Laney Crowell, the chief executive and first-time female founder of the beauty brand Saie, received the TIME Earth Award on Thursday evening in New York City during the 2026 TIME100 Next Gala at Pier 59. Crowell, who was previously named a 2025 TIME100 Next Honoree, accepted the accolade for building a business that bridges high-performance cosmetics, non-toxic ingredients, and sustainable practices.
Past recipients of the TIME Earth Award include prominent figures such as marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, former New York City Mayor Michael , former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, and actor and activist Jane Fonda. The gala itself was presented by Rolex, Toyota, American Airlines, Danantara, Project Management Institute, and Target.
Saie has expanded from its origins as a wellness blog discussing clean beauty alternatives into a viral enterprise that has surpassed $100 million in product sales. Alongside its commercial growth, the company has integrated robust climate initiatives into its operations, focusing heavily on plastic reduction and responsibly sourced packaging.
During her acceptance speech, Crowell reflected on the mindset required to scale an enterprise while driving social impact. Addressing the audience, she noted that entrepreneurs possess a unique ability to transform small concepts into global forces. “We built Saie around that belief, and it has grown into a global powerhouse. But my instinct to take action didn’t start in beauty—and it doesn’t end there,” Crowell said.
She traced her environmental consciousness back to childhood hikes with her family, where she frequently picked up litter along trails—lessons in leaving places better than she found them that she now applies to the broader cosmetic industry. According to Crowell, the global beauty sector generates an estimated 120 billion units of plastic packaging waste every year.
Since its founding in 2019, Saie has dedicated one percent of its sales to environmental causes and partnered with rePurpose Global to recover twice as much plastic as the brand produces. Crowell reported that over a five-year period, these efforts have successfully recovered 200,000 pounds of waste.
Recognizing that individual efforts alone cannot match the sheer scale of daily waste generation, Crowell expanded her collaborative approach. In 2025, Saie teamed up with Sephora and rePurpose Global to launch Planet Beautiful, an initiative that funded the recovery of more than 1 million pounds of plastic waste from nature in its inaugural year. Crowell noted that a growing number of brands are now participating, amplifying the collective volume of recovered waste.
Emphasizing the importance of momentum over intimidation in environmentalism, Crowell concluded her remarks by looking toward an even larger future benchmark. “In climate, we talk a lot about the enormity of the problem—and we should. But we also need to talk about the power of beginning. That is how individual action becomes a collective movement,” she said. “My goal is for Saie to help recover 100 million pounds of plastic waste from nature. And I hope that one day soon, even that number feels small.”
