Laney Crowell (Saie Beauty) on Raising Her First $1 Million, Building a Top Sephora Brand, and Magazine Culture

Laney Crowell (Saie Beauty) on Raising Her First $1 Million, Building a Top Sephora Brand, and Magazine Culture

From Social Currency with Sammi Cohen by Social Currency

July 14, 2026 · 1h 0m

About this episode

Laney Crowell discusses her journey in building Saie Beauty and the challenges of fundraising and entrepreneurship.

What started as Laney Crowell's passion for magazines, beauty, and storytelling became Saie Beauty, one of the fastest-growing clean beauty brands in the world and a standout success story at Sephora. In this episode, Laney joins Sammi to share how she went from working in editorial and at Estée Lauder to raising her first million dollars with no fundraising experience, launching Saie just months before the pandemic, and turning an early rejection from Sephora into a nationwide launch. She explains why she wanted Saie to be a top 10 Sephora brand from day one and the tactical fundraising lessons she wishes every founder knew. Plus, she opens up about the realities of leading a fast-growing company, the trade-offs of building her dream business while raising two children, and what still keeps her up at night as CEO. Follow Sammi Cohen on Instagram  Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter Follow what Laney is working on with Saie Here's What Sammi Covers with Laney: 00:00 Laney Crowell's Social Currency 02:00 Feeling Like She Was Meant to Be a Founder 06:34 Why Resilience Is a Founder's Greatest Skill 08:00 Storytelling as a Competitive Advantage 12:51 Fundraising Without…

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