Serial beauty entrepreneur Sharmadean Reid builds brands for a living. Here’s how she shops for others

By Leah Dolan, CNN

(CNN) — What goes into building a modern beauty business? Ask Sharmadean Reid, the British mogul with at least four under her belt. In 2009, Reid opened WAH Nails, a trail-blazing London salon that catapulted nail art into the mainstream. She went on to create Beautystack, a platform for beauty professionals to promote their work and take client bookings, which then evolved into The Stack World — a network designed to connect high-achieving women through its members’ app, coworking space and live events. In 2015, her contribution to the beauty industry was recognized as she received an MBE (the third-highest level of the Order of the British Empire, awarded to those who have made a substantial impact in their field).

Reid started buying beauty magazines aged 10, and remembers drugstore makeup being a “conduit” between her world in Wolverhampton, the English city she was born and raised, and the bright lights of the UK capital, which she later moved to for university. Something as small as a pot of pink blush could create that feeling, she said, that “this is the cool thing they’re wearing in London.” Beauty is built on that kind of connectivity. “Humans have always loved to adorn each other, to mark each other,” Reid said, over a video call. “I really care about that anthropological aspect.”

Her latest endeavour, a wellness label called 39BC, sells fine fragrance shower oils inspired by the ancient rituals of Egyptian and Roman bathhouses.

The compulsion to build emotional connections with her customers is what drives Reid as an entrepreneur. “I love creating experiences for people,” she said, adding that the “collective experience” in beauty, which can strengthen social bonds and provide a sense of belonging, is what has always interested her most. It’s also part of what makes her a natural gift giver. Reid wants everything she does to “have a sense of occasion,” whether it be buying a thoughtful present or ordering a take-out meal — for her, a cherished skill.

It’s also an important part of her love language. “What if you spend ages organizing something really important for your partner, you’ve thought of every detail, and then when it comes to you they give you a potato?” she laughed. Fortunately, says Reid, many of her friends are attentive and caring — the kind to send a hamper of farm-sourced ingredients when she mentions she’s not eaten a home-cooked meal in weeks. Presents don’t always need to be practical, however, as long as the goal is to have someone “smile when they open it.”

CNN: What are three things you need to ask yourself before buying a gift for someone?

SR: Will this tickle them? Tickle their brain, or tickle their sense of humour — is it going to delight them in a way? And then, does it show your knowledge of someone? To me, that’s the real truth of friendship. Have you listened to me, do you know me? Then I think of the William Morris quote, “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

CNN: What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?

SR: One of my friends bought me a rare Virginia Woolf book. It was the “Kew Gardens” short story and had this beautiful illustration on the front. I often buy certain books just for their covers. And because I can never have too many books, buying me a specific cover is the best gift I can get.

CNN: And the worst?

SR: What if the person who gave it to me reads this? It was a glitter resin sculpture of a hand. It looked like someone had bought it at a witchcraft fair. I just thought, ‘Why would I want this?’ I hate glitter, I hate resin-y things. It made me think they didn’t know me at all.

CNN: How about a gift you were proud of giving?

SR: I was dating this guy who really loved Peter Zumthor, and I bought him a couple nights’ stay in a building Zumthor designed through this site called Living Architecture where you can rent these famous houses. I bought him that because I knew he loved that architect.

CNN: Who is the hardest person in your family or friend circle to buy for and why?

SR: I find it hard to buy for some of my friends who have everything. In that case, what I do is I think, ‘Okay, the girl who has everything tends to collect things.’ So just get them something to add to their collection. My friend collects vintage mirrors, for example. She’s got about 25. I would get her a vintage mirror; even if it wasn’t the best one or the one that she wanted the most, I can still add to her collection.

CNN: What’s a great gift that costs nothing?

SR: I think being attentive and present. Putting your phone down when people are talking to you is the best gift, and I think that’s a dying art.

CNN: Do you have any traditions or rituals around the holidays?

SR: I like to spend my birthday alone. I always do a little solo trip, and then I read my book, get three back-to-back spa treatments and do something related to my ancestors, which connects me to the fact I’ve grown a year older to the past.

CNN: If you’re celebrating with loved ones around a table, what are the most important components of that celebration?

SR: That the right people are around the table. Around Christmas time in 2018 I felt like I had no friends, then I realized I do — I just don’t see them. So, I cleared out my Facebook friend list and deleted anyone who I wouldn’t want to have at a dinner table. Then I made a calendar link and wrote a post asking the 150 people left to book a dinner slot every Friday the following year. Within a couple of hours, the dinners were booked up to March or April. I was also running a start-up, so sometimes I didn’t have time to cook and would order a takeaway, but it wasn’t a big deal, because of the interesting people around the table. You can create a sense of occasion, even with a takeaway.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

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