Curry, 61, also discusses her reactions to the Lauer scandal, as well as her thoughts on her own experiences with sexual discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

VIDEO: Ann Curry Breaks Her Silence Since Leaving ‘Today’: “It Hurt Like Hell.”

“Most of the men I’ve worked with have been exemplary,” she says, but adds that she hopes sweeping change will soon help those who have endured harassment and abuse for too long. “I feel real hope that change is coming. That our daughters are not going to have to face what the majority of women in this country who’ve entered the workplace have had to face.”

RELATED: A Look at Matt Lauer’s History, Following His Firing from the Today Show

And the mother of two, who returns to TV on Jan. 23 with the new six-part PBS docuseries We’ll Meet Again, isn’t fueled by bitterness toward her former bosses.

“I’m not going to say it wasn’t hard,” she says of her darkest days. “But I had to let go. And I learned that when you not only let go but open your arms wide and learn the lessons that an experience—no matter how bad—can teach you, that’s when you rise.”