She has it nailed
How do you follow Guido? That was the question at the most recent members evening for The Coterie, but we did good. Step up headliner Sharmadean Reid!
The night opened with L’Oréal Professionnel’s marketing director Stephanie Reif, who talked about the creative collaborations behind the new capsule collection, London Addixion. Stephanie offered a unique insight into the process, from handing students at Central Saint Martins a blank canvas to design, through to choosing the winner, Isabel Eeles, to create the packaging. Not to mention getting Malcolm Edwards onboard to style the hair for the shoot.
The founder of WAH Nails and all-round cool girl, Sharmadean Reid, headed the bill, sharing the story of her career and the secrets of her success. And it’s all pretty simple: “If I want to do something, I just do it. And I don’t do anything that causes me stress – there are more important things going on.”
Sharmadean’s CV is pretty impressive. Starting out at Central Saint Martins (from the age of 12 she would “order the prospectus every year and read it like a bedtime story”), she’s assisted major stylist Nicola Formichetti and worked at Arena Homme Plus, where she’s now a contributing editor. Team that with working for Nike, founding WAH Nails and becoming a mum and you’ve got yourself a serious contender for superwoman.
WAH (its stands for We Ain’t Hoes) started as a fanzine and evolved into a nails brand after Sharmadean had “yet another bad mani”. From that bad manicure through to buying a salon, only three months had passed. Within six months, WAH Nails had a pop up store in Selfridges and next came Topshop. Oh, and Sharmadean has never used PR – just word of mouth.
Her latest venture has been the launch of the WAH Nails Book of Nails, offering everyone a peek of true nail art. And the future? “I’m going to write another book and I want to release a product line. And open my own fashion library.”
Everything she touches turns to gold. Sharmadean – we salute you!
