A little over a year ago, when my friend Sophia Rossi explained to me that she’d be opening up a website with two friends that would focus on young women and a positive space for them to write about their opinions and feelings while interacting, I assumed it would be the internet equivalent to Oprah’s book club. I knew that anything Sophia touched would turn to gold, and I knew how talented Zooey and Molls are, but I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t fully get it. As the months went by after its launch, I found myself visiting it more and more, reading articles, enthralled, focused on this new fresh point of view young women were having. It was part snark, part genuine – all positive, all goal oriented and most importantly, female driven. And it all made sense to me (as it obviously has the rest of the world), so a 32-year-old Jewish former rapper whose main hobby is basketball converted. I even started writing for the site. In short, HelloGiggles helped me understand women better.

When I was 19 years old, I signed a ridiculously expensive record deal with Jimmy Iovine and Interscope that could be its own HG article one day. For now, I’ll just say it was all a very surreal experience, I released some music, which you can still hear on iTunes under the unfortunate moniker of Hot Karl, felt weird and then walked away from it. I started a successful business in the art world, and never looked back at the industry they call “the music business.”

For the past few years, a friend of mine, the legendary R.A. the Rugged Man, kept sending me videos of a female rapper he was mentoring named Nova Rockafeller. She grew up spending time in Canada and Jamaica, and all she wanted to do was make music. He helped me keep tabs on her progress, as she toured the world, learned from some of the best MCs in the game and basically, became THE BEAST she is today. And right at the time that I was understanding HelloGiggles, I started understanding Nova. She was this new type of rapper: young, open with her emotions, self-effacing, honest, boy crazy and ready to destroy anyone in her way. I feel like I get her music because I read that one article about “what girls actually talk about” or because I’ve looked at the crazy nail art HG readers send it. Not kidding. I was learning about a culture that was pretty foreign to me (I had no sisters) and I began to comprehend the music of, and officially manage, Nova Rockafeller.

She came out to LA recently and made 4 new songs with producers out here, and it’s all pretty amazing. And this is just the beginning for Nova. Trust me. But I would’ve never reached out to Nova if not for the education I received by visiting HelloGiggles. Before I watched Erin Foster’s UStream show or celebrated Woman Empowerment Week, I may have just dismissed young Nova as something I could never truly understand or enjoy, but I’m happy I didn’t and I’m thankful for this website. Because Nova is a monster and she’s making hits.

I ask that you check out Nova’s newest video, Call Me (BAT MAN), which does announce her actual phone number (so if you feel inclined, call – cause she’ll pick up and she loves to talk). It’s produced by Justin Warfield and I’m happy to have it displayed on HelloGiggles.