Lane was born to a Jamaican father and a Filipino mother. She played basketball at Monroe Community College before transferring to Shaw University. Lane enrolled in the Team 3D Academy in 2016, and regularly wrestled for a number of different Florida-based independent promotions. Her first public match was a winning effort against Trish Adora for the Go Wrestle promotion in Daytona Beach in August 2016. Lane had a tryout at the WWE Performance Center in February 2017, after which she was offered a developmental contract. However, a physical examination revealed arthritis in her knee, and the contract was rescinded. Lane spent four months rehabbing her knee, and in November 2017 she joined The Crash Lucha Libre in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, eventually winning their Women's Championship from Keyra on January 20, 2018. She held the title for 175 days before losing it to Tessa Blanchard in a triple threat match that included Santana Garrett on July 14, 2018. After passing a second physical, Lane signed with WWE in July 2018. Lane took part in that year's Mae Young Classic, defeating Vanessa Kraven in the first round and Taynara Conti in the second round, before being defeated by Meiko Satomura in the quarterfinals. In September 2019, Lane's ring name was changed to Kayden Carter. On the January 29, 2020 episode of NXT, Carter had her first victory on television, defeating Chelsea Green. She was defeated in their rematch on the February 19 episode of NXT. On the September 16 episode of NXT, Carter teamed with Kacy Catanzaro in a winning effort against Jessi Kamea and Xia Li. The following week, she competed in a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship but was eliminated by Raquel González. On the September 30 episode of NXT, Carter fought with Li and defeated her, offering a hand after the match but was pushed to the mat instead. Carter and Catanzaro took part in the 2021 Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament, defeating Mercedes Martinez and Toni Storm in the quarterfinals, but were beaten by Dakota Kai and Raquel González in the semifinals. They would then feud with Xia Li after constantly being attacked by her throughout the following weeks. On the March 10 episode of NXT, Carter lost to Li by disqualification after Catanzaro hit the latter with a crutch. They would lose to Li in a handicap match on the March 31 episode of NXT, with Carter being knocked out on the ramp by Tian Sha's Mei Ying. Carter and Catanzaro announced on the May 4 episode of NXT that they decided to leave Li alone. On the July 27 episode of NXT, they defeated Franky Monet and Jessi Kamea. On the August 24 episode of NXT, after defeating Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne, Carter and Catanzaro announced that they're going after the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship. They got their chance on the following week's episode, losing to champions Io Shirai and Zoey Stark.