Sharmadean Reid MBE (born 28 May 1984) is a British 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 into a Jamaican family with a father of Indian heritage in Wolverhampton in 1984. She completed a BTEC in Art and Design. ^[1] She moved to London the month before she started a degree at Central Saint Martins, graduating with a degree in Fashion Communication and Promotion. During her degree she worked with Nicola Formichetti, Arena Homme + editor Jo-Ann Furniss and Alasdair McLellan. ^[2] Reid started WAH (We Ain't Hoes) in 2005 while at university as a hip hop zine focusing on the new wave of street smart feminism. ^[3] She used a Mac Mini and interviewed women in hip hop, building a community for women in the industry. ^[4] She describes her skills in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign as the most important part of her feminist activism. ^[4] The zine developed into the WAHappenings blog and WAH Power Lunches - opportunities for women to get together and discuss careers and ideas. ^[5]

Career

After graduating in 2007, Reid worked at the men's magazine Arena Homme Plus as a Sportswear Editor, before moving to Nike as a stylist. ^[2] In June 2009, The Independent recognised Reid as one of the "15 people who will define the future of arts in Britain". ^[6] Throughout 2018, Reid wrote a business advice column Bossing It for The Guardian. ^[7] She delivered a TED talk about empowering women with technology at University College London in December 2018. ^[4] Reid is an advisor for the charity Art Against Knives. ^[8] She is a founding member of the British Beauty Council. ^{[9] [10] [11]}

Wah Nails

Driven by the idea of a place for women to "hang out, form friendships and build communities" ^[12] while being able to have "whatever you wanted on your nails", ^[3] the first WAH Nails salon was opened in August 2009. ^[13] In February 2010, WAH Nails opened concessions in Topshop Oxford Circus and Harvey Nichols Dublin. WAH Nails London was launched in September 2014. ^[14] It used social media (including tumblr and Instagram) to grow a community by sharing viral images. ^[15] WAH Nails has several high-profile patrons, including Serena Williams, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Margot Robbie. ^[16] They launched a product line at Boots UK, as well as a book. ^[17] In November 2016, Reid launched her first clothing line inspired by Princess Diana and in collaboration with ASOS. ^{[18] [19] [20]} In the same month WAH Nails launched an augmented reality nail application in its London store. ^[21] WAH have been featured in broadly. ^[22]

Future Girl Corp

In 2016 Reid partnered with Tabitha Goldstaub to launch Future Girl Corp, a business boot camp for women entrepreneurs. ^{[23] [24]} The bootcamp launched with a twelve-month business workshop for future women CEOs in Shoreditch in 2016. ^{[17] [25] [26]} She coordinated monthly training events for women entrepreneurs throughout 2017. ^{[27] [28]}

Beautystack

Reid became frustrated by the lack of technological solutions in beauty booking software. ^[29] Reid founded BeautyStack alongside Daniel Woodbury and Ken Lalobo, an image-based booking system for beauty professionals, in May 2017. ^[15] Beautystack closed a seed-funding round in 2018, raising over £1 million. ^[15] This made Reid one of few black women worldwide to raise over £1 million. The platform allows influential beauty professionals to form networks. ^[2] It was described as an Instagram- LinkedIn hybrid, combining social discovery with in-app booking. ^[29] The app launched with a pop-up shop in Kings Cross, as well as a magazine and video. ^{[29] [30]}

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 Future Shaper Award. ^{[19] [31] [32]} In 2018 she received a CEW Achiever Award. ^[33]

Personal life

Reid has a son. ^[34]

References

External links

• WAH Nails London