Sharmadean Reid

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.

Sharmadean Reid

MBE
Alma materCentral Saint Martins
EmployerWAH Nails
HonoursMBE
Websitewah-london.com

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, Roman, who she co-parents with his father, Greg.[34]

References
  1. Pearson Qualification Services (2017-10-12), I Choose BTEC - Sharmadean Reid, retrieved 2019-02-24
  2. "Sharmadean Reid is on a girl empowerment mission with Beautystack". Evening Standard. 2017-10-25. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  3. "About". Wah Nails. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  4. TEDx Talks (2019-01-02), Empowering Women Through Tech | Sharmadean Reid | TEDxUCLWomen, retrieved 2019-02-24
  5. "WAH POWERLUNCH". WAH LONDON. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  6. "Revealed: The 15 people who will define the future of arts in Britain". The Independent. 2009-06-19. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  7. "Bossing it | Life and style | The Guardian". the Guardian. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  8. "IN OUR HANDS TRAINING PROGRAMME". ART AGAINST KNIVES. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  9. "British Beauty Council announces names of newly-formed Advisory Board". www.cosmeticsbusiness.com. 26 November 2018. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  10. Ahssen, FashionNetwork com, Sarah. "Feelunique launches Strategic Council headed by Sharmadean Reid". FashionNetwork.com. Retrieved 2019-02-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. "British Beauty Council appoints Advisory Board Members". www.diarydirectory.com. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  12. "Sharmadean Reid". The Dots. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  13. Virgin StartUp (2015-01-20), How I started my business: Sharmadean Reid, retrieved 2019-02-24
  14. UK, Katie Jones MyDaily (2014-08-13). "WAH London's Nail Collection Is Coming To Boots". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  15. Ustik, Georgina (2018-09-04). "Beautystack CEO Sharmadean Reid is fixing beauty tech". The Next Web. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  16. Knowles, Kitty. "Sorry Instagram, WAH Nails Boss Has A Social Network For Next-Gen Beauty". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  17. Casely-Hayford, Alice. "Sharmadean Reid Working Mother FutureGirlCorp WAH Nails". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  18. Dazed (2016-10-10). "WAH Nails' Sharmadean Reid debuts fashion line". Dazed. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  19. "Meet Sharmadean Reid, the woman behind WAH". gal-dem. 2016-10-27. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  20. Cochrane, Lauren (2016-10-11). "Asos launch Princess Diana-themed collection". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  21. McCarthy, Emma (14 November 2016). "The future's nailed: virtual manicures become a reality for Londoners thanks to WAH nails". Evening Standard. London. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  22. Broadly (2016-05-12), This Cult Nail Artist Has the World at Her Fingertips, retrieved 2019-02-24
  23. "Sharmadean Reid of WAH Nails | Karen Millen". www.karenmillen.com. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  24. "FutureGirlCorp". FutureGirlCorp. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  25. "Blog | THE SUBJECT". Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  26. "How FutureGirlCorp is building the next generation of female CEOs". Evening Standard. 2016-09-07. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  27. Future Girl Corp (2017-02-21), Welcome to FutureGirlCorp, retrieved 2019-02-24
  28. Future Girl Corp (2017-01-06), LECTURE // Rea Deacon - Turning a Problem Into a Vision, retrieved 2019-02-24
  29. Gillil, Nikki (2018-11-09). "What is the Beautystack app & could it change the beauty industry?". Econsultancy. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  30. "Kiosk N1C › Sharmadean Reid". Kiosk N1C. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  31. "Founder of WAH Nails, Sharmadean Reid, awarded MBE". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  32. Proudfoot, Jenny (2016-09-30). "CEO of WAH London is changing the face of female entrepreneurship". Marie Claire. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  33. "2018 CEW Achiever Awards | CEWUK". www.cewuk.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  34. Dacre, Karen. "How five stylish families dress their children". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2021-11-24.
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