“One of the things that she holds dear is the power of humor,” Sheinelle explained. “I took it to heart. So, if I’m on the show and I’m having a good time, it’s because I allow myself to be present in the moment and have a great time. If I’m having a tough day, I allow myself to have a tough day.”

It admittedly took a moment for her to internalize the significance of what she was doing. 

“People kept saying, ‘You’re so strong, you’re so strong,’” she recalled. “And I’m just trying to survive, you know? At the beginning, I was just trying to get out of bed. It’s like, ‘I have to go to work. So I’m going to get myself out of bed. I’m going to get to work.’”

She continued, “It’s like you’re doing the things that you feel like you have to do and somebody else sees it as strength. And I’m thinking, ‘Am I? Oh, me? I’m strong? Oh, okay.’”

But after weighing all she’s done in the last year— releasing her book and co-hosting Today with Jenna & Sheinelle alongside Jenna Bush Hager—against the backdrop of her grief, Sheinelle is ready to give credit where credit is due. 

“I was so busy trying to celebrate the strength of everyone else that it’s honestly, maybe not until now, that I’m thinking, ‘You know what? Maybe I should celebrate my own,’” she said. “We don’t do that for ourselves, but I’m finally starting to say, ‘You know what? I think I need to give myself some credit here, because it wasn’t easy.’”