Imani Ellis: The Creative Collective and CultureCon Founder and CEO

Lauren Wang is the CEO and founder of period-product brand The Flex Company. Before even graduating college, Wang held several positions. At just age 15, she freelanced as an HTML website builder. Then during college, she took classes at night while working for IBM and Coca-Cola on their respective marketing teams. A couple years after graduating college, she moved to San Francisco to work in tech at companies such as Autodesk and Upwork. In 2013, after many years of struggling to find period products that worked for her, Wang came up with her initial idea for a better period product. She spent the next year researching the menstrual-hygiene industry, and in 2015, she quit her corporate job to found Flex. In October of 2016, the company began shipping its first product: the Flex Disc. As the company continued to grow, it released its Flex Cup product line and expanded into new categories, and Wang was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Los Angeles region in 2023.

This week, Who What Wear Editor in Chief Kat Collings sits down with Sara Byblow, the costume designer of the new Legally Blonde prequel Elle. They discuss keeping the legacy of Elle Woods's iconic style alive, sourcing more than 70 looks for young Elle's wardrobe, and the meaning behind different shades of pink in the show. Plus, Byblow shares which wardrobe staples carried over from Legally Blonde.  Watch this episode on our new ⁠YouTube channel⁠⁠⁠, and be sure to subscribe!

Beatriz de los Mozos is the founder and CEO of the shoe brand Flabelus. Before founding her own brand, de los Mozos earned a law degree and a master's degree in comparative politics. She began her professional career in law in London and then transitioned to a legal startup, where she took on the role of sales manager and senior legal expert. However, after her doctor told her that she could no longer wear her favorite shoes due to scoliosis, she came up with an idea for a shoe that would be both comfortable and stylish. She set up a Kickstarter campaign, found a Spanish factory to produce her Italian furlane and Spanish espadrille hybrids, and Flabelus was born. Within five years, the brand expanded from an online-only model to selling in over 700 stores across 54 countries, as well as establishing a growing network of flagship boutiques.

For the third year in a row, the Who What Wear beauty editors have tested nearly 1000 products and tools and whittled them down to a list of their top 100 items to shop. The team tested for efficacy, innovation, and lovability across seven categories: makeup, tools, fragrance, hair, skincare, nails, and body. Beauty Director Erin Jahns is back on the pod to share her team’s findings, including four new special-recognition categories: Timeless Classic, Social Media Sensation, Worth the Investment, and High Impact, Low Price. Read the full 2026 Who What Wear 100 Beauty Awards story here! Watch this episode on our new YouTube channel, and be sure to subscribe!

Leigh Batnick Plessner is the chief creative officer of Catbird. Before landing at Catbird, Plessner graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in English literature and anthropology, and she worked at various DC coffee shops and as a cocktail waitress before landing a job in the children's room at renowned DC bookstore Politics and Prose. At the bookstore, she was eventually promoted to sidelines buyer, selecting everything for the store other than books. While in this position, she had the opportunity to go to various stationery shows, which prompted her to start a stationery brand of her own called Jezebel. In 2005, she met the founder of jewelry brand Catbird, Rony Vardi, at a stationery trade show. Soon after, she started working at the brand's storefront in New York. Eventually she transitioned out of running her stationery brand and into working full-time for Catbird. She grew with the company and now holds the role of chief creative officer, where she's responsible for the visual identity of the brand, including Catbird's partnerships with talent like Clairo and Phoebe Bridgers.