Keely Cat-Wells named a 2026 Fellow of the Cartier Women’s Initiative
The Cartier Women's Initiative is an annual international entrepreneurship program that aims to drive change by empowering women impact entrepreneurs. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the program was founded in 2006. Among the 2026 class, four fellows stand out for the sheer ambition and ingenuity of their work. In the United States, Keely Cat-Wells built Making Space after experiencing disability discrimination firsthand. Her talent acquisition platform connects disabled professionals to employers through accessible, employer-backed training, and has already boosted programme participants’ projected lifetime earnings by more than USD $1.1 million each — with 90% of learners reporting a renewed sense of self-worth in the process.
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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.
We’re so thrilled to bring you this year’s class of Young Influentials. In this digital cover story, we’re highlighting leaders and innovators spanning media, entertainment, marketing, tech and everything in between who are using their influence to change the way we think about branding. Whether it’s their impressive social media reach, brand partnerships or the ethos behind their vision, they’re successfully expanding their brands’ presence and rallying for positive change in the world, all before they’ve reached 40 years of age.
Cat-Wells founded her first company from her hospital bed when she became disabled at 17 years old: a talent agency representing her friends in the dance world, as she could no longer perform. When she moved to Los Angeles and lost a job due to her disability, she decided to found C Talent, a talent agency, which represents high-profile Deaf and Disabled talent. C Talent also provides Disability and Accessibility consulting for companies such as LEGO, Virgin Media, and Google.
"We were so inspired by Keely's mission to support disabled artists and create a more inclusive representation in the entertainment industry," said Stacey McCormick, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Aerie. "As a brand, Aerie is about celebrating our real selves, inclusivity, and diversity – we are so happy to support her cause."