Why a CPG behemoth just launched a menopause platform

A couple of months after her memorable Emmy acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Dahmer—Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Niecy Nash-Betts was onstage again. This time it was as a paid spokesperson for a new menopause wellness platform from Kenvue, the spinoff company of brands that previously were part of the Johnson & Johnson consumer division.

Speaking at a press event at The New York Public Library on March 28, she recounted that when she got her first period, her mother told her she was “a woman now,” but that Nash-Betts wanted to be a “lady” instead.

“Because my grandmother said, ‘A little bit of hair, and a little bit of paint, makes a woman what she ain’t: a lady.’”

The line got a laugh, but Nash-Betts was also making a serious point: She received support and insight when she started menstruating, but when she stopped after hitting menopause, she was in the dark.

“When I started experiencing hot flashes,” she continued, “I thought that that was the only thing there was to menopause because no one was talking about it in my family.”

Flash drive: The new digital platform, Versalie, includes content that helps readers know what to expect beyond hot flashes. Articles on the site address topics including why dry skin or acne may increase among people going through menopause, how those with ADHD may find that menopause worsens the symptoms, and a buying guide for lubricants for those with the common symptom of vaginal dryness.

Visitors to the site also can book video appointments with physicians and nurse practitioners who specialize in menopause and who, along with suggesting lifestyle changes and other care, can write prescriptions for hormonal treatments and other medications.

The appointments, which cost $92 for an initial video visit and $54 for follow-ups, are enabled by a partnership between Kenvue and Wheel, the telehealth startup that launched in 2018.

As will come as no surprise from a consumer goods company, Versalie also includes an online store that sells supplements and personal care products, including Women’s Rogaine, which addresses the hair loss that some experience when menopausal.

Powder rangers: While its pharmaceutical and medical divisions will remain under the Johnson & Johnson company banner, Kenvue is a new stand-alone company that will comprise its consumer products brands, which include Tylenol, Neutrogena, Listerine, Aveeno, and Band-Aid.

The move comes in the wake of an $8.9 billion settlement Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay in 2023 to thousands of plaintiffs who alleged that talcum powder in its products caused cancer. (A Johnson & Johnson lawyer said in a statement that the claims were “specious and lack scientific merit” but that the litigation would have dragged on for decades and cost the company even more.)

While Kenvue may sound like a Barbie sequel, the company explained in a press release that it combines the noun “ken,” which (take note, Scrabble players) is a noun meaning knowledge more common in Scotland than on our shores, with “vue” meant to evoke “view” or vision.

Heat of the moment: Onstage at the March 28 event, which served to both introduce the Kenvue spinoff and the menopause platform, Nash-Betts riffed about her marital history.

“I’ve been married three times—twice before to men and now I’m married to a woman,” Nash-Betts said, drawing a chorus of woo-hoos from the audience.

“I love the people that say ‘Woo,’ because it is ‘Woo,’” she said of her marriage. “Until you’re both having a hot flash at the same time.”