THE NATURAL

I’ve struggled with acne and dry, sensitive skin since I was in high school. That was when I first started wearing makeup and playing around with skin care. I’ll never forget when in junior high, I bought a face mask from CVS and it spilled onto my marble countertop overnight. It burned through the marble finish! Looking back, I can’t believe I was putting that stuff on my skin. But at the time, I just went to my dermatologist and got prescribed antibiotics for my acne—and I was on this medicine for over 10 years! Eventually, the antibiotics stopped working and then I went on Accutane (isotretinoin). I took all these powerful drugs to treat symptoms, when what I really needed to do was change what I was putting on my skin and focus on internal health with nutrition.

It wasn’t until my late 20s that I started educating myself on clean beauty and the skin biome. This served as a huge inspiration for me when I was creating Saie. I wanted to make products that not only worked for sensitive skin, but were good for the skin. That’s why we always say, “Good on you, good for you!”

Launching my blog, The Moment, in 2018, was everything, really. My community gave me the inspiration to start. They were the ones who said, if I were to make a makeup brand, here’s what I would want. They told me what the market was missing and gave me the courage to start Saie.

I’m from California, so I appreciate the slower pace of the Hamptons. We moved to the East End in 2020, but we’ve always spent a lot of time here. I love being surrounded by nature, from the beaches and hiking trails to the water. I can spend the whole day outside with my girls, enjoying amazing activities, and then end the night with a great meal and seeing friends. It’s the best of both worlds.

I think about our planet and the climate crisis that we’re in constantly, in every decision we make financially (because we all vote with our dollars), to the politicians we support all the way down to the school board level, to the causes we support with donations. Recently my family and I fought really hard next to the Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt to keep PSEG from drilling through the reserve. We rallied our friends and family to protest and sign petitions. While we haven’t heard the final verdict yet, I think we made a huge impact protecting our local land and animals.

My mission at Saie is to not only create the most ecofriendly makeup brand, but also push the industry forward. I’m so proud that Saie works with 1% for the Planet, is Climate Neutral Certified, and is Plastic Negative Certified. What would be even more exciting is if the big beauty companies did the same. That would have a huge impact on our environment.

“MY COMMUNITY GAVE ME THE COURAGE TO START. THEY’RE THE ONES WHO SAID, IF I WERE TO MAKE A MAKEUP BRAND, HERE’S WHAT I WOULD WANT.”