Sharmadean Reid founded WAH Nails as a side project in 2009 – now it is a huge global well-known business.
In this episode I chat to Sharmadean about productivity and distraction. She has a brilliant Guardian column called Bossing It where she answers modern work questions.
She wrote two WAH nails books, delivered global pop up nail salons for 100s of brands, created a product line with Walgreen Boots Alliance and was awarded an MBE for services to Beauty.
So now she is building a new way to book beauty online with her new company Beauty Stack.
We talk about what she’d learned from starting businesses. Sharmadean’s also working on a new campaign with NatWest which is all about helping small businesses be the best they can be. A big focus is on helping small businesses do more with less and improve their productivity through the NatWest Productivity Blueprint.
The medium article I reference in the opening section of the interview is called “Growing Up Too Fast — Or Why I Closed WAH Nails Topshop”.
Soundbites I love from this episode:
“Why not write a completely new rule for how we determine success?”
“Create your own pic ‘n’ mix from other people’s successful bios”
“You can’t copy someone else’s path”
“Being productive doesn’t mean being chained your desk the whole time.”
Trinny Woodall (Replay): The Art of A Makeover (At Any Age)
Julia Quinn (Replay): How She Wrote Bridgerton
Alain De Botton (Replay): Life Is Not Meant To Be Perfect
Glennon Doyle (Replay): Getting Untamed
Dolly Alderton (Replay): Everything She Knows About Writing A Memoir
Cathy Heller (Replay): How To Build A Life You Love
Cate Sevilla (Replay): How To Deal With A Toxic Workplace
Hashi Mohamed (Replay): The Truth About Luck & Privilege
#396 Tetyana Denford: Should You Self-Publish Your Book?
#395 Matt Bell: How To Enjoy Writing Your Novel
#394 Donna Lancaster: Healing Ourselves & Post-Pandemic Grief
Jamie Bartlett (Replay): The World’s Biggest Crypto Con
#393 Louise O'Neill: The Problem With Having Online 'Idols'
#392 Vicky Spratt: We Need To Talk About Britain's Housing Crisis
#391 Francesca Specter: How To Be Alone (and Enjoy it)
#390 Clemmie Telford: What Does "Influencer" Even Mean Now?
#389 Sheila Heti: Art is the Opposite of an Algorithm
#388 Dr Rafa Euba: The Truth About The "Happiness" Industry
#387 Delia Ephron: Falling In Love Over Email
#386 Josh Roberts: Why We're So Bored At Work
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Happy Place
Soundtracking with Edith Bowman
Hoovering with Jessica Fostekew
The Federalist Papers
The Art of War
The Big Interview with Graham Hunter
Who Hurt You?