Black History Month · Then & Now
From a hip hop fanzine to a nail salon to a global community for women, she has spent two decades creating the spaces she wished existed. A reflection on community as a form of power.
Some women build businesses. Some build communities. And a few build businesses that are, at their heart, communities.
Sharmadean Reid is one of those women.
A girl from Wolverhampton
Sharmadean was born in Wolverhampton in 1984 and grew up in a Jamaican family. She was creative, curious and drawn to culture — music, fashion and the way people express who they are.
She studied art and design, then went on to study Fashion Communication and Promotion at Central Saint Martins in London. While she was still a student, she started a fanzine called WAH, celebrating women in hip hop and what she described as “the new wave of street smart feminism.”
Even then, what she was really creating was a gathering place.
A salon that was never just a salon
In 2009, Sharmadean opened WAH Nails in Dalston, east London. On the surface, it was a nail salon. But it was really something more: a space where women could hang out, form friendships and build community — and leave with art on their fingertips.
WAH Nails became a cultural moment. It shaped nail trends across the UK, appeared in fashion magazines, collaborated with major brands and opened in department stores. In 2015, Sharmadean was awarded an MBE for services to the nail and beauty industry.
I love that she took something often dismissed as “just beauty” and treated it with the seriousness, creativity and respect it deserved. There’s a lesson in that alone.
Learning to build in tech
In 2017, Sharmadean launched Beautystack, a platform that connected people with beauty professionals through images of their work. She raised more than £1 million in early funding — making her one of very few Black women in the world to do so at the time.
Anyone who has followed the stories of women founders knows how hard that is. Black women receive only a tiny fraction of venture capital funding. Sharmadean’s path through that world was not only a personal achievement; it was a signal to others that the door could be opened.
Sometimes the most powerful thing we can build is a room where other women feel they belong.
The Stack World
In 2021, Beautystack evolved into The Stack World — a members’ community for women focused on economic empowerment. It brings women together to learn, share, network and build wealth, with the belief that when women are financially free, they are freer in every part of their lives.
In 2024, Sharmadean published her book, New Methods for Women, a collection of essays drawing on her experience as a founder and her thinking on how women can live and work on their own terms. And in 2025, she launched a fragrance brand, 39BC. She is, it seems, always building.
What I take from her
I’ve come to realise that community isn’t a nice extra. It’s a form of power.
When women come together — to share knowledge, to open doors, to hold each other through hard seasons — things become possible that were impossible alone. Sharmadean has built her entire career around that truth.
Her story gently invites us to think about our own circles. Who are the women we share our knowledge with? Who are we bringing into the room? And where might we find, or create, a space where we can grow together?
That question sits very close to the heart of what we hope The Her Edit can be.
Then & Now
Almost seventy years ago, Claudia Jones founded a newspaper and a carnival so that her community could be seen, heard and celebrated. Sharmadean continues that work in a new era — creating spaces where women can gather, speak and rise together.
If you feel called, you can read Claudia’s story alongside this one in our Then & Now series.
Softly, Fiona x.
The Weekly Edit
All through October, we’re sharing ten women — five legends and five carrying their work forward today. If you’d like to follow along, you’re welcome to join The Editors and receive The Weekly Edit each Friday.