After her father's presidency ended, Hager became an author, an editor-at-large for Southern Living magazine, and a television personality on NBC, being featured, most prominently, as a member of The Today Show as a correspondent, contributor and co-host.

[2] Jenna Welch Bush was born on November 25, 1981, at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas.

She and her sister made several joint public appearances, including giving a speech to the Republican Convention on August 31, 2004.

[11] Jenna and Barbara took turns traveling to swing states with their father, and they also gave a seven page interview and photo shoot in Vogue.

[12] Before leaving Washington, D.C. in summer 2006, Hager worked at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School for a year and a half as a teacher's aide.

[13] She took a leave of absence from the charter school position to work at a shelter as part of an internship for UNICEF's Educational Policy Department in Latin America, specifically Panama.

[14][15] After her internship for UNICEF, Hager returned to her position at the charter school in Washington, D.C.[16] She has done work as a part-time reading coordinator at the SEED Public Charter School in Baltimore, Maryland, and she has contributed a monthly news story about education for the Today show.

[14][18][19] HarperCollins announced in March 2007 it would publish the book, and it was released September 28, 2007, with an initial printing of 500,000 copies.

[25] In 2018, she interviewed Michelle Obama in a discussion about her life in the White House, the challenges of raising her daughters in the spotlight, and her book, Becoming.

[27] In March 2019, Hager started Read with Jenna, a monthly book club on Today Show.

[28] In April 2019, Hager began co-anchoring the fourth hour of Today with Hoda Kotb following Kathie Lee Gifford's departure.

[36] In February 2023, she announced her third book, Love Comes First, and sources reported "Jenna's Top Picks"[37] and other endorsement deals.

In February 2021, The Washington Post reported that Chelsea Clinton, Hager, Dominique Dawes, and Briana Scurry were part of an investment group, investing in the Washington Spirit professional soccer club in the National Women's Soccer League.

[40] Their relationship became public when the two appeared together at a White House dinner for The Prince of Wales and his new wife The Duchess of Cornwall (now King Charles III and Queen Camilla) in November 2005.