In the fall of 2013, during my first quarter at UC Santa Barbara, my life took an unexpected turn. A skateboarding accident left me with a fractured skull and a mild traumatic brain injury. Along with persistent ringing in my right, I temporarily lost my sense of smell. At the time, I didn't know if it would ever return. I spent months recovering at home in San Jose, dealing with headaches, irritability, and the disorienting stillness that comes from having your plans abruptly paused. I remember thinking, in the middle of that uncertainty, that if the universe had placed me here for a reason, I hoped it would eventually make sense.

During those months recovering, I filled the time by watching movies. One evening, I watched the movie Now You See Me, and saw Jesse Eisenberg's character perform a card trick: the Snap Change. It looked interesting enough for me to want to learn it. I went to YouTube, searched for a tutorial, and was eventually able to learn how to do it! Learning that one trick became a small but meaningful moment. I showed it to friends over FaceTime, to my parents at home, and later to anyone who would watch once I returned to campus. After a pretty emotionally difficult recovery period, I finally felt a sense of momentum again.

Showing my friends and strangers this one card I knew how to do was so fun, and I fell in love with the rush that I got when I was able to pull it off well; however, the problem was that this is the only trick I really knew how to do, and eventually, people started to figure out how it was done. So naturally, I wanted to learn more. Over the next three years, I steadily built my skills, one shuffle and sleight at a time. By the summer of 2016, just before my final year at UCSB, I felt confident enough to call myself a magician (before that I was just a guy that knew a few card tricks). I began performing at on-campus student org events and even got my first paid gig at my friend's son's birthday party!

About a year after I graduated college, I met a fellow magician through my swim club who happened to be a member of the Magic Castle in Hollywood. He encouraged me to audition after seeing what I could already do with a deck of cards. I visted Joe Pon at Misdirections Magic Shop in San Francisco, who sold me a copy of Michael Ammar's "Easy to Master Card Miracles" DVD set. From there I learned a routine called Jazz Aces, which turned into my main audition piece.

The night of the audition, me and 3 others presented our magic to about 5 current magician members of the Academy of Magical Arts. When they called back back into the audition room, they told me I would be the only one they were recommending for magician membership that night. Since then, I've had the honor of headlining the Close-Up Gallery multiple times, a venue often regarded as the Carnegie Hall of close-up magic. Since then, my love of magic has only grown, placing me in rooms I never imagined I'd enter and connecting me with people I never would have met otherwise.

Today, magic is far more than a skill or a side hustle. It's my deepest artistic expression and a lens through which I understand growth, learning, and human connection. It has taught me the value of consistent practice and the beauty of mistakes. I've carried those lessons into every part of my life, including my work with students and communities. What began as a coping mechanism during a difficult recovery became a lifelong craft, clear sense of purpose, and a vehicle for how I choose to interact with the world.