Mashable 101: The creators shaping the internet in 2026
By
Crystal Bell
Digital Culture Editor
Crystal Bell is the Culture Editor at Mashable. She oversees the site's coverage of the creator economy, digital spaces, and internet trends, focusing on how young people engage with others and themselves online. She is particularly interested in how social media platforms shape our online and offline identities.
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Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Getty Images
For years, Quenlin Blackwell has felt like the internet's funniest friend. She was the one spiraling in her car, oversharing in the kitchen, or somehow turning a trip to the grocery store into a full character study.
Now, the 25-year-old creator is becoming something bigger than a viral personality. Known online as @quenblackwell, Blackwell has amassed more than 13 million followers on TikTok, 4 million followers on Instagram, and over 3 million YouTube subscribers through a mix of chaotic humor, beauty content, fashion, cooking videos, and deeply quotable observations about everyday life.
Blackwell first gained traction as a teenager on Vine, but she's been posting online since she was 8. "I've had a camera in my face for my entire life," she told Complex in 2025. "It's the most brain-fried thing of all time, but it’s the life that I was given... I love it. I love the camera."
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That early comfort in front of the camera has translated into a growing presence across mainstream entertainment. This past year, she appeared in the HBO series I Love LA, hosted the Vanity Fair Oscar Party livestream alongside fellow Mashable 101 noms Brittany Broski and Jake Shane, and continued growing her YouTube series, Feeding Starving Celebrities, where she cooks and chats with guests including Lil Nas X, PinkPantheress, and Addison Rae.
She has also become an increasingly visible force in fashion. After making her runway debut for Off-White in 2024, Blackwell spent the past year appearing in campaigns for brands like Charlotte Tilbury, MAC Cosmetics, and Glossier, and walking in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
What makes Blackwell compelling is that none of these moves feel separate from the personality that made people follow her in the first place. She remains funny, unpredictable, and self-aware enough to keep it all feeling consistent. The internet hasn't just watched her evolve — it's evolved around her.
From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable talks to creators about how they built their platforms, the gear they swear by, and the trends they see coming next. Read more of our creator coverage or see more of this year’s Mashable 101 to discover the internet's most exciting voices.
Crystal Bell is the Culture Editor at Mashable. She oversees the site's coverage of the creator economy, digital spaces, and internet trends, focusing on how young people engage with others and themselves online. She is particularly interested in how social media platforms shape our online and offline identities.
She was formerly the entertainment director at MTV News, where she helped the brand expand its coverage of extremely online fan culture and K-pop across its platforms. You can find her work in Teen Vogue, PAPER, NYLON, ELLE, Glamour, NME, W, The FADER, and elsewhere on the internet.
She's exceptionally fluent in fandom and will gladly make you a K-pop playlist and/or provide anime recommendations upon request. Crystal lives in New York City with her two black cats, Howl and Sophie.
