William E. Pearson is the co-founder of mental_floss, a bi-monthly magazine, which he started with Mangesh Hattikudur when both were students at Duke University. Pearson graduated from Duke in 2001, with a Bachelor of Arts degree.Describing himself, Pearson noted his penchant for eating two M&M's at the same time, on different sides of the mouth, "making both sides of the mouth equally happy".[1] Will Pearson and Mangesh Hattikudur met as freshmen at Duke University and in their senior year parlayed their cafeteria conversations into the first issue of mental_floss magazine.[2] In addition to the magazine, a board game, a weekly CNN Headline News segment and a daily updated website, the two have collaborated on seven mental_floss books. Pearson and Hattikidur were named one of thirty promising 2007 entrepreneurs in business magazine Inc..[3]