Sharmadean Reid (born 28 May 1984) is a

British Jamaican British Jamaicans (or Jamaican British people) are British people who were born in Jamaica or who are of Jamaican descent. The community is well into its third generation and consists of around 300,000 individuals, the second-largest Jamaican ...

entrepreneur. She is the founder of WAH Nails and Beautystack. She is an advocate for women's empowerment.

Early life and education

Reid was born to a Jamaican family with a father of Indian heritage in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

in 1984. She completed a BTEC in Art and Design. She moved to London the month before she started a degree at

Central Saint Martins Central Saint Martins is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of short ...

, graduating with a degree in Fashion Communication and Promotion. During her degree she worked with

Nicola Formichetti Nicola Formichetti (; born 31 May 1977) is a fashion director and fashion editor. Born in Japan, he is most widely known as the artistic director of the Italian fashion label Diesel and for being a frequent collaborator with singer-songwriter L ...

, ''

Arena Homme + ''Arena Homme +'' is a fashion magazine for men published biannually since 1994. The first issue was published in Spring/Summer 1994. ''Premiere Issues''. Retrieved 29 January 2016. The founding editor-in-chief is Kathryn Flett. It is published b ...

'' editor Jo-Ann Furniss and

Alasdair McLellan Alasdair McLellan (born 1974) is a British photographer. His work has been shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and is held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, also in London. Life and work McLellan was born in 1 ...

. Reid started WAH (We Ain't Hoes) in 2005 while at university as a hip hop

zine A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...

focusing on the new wave of street smart feminism. She used a

Mac Mini Mac Mini (stylized as Mac mini) is a small form factor (desktop and motherboard), small form factor desktop computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is one of the company's four current Mac (computer), Mac desktop computers, positioned ...

and interviewed women in

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

, building a community for women in the industry. She describes her skills in

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc., Adobe for Microsoft Windows, Windows and macOS. It was created in 1987 by Thomas Knoll, Thomas and John Knoll. It is the most used tool for professional digital ...

and

Adobe InDesign Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing and page layout designing software application software, application produced by Adobe Inc., Adobe and first released in 1999. It can be used to create works such as posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, ...

as the most important part of her feminist activism. The zine developed into the WAHappenings blog and WAH Power Lunches - opportunities for women to get together and discuss careers and ideas.

Career

After graduating in 2007, Reid worked at the men's magazine '' Arena Homme Plus'' as a Sportswear Editor, before moving to

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...

as a stylist. In June 2009, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' recognised Reid as one of the "15 people who will define the future of arts in Britain". Throughout 2018, Reid wrote a business advice column ''Bossing It'' for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. She delivered a TED talk about empowering women with technology at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

in December 2018. Reid is an advisor for the charity Art Against Knives. She is a founding member of the British Beauty Council.

Wah Nails

Driven by the idea of a place for women to "hang out, form friendships and build communities" while being able to have "whatever you wanted on your nails", the first WAH Nails salon was opened in August 2009. In February 2010, WAH Nails opened concessions in

Topshop TOPSHOP (originally Top Shop) is a British online fast-fashion retailer, which specialises in women's clothing, shoes and accessories. It is majority owned by Danish company, Bestseller. In 2024, ASOS sold 75% of Topshop and Topman to Bests ...

Oxford Circus and

Harvey Nichols Harvey Nichols Group Limited ( trading as Harvey Nichols) is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831 by Benjamin Harvey; it is headquartered at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections ...

Dublin. WAH Nails London was launched in September 2014. It used social media (including

tumblr Tumblr (pronounced "tumbler") is a microblogging and Social networking service, social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and is owned by American company Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content ...

and

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

) to grow a community by sharing viral images. WAH Nails has several high-profile patrons, including

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WT ...

Katarina Johnson-Thompson Katarina Mary Johnson-Thompson, (born 9 January 1993) is an English athlete. A multi-eventer, she is primarily known as both a heptathlete and an indoor pentathlete. In heptathlon she is a double world champion, double Commonwealth Games c ...

and

Margot Robbie Margot Elise Robbie ( ; born 2 July 1990) is an Australian actress and producer. Her work includes both blockbuster and independent films, and her accolades include nominations for three Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and six BAFT ...

. They launched a product line at

Boots UK Boots UK Limited (formerly Boots the Chemists Limited) is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain that operates in the United Kingdom. It also operates internationally, including Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand ...

, as well as a book. In November 2016, Reid launched her first clothing line inspired by

Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William ...

and in collaboration with

ASOS ASOS or Asos may refer to: * Asos, a village in Greece * ASOS (retailer), a UK online fashion store * '' A Storm of Swords'', a book in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' saga by G. R. R. Martin * Action short of strike, industrial action undertake ...

. In the same month WAH Nails launched in its London store a

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

nail experience, designed together wit
Kim Boutin
former digital art director at Kenzo. WAH have been featured in

broadly Vice Media Group LLC is a Canadian-American digital media and broadcasting company. Vice Media encompasses four main business areas: Vice Studios Group (film and TV production); Vice TV (a joint venture with A&E Networks, also known as Vicelan ...

Future Girl Corp

In 2016 Reid partnered with Tabitha Goldstaub to launch ''Future Girl Corp'', a business boot camp for women entrepreneurs. The bootcamp launched with a twelve-month business workshop for future women

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

s in

Shoreditch Shoreditch is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney alongside neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets, which are also perceived as part of the area due to historic ecclesiastical links. Shoreditch lies just north ...

in 2016. She coordinated monthly training events for women entrepreneurs throughout 2017.

Beautystack

Reid became frustrated by the lack of technological solutions in beauty booking software. Reid founded BeautyStack alongside Daniel Woodbury and Ken Lalobo, an image-based booking system for beauty professionals, in May 2017. Beautystack closed a seed-funding round in 2018, raising over £1 million. This made Reid one of few black women worldwide to raise over £1 million. The platform allows influential beauty professionals to form networks. It was described as an

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented Social networking service, social network. It was launched on May 5, 2003 by Reid Hoffman and Eric Ly. Since December 2016, LinkedIn has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. ...

hybrid, combining social discovery with in-app booking. The app launched with a pop-up shop in Kings Cross, as well as a magazine and video.

Awards and honours

Her awards and honours include; an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours for her services to the nail and beauty industry, a

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on women aro ...

Future Shaper Award. In 2018 she received a CEW Achiever Award.

Personal life

Reid has a son.

References

External links

WAH Nails London
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, Sharmadean 1984 births Living people 21st-century British businesswomen Alumni of Central Saint Martins English people of Indian descent English people of Jamaican descent Jamaican women in business Members of the Order of the British Empire Businesspeople from Wolverhampton