Allow her to reintroduce herself!
As a self-proclaimed “queen of career pivots,” Necole Kane is the epitome of persistence personified.
Her initial claim to becoming widely recognized on the worldwide web began during her late 20s. Before today’s blogs like The Shade Room took over our timelines, Kane was behind the popular celebrity news and gossip blog Necole Bitchie. While the former blogger had great success with the platform — raking in 20 million visitors every month — a shift began of what she wanted for herself. There was an apparent sense of emptiness in both her personal life and in the media. Therefore, after a seven-year run, she shut down the site. The end of that chapter cleared the way for Kane’s ultimate rebrand.
“I’m learning that as I create companies to always have them represent my personal growth and where I am in life,” she told AfroTech. “When I crossed over into my thirties, that’s when I started looking for more purpose and intention. I started looking around because I wanted to grow as a person. I wanted to elevate my career, relationships, and figure out balance and mental health.”
She continued: “I was like, ‘Wait a minute, where do I go to find this information?’ I saw a huge void. My career pivots have a lot to do with where I am in my life and where I see I’m not being fulfilled. And so I saw the opportunity for a lifestyle platform that catered to women of color and elevated them in all those different areas that wasn’t so celebrity centric — that’s what made me take the leap and jump into xoNecole.”
Building xoNecole’s Legacy
After building her acumen in the industry for nearly a decade, the media mogul was ready to get the ball rolling with xoNecole. Launched in 2015 and acquired by producer Will Packer, the women’s lifestyle website blossomed into an online platform where women of color could join and connect with one another. Whether it be about “taboo” topics or spearheading eye-opening dialogue, Kane intended for xoNecole to ignite a healthy sisterhood for her audience.
“It created and cultivated a safe space to say, ‘I’m not okay.’ That I am seeing a therapist to help me get through these mental challenges I have or if you needed to see a therapist or if you were depressed. So I’m very proud in that sense of the various conversations we started.”
Becoming CEO Of My Happy Flo
Kane’s M.O. of finding ways to empower her community led her to the latest step on her career path — My Happy Flo.
The vision for the plant-based period pain relief supplement stemmed from the loss of her parents in their early 40s due to health complications.
Following their passing, Kane made the decision to prioritize living a healthier lifestyle. With the glorious changes she experienced, she wanted more women to be able to join in. Thanks to heaps of conducted research, a $10,000 grant from Neutrogena, and the mentality of “I’d rather have fear than regret,” Kane bought 5,000 bottles worth of inventory and launched My Happy Flo in 2021.
The CEO’s mission is bigger than just the product, it’s about helping educate women about their period and how to take preventative measures ahead of health scares such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, and fibroids, especially for Black women.
In less than a year, My Happy Flo has received an influx of testimonials from women praising the fact that the pills have greatly impacted their lives. The brand’s wins showcased that Kane filled yet another void for women. In addition, it revived her creative spirit as she wears the hats of founder and social media manager for the brand.
“With My Happy Flo, my success is based almost solely on customer support. And I’ve never ran an ad yet. It’s been completely word of mouth and social media. That’s gratifying for me every day because I see the numbers every day. I see the number of orders every day. I see the analytics. It’s immediate gratitude when social posts go up and the sales go up an hour later, I know it’s because of that social post.”
She continued: “People reach out to me directly on social media. This woman just did this morning and said, ‘Girl, I’m eight months in and this has changed my life. I can not believe I have periods and don’t feel cramps anymore when I used to plan my life around my periods.’ And that to me is way more fulfilling because I know I’m impacting women in a way that we may be saving uteruses. We may be saving women from hysterectomies years down the line. It’s just so fulfilling to me.”
