Hoda Kotb’s late father might not be here to relish in her success, but she knows he’s always watching over her.

Hoda left her role as TODAY co-anchor in January and has pursued a new wellness venture called Joy 101. In a new interview with Kristen Welker for “Meet the Press,” Hoda opens up about her journey as a journalist and now as an entrepreneur.

Welker was curious to know what Hoda’s father might say to her now that her life is “full of love and success.” Hoda grew emotional upon hearing the question.

“I always wanted to hear the words from him, ‘I’m proud of you.’ And I think now, looking at what I’ve built based on the foundation he built for me, like, this is all because he and my mom built this for me, this foundation,” she said.

Hoda went on to say that she believes her father would be proud of the life she’s built.

“I think he’d be incredibly proud of me as a mother. Like, I did that. I think he would be super proud of me that I took a risk in my professional life, too, and tried something new because that’s what he did. He took risks. I think he’d be proud to know that,” she said.

After losing her father to a sudden heart attack while she was in college, Hoda said she still stays connected to him by talking to him.

“This sounds weird but on my last day of work, when I woke up that morning, I heard what sounded like him say, ‘Everything’s going to be just fine.’ And I literally jumped up from my bed ’cause it was weird. And I was like, ‘Oh my God, is he here? Like, is he watching over me?’ And I think he is, and I think he always has,” she said.

Elsewhere during the interview, Hoda recalled being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and the way it changed her perspective on life.

“I think in the beginning, I was terrified. I thought that that was it. I thought, ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen after this.’ And then something happened. After I’d gone through the surgery and did all the stuff, I was in my house and I literally had this, like, four-word epiphany. I popped up and I got, ‘You can’t scare me,'” she said.

Looking ahead, Hoda said she found her inner strength and “felt more confident than I had ever felt before.”

“Why? Because my life now had a beginning and an end. And I got to decide in this time, ‘What am I going to do?'” she said.