Sharmadean Reid

Being passionate about millennial girl culture Sharmadean started a fanzine called WAH in 2006 while still studying at Central St Martins. Positioned as a reaction to the wave of booty shaking videos in 2004, and to promote females in creative industries she quickly gained a global following by being an early blog pioneer and gathering like-minded women in panel events as early as 2008. After graduating, Sharmadean Reid started her career as a stylist and brand consultant specialising in youth brands such as Nike and ASOS but continued to drive the WAH brand through informal meetings and by continuing to publish the fanzine ad hoc.

In 2009, the WAH brand set up a physical home in the shape of WAH Nails, a salon and creative space in Dalston that provided a real life space for these online fans to connect. WAH Nails completely changed the face of nail culture and beauty by offering a millennial owned, grassroots, community face to the beauty business. In 2015, these qualities and her services to Beauty were recognised when she was awarded an MBE.

WAH Nails expanded into doing the events, shows and parties at London Fashion Week, for brands such as Nike, Marc Jacobs and Diesel, from this WAH then had a successful week-long pop up salon in Selfridges and Sharmadean was named one of the “15 people who will define the future of arts in Britain” and featured as part of the “New Generation” in Vogue magazine.

WAH Nails then held a successful salon in Topshop Oxford Circus for 4 years before closing to retain the community experience. WAH London launched a product line distributed in Boots UK selling £1.2million worth of nail products in its first year. Sharmadean wrote the bestselling WAH Book of Nail Art in 2013. With a view to identifying and empowering the next generation of female CEOs, Sharmadean launched FutureGirlCorp, which helps leaders create long term wealth and economic empowerment.

In 2016 Sharmadean launched a dreamy salon in Soho showcasing a brilliantly innovative VR Nail Design app which enhances the user experience whilst improving gross margins and is passionate about using technology to help streamline the beauty experience. In 2017, Sharmadean partnered with a number of the world’s largest brands, across media and consumer in Vodafone, Pearson, Adobe, Majestic and Johnnie Walker. Sharmadean launched into 2018 with a new column “Bossing It”, which can be found in The Guardian’s Weekend Magazine, every Saturday through the first half of the year.

In 2019 Sharmadean launched her revolutionary angel investor-funded platform, Beautystack. This invitation-only hub for beauty professionals connect consumer and beautician, enabling the consumer to book appointments directly with the next generation of beauticians whose work showcased on the platform catches their attention.