While celebrating the gift of new life that’s on the way, Nelly and Ashanti have also shared a new venture they’ve embarked on.
On April 17, 2024, the couple announced that they are engaged and expecting their first child.
“This new year of life is such a blessing full of love, hope and anticipation,” Ashanti said, per Essence. “Motherhood is something that I have looked forward to, and sharing this with my family, fiancé and loyal fans, who have been so supportive of my career, is an amazing experience.”
In Ashanti’s pregnancy announcement video, she opens an early pregnancy test from diagnostic company Proov. What’s more, the company’s logo is featured at the end of the video. Essence reports that Ashanti and Nelly are co-owners of Proov.
According to the company website, Proov offers affordable at-home, science-backed fertility and hormone marker tests. In addition to early pregnancy tests, there are “Hers and His kits,” which provide a fertility report and measure motile sperm concentration, a “Reserve” kit to check egg count, and “Predict + Confirm” kit to both predict a woman’s most fertile days and “measure the hormone marker that supports implantation to confirm successful ovulation with the first and only FDA cleared test.”
Proov’s website reads, “Apps, ovulation tests, and devices can be helpful for tracking your fertile days, but they can miss fertility red flags. Add Proov to your favorite ovulation tracking method for actionable information on things that impact your fertility the most.”
According to Proov, it has helped over 5,000 women become pregnant. The company was founded by Amy Beckley, Ph.D., who was later joined by co-founder Ellen Schell. Beckley was motivated to start the company after facing her own trials of infertility for two years and seven miscarriages until she began to take a hormone supplement. Now, the non-invasive tests that she’s created are there to help other women through their conceiving experience.
Proov is yet another addition to Nelly and Ashanti’s respective portfolios outside of music. As previously reported by AFROTECH™, Nelly’s ventures have included jeans brand Apple Bottoms, spirit brand MoShine, and T-shirt clothing line Three Commas. As for Ashanti, she tapped into ownership after partnering with EQ Exchange — making her the first Black female artist to be a co-founder of a Web3 company.
