Shaa Wasmund, MBE, Entrepreneurs, Debrett's 500 2016, People of Influence

Shaa Wasmund, MBE

Founder, Smarta

Born in the US but raised in the UK, Shaa Wasmund has been a student, a writer for Cosmopolitan, a boxing manager and promoter, a successful business owner and a best-selling author – all before the age of 50. Today she is best known as the founder of Smarta, a platform offering support for business owners and entrepreneurs. Smarta helps start-ups develop ideas, arranges grants and provides the tools to set up and run a business. Aged 21, Wasmund became an assistant to boxer Chris Eubank after winning a competition to interview him. She was responsible for promoting Eubank’s fight with Nigel Benn – at the time the biggest fight to take place in Britain – while still at university. After a number of years with Eubank, Wasmund set up her own PR firm, taking on as one of her first clients a little-known start-up making vacuum cleaners called Dyson. Wasmund was appointed MBE in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to business and entrepreneurship.