In episode 164 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to founder and CEO of Saie, Laney Crowell.
I first had Laney on the show back in early 2021 so to hear the full story behind what I really sincerely believe is one of beauty industry’s coolest brands you’ll find that conversation in Season 3, so what I wanted to cover in this conversation was just how much has changed within the Saie universe over the last 5 years- specifically, what Laney thought scaling the business might have looked like compared to how it’s actually played out.
When we last spoke, Saie had just launched into Sephora USA. Today, something like 8 or 9 Saie products are ranked within Sephora’s top 10 best sellers in their respective categories, and just last week launched into Sephora UK. By 2024, a mere 5 years post-launch, the brand had reached over $100 million USD in sales, but what fascinates me about Saie is that despite such immense growth, Laney and her team are still working with the creativity of a startup. It’s easy to start following a familiar playbook when your brand ticks over to a business of this size, and it’s something Saie are refusing to do.
Perhaps the best example of this creativity is the brand’s historic partnership with the New York Knicks. I’ll let Laney give you the details but the essence of it- upon realising that 40% of NBA attendees were women, Laney questioned why none of the game day advertising was speaking directly to that audience. Today, and throughout the Knicks’ record-breaking 2026 season, Saie is the first and only beauty brand to ever be an official Knicks sponsor.
In this conversation, recorded in studio in Soho last month, Laney shares how much harder it is to take creative risks now that there’s more people involved, which area of a new business she believes startup founders should invest the most in, and why 5 years on from our last episode she’s feeling like the truest version of herself.
Read more at glowjournal.com
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Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemdimond and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com
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