Whalar Acquires C Talent, Award-Winning Disability-Led Talent Management and Consulting Company

Accelerates efforts to represent deaf and disabled voices to power all communities in the creator economy

NEW YORK and LONDON, May 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Global Leader in Creator Commerce Whale today announced its first acquisition. Whalar acquired Talent Can award-winning, disability-led talent management and consulting firm representing high-level deaf and disabled talent.

C Talent represents only top creators, actors, directors and writers, and strives to place Deaf and disabled talent in all roles, not just disability-specific roles – normalizing people with disabilities as people with disabilities. experts in topics beyond disability. C Talent has placed talent in thousands of projects with companies and brands such as Savage X Fenty, Hulu, About-Face, Twitter, Disney, Google Pixel, Subaru, Nike and many more. Additionally, C Talent’s global disability and accessibility consulting department helps companies advance their accessibility and disability efforts, most recently working on Sony’s 3000 Pictures and Upcoming Film from Netflix’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”. C Talent has also worked on and is a founding member of #WeThe15 – the Emmy-nominated campaign to transform the lives of one billion people with disabilities around the world.

C Talent will become a specialist unit under Whalar, focusing on disability inclusion, accessibility beyond compliance and helping to break down societal stigma and stereotypes. Founder and CEO of C Talent Keely Cat-Wells will now be founder and president of the C Talent unit under Whalar. In this new role, Keely will continue to increase the representation of disability on and behind the camera. She will oversee a team of consultants to today’s biggest brands and continue to represent world-class deaf and disabled talent. She will report directly to Rob HorlerCEO, Whalar.

On the acquisition of C Talent, CEO of Whalar Rob Horler mentioned“At Whalar, we are committed to unleashing all creative voices and helping brands connect with their audiences by working directly with the communities they most want to reach. Diversity and social change are already embedded in our organization and bringing C Talent into the Whalar allows us to expand our capabilities, learn and adopt best practices that go beyond meeting mandatory accessibility requirements. I am delighted to welcome Keely and the C Talent team at Whalar as we begin this journey of changing mindsets and advancing the creator economy.”

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Together, Whalar and C Talent will set new company-wide standards for industry progress, including:

• Whalar will adopt and promote the Social model and justice for people with disabilities approach and, if applicable, the Cultural model of deafnessrecognizing that Deaf and disabled people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their disability/medical condition.

• Whalar will strive to embed accessibility practices beyond complaints into all systems and procedures, while championing responsive and universal design.

• Whalar will use its unique position within the media, advertising and entertainment industries to promote equity, quality and authentic representation of Deaf and disabled people in society, moving away from overused stereotypical content.

• Whalar will invest time and resources in developing leading Deaf and disabled talent from both a business and creative perspective, alongside meaningful employment opportunities.

• Whalar will conduct a corporate audit to identify the number of Deaf and disabled people represented within the company and set appropriate goals and targets for increased representation based on the results.

• Whalar will create and launch an accessible, non-compliant website.

On joining Whalar, Keely Cat-Wells said“Whalar powers the creator economy and by joining forces, allows us to take our mission to the next level by amplifying deaf and disabled voices like never before. As an entrepreneur with a disability, I have constantly been confronted with the incorrect and negative stereotypes that disability requires charity or is something that “needs to be fixed”, but this acquisition and alignment of goals presents the business case for disability inclusion, high quality representation and l accessibility. It proves that disability inclusion is a smart business decision; it’s an important step and recognizes the economic value of disabled talent. I’m proud to work with a team that invests in accessible spaces and stories diverse inspired by lived experience.

This acquisition is part of Whalar’s overall business growth strategy. C Talent will also be part of the recently launched Whalar for Good – the first company-sponsored philanthropic organization dedicated to the creator economy. Whalar for Good is a global initiative that unleashes the power of the creator economy to provide philanthropic support, execution and expertise. It is designed to harness the power of the creator community by driving positive social change through strategic partnerships with leading creators, brands, and social platforms.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Courtney BarthelemyVice President, Communications, Whalar
[email protected]

About Whalar
Whalar is a global creator commerce company enabling creators, brands and the world’s leading social platforms to work better together to drive business growth for everyone. We help brands stay culturally relevant through strategic relationships with creators who deliver entertaining, must-see content at scale. We are distinguished by our unique capabilities, including comprehensive creator talent management, brand partnership expertise, proprietary technology, a dedicated Web3 innovation practice and C Talent, the leading Deaf talent management agency and disabled. Our team includes over 300 diverse, creative, data and technology storytellers across North America, Europe, APAC and MENA. We power the creator economy. We are Whalars.

About C Talent
C Talent is an award-winning disability-led talent management and consulting firm representing high-level Deaf and disabled talent. C Talent’s goal is to change the way the world views and defines disability, using the massive reach and power of the entertainment, advertising and media industries.

C Talent strives to place talent with disabilities in all roles, not just disability-specific roles – normalizing people with disabilities as experts in topics beyond disability.

C Talent has placed talent in thousands of projects with companies and brands such as Savage X Fenty, Hulu, Twitter, About-Face, Disney, Google Pixel, Subaru, Nike and many more. C Talent is proud to represent a roster of artists who have a combined reach of over 50 million people!

C Talent provides disability and access advice globally, building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and fostering innovation by helping businesses become accessible beyond compliance, some of our current and previous clients include; Virgin Media, Twitter, the International Paralympic Committee, NBC, The LEGO Group and GIPHY to name a few.

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SOURCE Whale