Keely Cat-Wells, CEO of Making Space, named a L’Oréal Paris Woman of Worth 2025

I was not believed by the health system, I was dying while they constantly told me I "looked fine." It took dozens of doctors, multiple hospitals, and many years before I was diagnosed and given the life-saving treatment I needed. When I came to the US, it became clear that as a disabled person, as someone who is chronically ill, I am not broken or the issue — it is society that is fragmented, and that it is not just a national problem, it is a global one.

Last year, Cat-Wells sold C Talent to Whalar in a multimillion-dollar deal that marked the largest investment ever in disabled talent within the creator industry. Since then, her focus has been on Making Space, a talent acquisition and learning experience platform for disabled individuals from low income or traditionally underrepresented communities. “When budgets get cut and times get hard, disability-specific programs are the first to be deprioritized,” Cat-Wells explains.

“Hire disabled people, fund disabled people, let disabled people lead and learn from disabled people's lived experience. But also do your own research on disability and learn from the work that has already been done within the disability justice movement,” she said.

Keely Cat-Wells has been a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, an advisory board member on Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation and has visited the White House as a participant in the first Mental Health Youth Action Forum. Last year her talent agency, C Talent, was acquired by Whalar in a deal that’s making history as “one of the largest investments ever made in Disabled talent within the creator industry,” according to her profile on RollingStone Culture Council.

Since its inception, C Talent has scaled into a well-known Disabled-led talent management firm which represents high-profile Deaf and Disabled talent—including content creators, actors, directors, and writers. C Talent has successfully negotiated contracts and landed brand deals for talent with mainstream business giants like Savage X Fenty, Hulu, About-Face, Disney, Google, Subaru, Nike, and more.

As relatively easy as it may be for many creators to write a hit song or create a viral video, making money from their work may not be as intuitive. Enter the suits! The best executives—whether as a platform or an agent or manager—step in and step up to help creators maximize profits from their work and grow their audience. This can be specific to a particular cohort of creators: Keely Cat-Wells, founder and president of C Talent at Whalar, for example, works to give disabled creators more opportunities in front of and behind the camera.

Recognition of Cat-Wells' accomplishments includes The Red Backpack Grant from The Sara Blakey Foundation, The Diana Award, corporate sponsorship from American Eagle Outfitters, Forbes 30 Under 30 in Entertainment, and The Comerica Bank Award. What negative mindsets can you change to increase your market?

We collaborated with LEGO to enhance disability representation across their storytelling and character development. By participating in LEGO’s design sprint, we provided expertise to ensure that Disabled characters were authentically portrayed, scripts were inclusive, and employees had the knowledge to integrate accessibility into their work.

We collaborated with Sesame Street to provide comprehensive training on disability inclusion, universal design and accessible storytelling. This training was designed to equip the Sesame Street team with the knowledge and tools to create more authentic and inclusive content for disabled children and families. We also consulted to ensure the script portrayed Disabled characters in nuanced and authentic ways.