Sharmadean Reid’s life in culture

Over a two-decade career spanning literature, technology, beauty and film, Sharmadean Reid MBE has reshaped how we understand equity, ownership and creativity through the female lens. From the pioneering salon concept that was WAH Nails to The Stack World – the media platform she launched in 2021 – her work is a study in building new systems where none existed.

In 2024, she published her first book New Methods for Women (Penguin Random House), and she recently launched her debut fine-fragrance bathing brand 39BC, which celebrates the act of bathing as an opportunity to pause, indulge and reconnect. The brand’s ethos is simple: to embrace the raw power of natural materials not just for their aroma, but for how cultures have used these ingredients for symbolism, mood-shifting and healing over the centuries. 39-bc.com

I bought my first two records at the same time on cassette tape from HMV in Wolverhampton. They were The Notorious BIG’s Hypnotize and Shola Ama’s You Might Need Somebody. I listened to both on repeat all summer. I guess those are actually two sides to my personality!

The book that influenced me massively is Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. Not only the writing style of philosophical, internal, meandering thoughts – it has influenced my life’s work, because the second section is a blueprint for how to achieve gender equity. I read it once a year. Another writer who has defined my thinking on race is bell hooks. When I was reading her anthology Outlaw Culture, I was like, ‘Damn, I’ve been thinking about this stuff for so long and not really articulated it in this way.’

My favourite film is probably Princess Mononoke. If you’ve ever been a teenage girl, you know what it’s like to be angry. She’s trying to grow up too fast, she thinks she can save everyone. Then you have the environmental part of the film, which is when industrial progress meets the end of the world. Lady Eboshi is calm and kind, but she represents the destruction of the forest. It’s like they’re warring with each other, but they don’t realise they’re probably the same person at different points in their life.

I spend far too much time taking baths: two or three a day. I’m just lying there, thinking.

My favourite painting is What’s Going On (1974) by Barkley L Hendricks. It’s such a beautiful painting. I saw it at Tate Modern in 2017 in the ‘Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power’ exhibition. It was the first thing you saw when you walked into the room and I looked at it for a very long time.

I love the food my friend Gabe cooks at Rita’s in Soho. I never know what I’m going to get and it’s always delicious. I’m usually guaranteed to see friends there and the cocktails are amazing.

My favourite bar is Space Talk in Clerkenwell. It’s a listening room and Charlotte Taylor did the interior design. It serves Japanese food that you can eat at the bar and is cosy and chic.

The Barbican is my favorite building. The minute I step inside, I feel this intense warmth and ease and the anticipation that I could turn a corner and discover something. I love how public it is – you could chill there all day, doing your own work.

I am very excited about 2026 – I’ve been on a bit of a sabbatical for the past couple of years and I’ve been launching my brand for the last few months, so now I’ve gone through the transition from lazy to busy. I’m looking forward to seeing it grow globally and to launch the next collection on 1 September.