Shamara Francis turns nightclub past into thriving Jamaican beauty business

For a long time, Shamara Francis kept one detail of her past away from those nearest to her: she had once earned quick money dancing in nightclubs. Now, at 34, she has carved out a place in Jamaica's beauty sector and works next to 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."

As the owner of The NUME Studios Jamaica, she is recognised for making women feel attractive, though she is quick to say the path there was far from easy.

"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 drive would later see her qualify as a certified beauty therapist, studying through HEART/NSTA Trust, City & Guilds and the D'Marie Institute.

"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.

Francis feels the difficult teenager grown-ups saw back then was widely misjudged.

"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."

She acknowledges that the very talents she now brings to her clients were honed during her stripping years, amid the bars, the parties and the late-night scene.

"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.

Far from concealing it, Francis says openly that she put the earnings from dancing into launching her venture.

"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.

Becoming a mother, she said, made her reconsider the whole direction of her life.

"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 committed fully to beauty because it is the work she genuinely loves. "The money is not the same, but the money is better," she said.

Francis registered The NUME Studios in 2020 and opened its doors in 2021, in what she views as a meaningful new beginning.

"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.

Running a business proved punishing, however, and mounting bills pushed her to shut the operation 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.

Rather than quit, Francis moved to Kingston once her eldest son emerged as one of the nation'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.

These days, she admits she sometimes has to laugh at the distance she has travelled — from spending recklessly in party cabanas to standing beside international brands at those same functions.

"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.