Former dancer builds beauty empire

For years, Shamara Francis hid a secret from the people closest to her – she once chased fast money under nightclub lights as a dancer.

But today, the 34-year-old is building a name for herself in Jamaica’s beauty industry, working alongside major corporate brands.

“I moved on from being a nighttime ballerina, because in life, it’s not where you start but where you will finish,” Francis said. “Being in the strip club, where I never even belonged, is a part of my journey. I was a dancer, I never did it in Jamaica, but I did it in the islands.”

The owner of The NUME Studios Jamaica is now known for helping women feel beautiful, but she said her journey has been anything but glamorous.

“I’m originally birthed in Kingston 13, but I spent most of my life in St Ann. I was an all-rounder in high school but I was one of those students my teachers called bright but had no behaviour. I was always sent out of class because of something glamour — too much lip gloss or a hairstyle they said was too much for school. I always had the passion for beauty from that time,” she recalled.

That passion eventually led her to earn qualifications through HEART/NSTA Trust, City & Guilds and the D’Marie Institute as a certified beauty therapist.

“It was embedded in me from young that I would be in the beauty or entertainment industry. When I said I wanted to become a hairdresser, people looked at me with disappointment and asked if my mother was spending all that money for me to wash people’s dirty hair. But when I went to community college, I literally did nothing because it wasn’t my passion. Beauty was,” she said.

But Francis believes many adults misunderstood the troubled teenager she once was.

“I was being molested, treated badly and going through some very dark times. Me wearing make-up, fancy clothes and behaving like a hot girl was just a facade. This is still my question to my high school teachers: not one day did it dawn on any of you that this child needed help? Nobody asked what was really going on at home.”

Francis admitted that the skills she now uses to transform clients were sharpened during her days as a stripper, revelling in the bars, parties, and nightlife.

“All the girls used to tell me fi tek it (beauty industry) serious. I used to do the dancers’ make-up and everybody kept telling me I was making all the girls in the club pretty,” she said.

Francis makes no attempt to hide that part of her past, admitting she took the money she earned from dancing to invest in her business.

“Strip life was a lot of money, but was it right for my soul? No. Guilt would kill me every day. The fast money was definitely part of it. But just as how it comes fast, it goes fast. Did I build a life from it? Yes. Did I own things from it? Yes. But was I happy? No. Having a house and not having a home is two different things,” she explained.

She said motherhood forced her to rethink everything. “Being away making this crazy money, but yet my son didn’t have me. When he turned at night, he saw daddy and not mommy. It was killing me. I had to ask myself what I could do to really transform my life.”

She went fully into beauty because that is what she loves.

“The money is not the same, but the money is better,” she said. Francis officially registered The NUME Studios in 2020 and opened the business in 2021, after what she describes as a symbolic fresh start.

“It was actually supposed to be Beauty Captions, but the name was already taken. My business licensee came back as NUME and when I researched it, it meant divine power of beauty. I felt like that couldn’t be a coincidence. This was really a new me — a new chapter and a new life,” she said.

But entrepreneurship is not for the weak, and bills started piling up, leading Francis to close the business in 2023.

“I was devastated. I was going through postpartum depression. People think owning a shop is ‘the tea’ because they see it on Instagram. It’s not easy. I couldn’t afford the bills anymore and the shop started bankrupt pon me,” she said.

Instead of giving up, Francis relocated to Kingston after her eldest son became one of the country’s top PEP performers.

“I decided that was the right time because there were better educational opportunities for him and more opportunities for me. I knew with my personality and my business skills, I could really sell myself the right way. I wanted to build a real foundation and show girls that no matter what you go through, even if you detour, you can still make it,” she said.

Today, she said, she sometimes smiles at how dramatically her life has changed, from partying in cabanas “blowing up money” to working alongside international brands at those same events.

“I actually manifested the life I’m living right now. It’s a real flex for me. I’m in my working era making people feel beautiful,” she said.