Experiencing loss usually brings clarity and, in Necole Kane’s case, change through a series of life pivots. We first learned of Kane when she was Necole Bitchie, a reputable celebrity blogger. After some soul-searching, she dismantled the Bitchie brand in 2014 to create xoNecole, a lifestyle brand centered on authentic storytelling dedicated to Black women. Her mission with xoNecole was to highlight positive images of women of color living their everyday lives and showcase an aspirational lifestyle for inspiring others. Kane exceeded her expectations, and once 2018 rolled around, the brand was acquired by Will Packer Media, with hopeful plans to expand into television, film, and in-person events.
Now in her 40s, she’s embarking on a new journey sparked by her turning a certain age and mourning her deceased parents, who died around the same age as Kane. The untimely deaths of her parents at ages 41 and 42 from preventable illnesses inspired Kane to get serious about her holistic health and encourage other Black women to do the same. Upon researching how to treat her ailments, she began to turn inward to assess her health and habits. Fascinated by the healing potential of whole foods and vitamins, she studied holistic nutrition and hormone health. While she was doing her research, of course, she found startling statistics about hormonal health, as approximately 80% of women live with hormonal imbalances that could lead to severe complications like fibroids, PCOS, endometriosis, breast cancer, and estrogen-induced cancers.
What’s more alarming is Black women were 2 to 3 times more likely to be diagnosed with fibroids and experience severe menstrual symptoms. Unfortunately, most Black women have become accustomed to heavy and painful periods, including blood clots during their flows. Kane considers hormonal imbalances a silent epidemic and wanted to do something about it, outside of encouraging her followers and supporters only to consider birth control, painkillers with potential long-term side effects, or invasive surgeries like hysterectomy – so she created a holistic solution that addressed the root cause. In 2021, she launched My Happy Flo, a holistic product addressing nutritional gaps, promoting hormonal balance, and reducing the risk factors associated with reproductive health complications caused by estrogen dominance. “My Happy Flo started with my mom’s breast cancer journey; she was only 41 when she passed away. As I researched and tried to figure out how I could prevent myself from getting breast cancer, I came across our hero ingredient called Indole-3-carbinol. So it’s in My Happy Flo, and it’s highly studied in the prevention of colon cancer, cervical cancer, and breast cancer,” she tells ESSENCE.
Plant-based and thoughtfully designed to target common vitamin deficiencies and account for your daily recommended intake of seven different vitamins and minerals, including Vitamin D3, Vitamin C, and Iron, My Happy Flo also boosts energy, mood, and immunity – wherever you are on your cycle, alleviates cramps, bloating, and heavy flows, and reduces symptoms associated with PCOS, Fibroids, PMDD, and Endometriosis.
Kane’s most recent work is considered her life’s purpose. She wants every woman to experience a normal period and live her best life without being plagued by hormonal issues. We spoke to her about the art of pivoting and grief and how her product is helping to improve the quality of life for many women.
ESSENCE: You are known as a media disrupter across mediums. So, what does being a disruptor mean to you?
Necole Kane: When I think of a disrupter, I think of someone who looks at the current landscape and says, “What can we do differently?” It’s about being fearless and discovering what makes your soul sing.
How does your product help hormonal health? It’s all my girlfriends, and I are talking about!
First of all, I love the girlfriend health group texts! The statistics for Black women getting fibroids are crazy. Knowing that 80% of us will be diagnosed with fibroids before 50, I think the number is 60% once we’re 35. So that’s a silent epidemic. And why aren’t we doing much more about it? So, this brand means so much to me. I was in my late 30s, and most of my friends were diagnosed with fibroids; not only were they diagnosed with fibroids, but they were only given two options: get on birth control or hysterectomy. So think about that: if you have a group of black friends, four out of five of you are diagnosed with fibroids, and three out of five are being told they have to get a hysterectomy, so that was a state of emergency for me. And that’s what drove the needle for me to start this brand and 2021. And I know people are like, “Well, what does My Happy Flo, a period relief product, have to do with fibroids? Fibroids are most commonly caused by estrogen dominance. Most Black women have an abundance of estrogen in their bodies, so our product lowers your estrogen levels.
Can you speak to the importance of being tested often for hormonal imbalances?
I get bloodwork, which might be obsessive to some, every 3-6 months. I recommend, especially as a Black woman, getting the bloodwork, often checking on your thyroid, knowing your insulin, and then tracking the data in a spreadsheet. I think that’s an act of resistance, knowing what’s happening in your body, allowing us to be our best healthcare advocate. I wanted to mention what happened to Jessica Pettway, who recently died of cervical cancer. I’m triggered because almost 80% of our customers have her story. Her symptoms were heavy bleeding and fatigue; nearly every customer had the same symptoms.
But as she said in one of her posts, the doctor told her it was normal. So, we built My Happy Flo on the principle that we must know what a normal period looks like. Our periods are a marker for our overall health, so almost all our customers have learned that period pain and PMS are normal. That’s why we have delayed diagnosis, because most times, we don’t get diagnosed until 10 to 15 years later, and by then, the issues have advanced.
So, My Happy Flo has plant-based ingredients, including seven vitamins and minerals. We are probably one of the only period-related supplements that has vitamin d3 and iron. I ensured we curated this formula with Black women with fibroids in mind. I just felt like nothing was addressing their unique health needs, which is the deficiency in vitamin D. Most Black women find themselves being anemic because we do lose a lot of iron during our period. So, this supplement is created to help alleviate heavy flows of bleeding.
Share some advice for people struggling with generational health issues or trying to prevent them.
I want everyone to remember that you have the key to your health. No matter what your doctor says. No matter what ran in your family. To break the generational health curse in my family, I took control of my health by studying holistic nutrition. Women should know that we really can take our health into our own hands; PCOS, endometriosis, all of those symptoms can be reversed through nutrition and lifestyle. Also, fibroids can be shrunk and disappear. I’ve seen it happen too often to many women around me.
Infertility can turn into fertility; it’s all in what we eat and our lifestyles, and so if I think the more body conscious we become and more connected to our body and what the signs and symptoms are telling us, the more that we can advocate for ourselves and know that when you know this isn’t right, something is going on. I feel like any type of pain is a check engine light.