MAJOR LIFE UPDATE: While we did plan this pregnancy, I didn’t plan on being presented with the career opportunity of a lifetime shortly after. In fact, I had re-prioritized my life/career to focus primarily on motherhood and it felt really, really good. And then three former Estee Lauder executives came knocking on my door. The ranks of which include the former VP of global communications, Laney Crowell, a dear friend who I shared an insatiable curiosity for wellness and clean beauty with, the director of product development across makeup and skincare categories, Sarah Tallman, and the global marketing lead of strategy & product, Tina Gu.

Laney was in the thick of raising money for her new clean makeup line (Saie Beauty), but not just any clean makeup line. She wanted to develop the BEST, CHICEST, CLEANEST makeup of all time and wanted to do it with affordability and sustainably top of mind with Sarah as her formulator and Tina her CFO.

There was just one missing one component, and Laney felt that missing piece was me. They needed a creative director to help guide every choice the brand made and someone who could assist in shaping the business. She loved that I shared the same ideals as the brand she intended to create and that when it came to makeup, I wasn’t willing to sacrifice. I am that girl who will ONLY replace a toxic makeup product with something clean if it is as good or better than, because let’s be honest, vanity. That attitude was something they truly embraced because that is the kind of opinion you need when as a clean brand, you want your products to be better than EVERYTHING on the market, the toxic stuff included.

If anyone else pitched this to me other than Laney, I would have wished them the best of luck and rushed them out the door, but the fact of the matter was, if anyone could pull this off, it was those 3.

I had a lot to think about.

Something that wasn’t easy to do in a heavily hormonal pregnant state while also caring for my then twelve-month-old. I tried to find every excuse not to do it but the reality was, there was a wide-open lane for what they were describing and I did have a crystal clear vision for what the brand could look like, feel like and do for the makeup industry at large. In fact, I’d been eagerly waiting for a brand like it to launch because for me, clean beauty was missing what I loved about beauty in general: that je ne sais quoi. You know, that satisfaction you get when you apply just the right shade of lipstick or the confidence that comes with a bold brow or the glowy feeling from a perfect highlight or the excitement of buying something new then rushing home to play with it. Where was the fun?! The sexiness?! The empowerment?! The elevation?! The CHIC packaging?! The clean makeup that truly rivaled my toxic go-to’s?!

I asked myself, what I would tell my daughters if either of them came to me for advice if they were in my shoes? The answer was clear: follow your dreams.

I’m proud to share that I am on the founding team of Saie Beauty. A brand not only formulated in the best clean luxury labs all over the world but one that truly performs and doesn’t make you choose between toxic makeup and that lux je ne sais quoi part of the beauty experience. We’ve worked really hard on this all year and I hope to make you proud with what’s in store, especially my two girls. ♥️

Oh, and, you can shop our first drop on SaieHello.com.