hour of Today with Dylan Dreyer, Al Roker and Craig Melvin and will remain in that role. She’s been part of the Today family since 2014, starting on the Weekend Today team, before becoming co-host of the 3rd Hour in 2019.

During the Dec. 9 broadcast, Bush Hager welcomed her to the desk for a quick segment ahead of her Jan. 12 start date. “I’m so happy you’re here. I knew I was gonna cry before you even walked out,” Bush Hager said.

Jones explained that this time a year ago “was tough for me” and told viewers: “For those of you who are holding something, whether it’s grief or pain or whatever you’re holding. I just want you to know, if you see me here, that means you can do it too. And we’re all gonna fight for our joy. If you see me laughing and when you see me having a good time with my sister-friend here. That means you can get up and conquer your day too.”

Late last year, Jones began a leave of absence to care for her husband, Uche Ojeh, who died in May at age 45 after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

She returned to the news program four months after his death on Sept. 5 in a pre-taped conversation with Savannah Guthrie. During the interview, Jones explained why she was comfortable returning to work, and asked fans to remember: “If you see me now and you see me laughing, or you turn on the morning show and I’m laughing or having a good time, you root for me because I’m fighting for my joy.”

“Cancer doesn’t have to steal our joy,” Jones continued. “We can get up, we can get out of bed, and we can go to work, we can go to school, we can squeeze the most out of the days that we have. And honestly, I feel like Uche’s heartbeat lives on in mine. So I owe it to him to just squeeze the most I can out of this thing.”

Jones has been candid since returning about her journey with grief. “We get through the first week of school. First week I’m back at work,” she said of her and the three kids she shared with Ojeh — Kayin, 16, and twins Clara and Uche, 13. “Friday, when we got home, it was tough. There was nothing to rally ourselves for,” she explained. “It was just like, ‘Oh, this is it. This is life. Kind of sucks.'”

While filling in as a guest on Jenna + Friends on Sept. 22, Jones said the loss hit her hard on Saturday morning, after her first week back at work. It was a time she and Ojeh used to reflect on the previous week together.

“My coach was gone. My life partner,” the Today co-host said. “So the days after my first week were tough because it’s, like, my new normal.”

Bush Hager got emotional during the Sept. 22 episode, praising Jones for how she has coped with Ojeh’s death. “I’ve never met anybody stronger,” Bush Hager told her.

When Jones returned on Sept. 5, she explained all the ways her colleagues were there for her during Ojeh’s illness, including Bush Hager, who she said, sent “sweet treats for the kids.” Adding, “You guys have been my oxygen.”

Bush Hager has been co-host of the 10 o’clock hour since 2019 (then titled Hoda & Jenna), when she filled the role long held by Kathie Lee Gifford, who joined Kotb at the desk in 2008.

Earlier this year, Bush Hager told PEOPLE, “every joke that I say is funny because of Hoda.”

She called leading the show without Kotb a “privilege and responsibility,” adding, “I’ve learned from the best. And what big shoes to fill because her optimism is just beautiful.”