Who We Are
New Sky is a sustainability consulting practice focused on Product Carbon Footprint and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for beauty and personal care brands. We help teams understand where impact occurs across the product lifecycle — from ingredients and manufacturing to packaging and end-of-life — and turn that insight into practical impact reduction opportunities.
Based in the United States and working with a global perspective, New Sky combines hands-on engagement with a flexible network of collaborators across formulation, packaging, sustainability analytics, and regulatory expertise. This model keeps projects personal, rigorous, and right-sized.
Our work is grounded in the GHG Protocol Product Standard and ISO LCA frameworks, with transparent spreadsheet or LCA tool based modeling that balances scientific rigor and cost-effectiveness. Core datasets include CarbonMinds and ecoInvent, complemented by supplier and primary data whenever possible.
At its core, New Sky exists to replace uncertainty with clarity — helping brands move forward with credible data, thoughtful tradeoffs, and confidence in their sustainability decisions.
Our Core Principles
Credible, Science-Based Work
All analyses are rooted in established standards, transparent assumptions, and defensible data sources, enabling confident internal decisions and external communication.
Respect for Client Data
Sustainability work often intersects with proprietary formulation and sourcing information. New Sky treats all client data with strict confidentiality and care.
Transparency Over Complexity
Models are designed to be understandable and traceable so clients can see not only results, but the reasoning behind them.
Practical Pathways to Reduction
The goal is actionable insight — identifying hotspots, evaluating tradeoffs, and supporting feasible improvement strategies.
Collaborative Expertise
A distributed network of specialists allows each project to draw on the right expertise while maintaining a single, accountable point of contact.
Curiosity-Driven Learning
Sustainability is an evolving field. We approach each project as an opportunity to explore, question assumptions, and uncover better solutions.
A Note from Our Founder
My journey to sustainability wasn’t linear — it grew from curiosity.
I trained as an engineer, earning a doctorate in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and began my career at IBM and StorageTek (now part of Oracle). I was drawn to complex systems, problem-solving, and the excitement of building new technologies. That path eventually led me into entrepreneurship and my own startups, including an AI venture.
While working in AI, I began to think more deeply about the energy behind the technology — the invisible infrastructure and its environmental cost. During the early days of the Covid pandemic, that curiosity turned into reflection. Like many people, I found myself reconsidering impact, responsibility, and how I wanted my work to contribute to the future.
That reflection led me to sustainability, and ultimately to Product Carbon Footprint and Life Cycle Assessment. I was drawn to the field because it combines analytical depth with tangible outcomes — helping teams see their products from a different dimension and make thoughtful, informed choices.
New Sky grew from this intersection of engineering, entrepreneurship, and personal reflection. It represents a belief that careful measurement, honest questions, and collaborative problem-solving can move us toward better products and a more sustainable world.
Even the name New Sky holds personal meaning: it is inspired by the English translations of my children’s names, a quiet reminder of the future that sustainability work is meant to protect — and the possibility of a cleaner, brighter sky ahead.
-Usha Pillai, Ph.D.
Let’s Work Together
If you’re exploring product footprinting, early-stage questions, or simply want to understand where to begin, I’d love to start a conversation.