Magic Celebrity, Super-Star David Copperfield’s magic is so artistic, creative and innovative he has inspired and changed the way magicians perform their illusions. In this Magical Women Extra Special series David Copperfield co-hosts a magic panel talk and sequels which includes star magicians Carisa Hendrix, Dania Diaz, Josephine Lee & Billy Kidd.
David discusses and shares his career struggles and successes with the panel. He delves into the importance of creating original material in these rare, exclusive Magical Woman with Connie Boyd Panel Talks. David was described by Forbes as “the most commercially successful magician in history.”
His television specials have been nominated for thirty-eight Emmy Awards and they have won twenty-one. David is best known for his presentation of grand illusion with a scripted story theme. His career spans over forty years and he has an on-going contract at the MGM Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
He has earned eleven Guinness World Records and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has been named a “Living Legend” by the US Library of Congress. It is a great honor and privilege that David reached out to Magical Women to co-host these important panel talks.
Magical Woman Lea Kyle is Quickly Changing How the World Sees Magic
Magical Women’s “Winners Circle” featured magician, Léa Kyle, became a viral sensation on Tuesday June 29th, 2021 when her Quick-Change Magic audition-act performance, on America’s Got Talent, received the Golden Buzzer from fashion icon Heidi Klum.
What makes this feat even more spectacular is the fact that the French Female Magician designs and creates all her own original wardrobe looks.
“I am so excited to meet Heidi Klum because she is the Queen of Fashion,” stated Léa before winning the overwhelming, prestigious award from her idol. Léa is the first female magician on AGT to win such a high honor and to move forward to the final rounds.
Winning is no surprise to Léa. Last year she won a Penn & Teller Fool Us award for her astounding, new versions of fashion magic. Penn Jillette stated, “this is not a quick-change act this is a magic act” and it fooled them.
Last month, Léa placed second in the European FISM, World Championships Qualifying Competition in Manresa, Spain. With this win she will compete at the World Championships in Quebec next summer. She is the French Champion of Magic, she’s appeared in the Mandrake d’Or and with great success on France’s got Talent.
Léa attributes her quick rise in the entertainment industry to her partner Florian Sainvet, a 2018 FISM winner in manipulation. Together they have created exciting new magic methods for visual transformations that happen without cover and boggle the eye and mind.
Léa is beautiful, talented, hard-working and determined. She has all the attributes to become a huge magic sensation and thanks to her AGT exposure she is most definitely a quick rising star.
We wait impatiently to see what she will execute in her next performances and what new surprises she has up her sleeve.
Helen Coghlan is remarkable and magical. She’s followed in her father’s footsteps to become a leading escapologist and magician. She holds the honor of being the first woman in the world to successfully survive the Houdini Water Torture Escape in a televised broadcast viewed nationally in Australia.
In 2018 Helen appeared on Season 5 of Penn & Teller, Fool Us & with that performance Helen Fooled Penn & Teller. A year later it’s 2019 and season 6; Helen is back in Las Vegas filming for a second time a magic segment, this time it’s an escape & once again she fools Penn & Teller.
Now we are in 2020 just before the pandemic & Helen is back in Las Vegas for a third time with another escape; this time from a secured metal box built and inspected by Penn & Teller.
With that magic effect Helen made history, to be the first magician to Fool Penn & Teller a record THREE times.
Magical Women’s You Tube Channel and the “Winners Circle” series, is thrilled to include the unstoppable Helen Coghlan onto our channel and series.
Dania Diaz’s life changed forever one night in 2018 after she appeared on Spain’s Got Talent. She performed a magic number that told the story of her own personal journey and struggles with magic and cards. Her ability to connect with the audience and break through a virtual barrier, touching people in their homes was magical. Her magic added meaning to her words and her words added meaning to her magic. She was an instant success.
Dania says, “not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine getting the golden buzzer for my audition piece.” Dania’s magic went viral, from the minute her performance on Spain’s Got Talent aired. Everything blew up overnight and she was not prepared for the skyrocket to almost instant stardom.
“I think that my story connected with so many people that they remembered me” Dania says, although she had a difficult time grasping how a short three-minute spot on nationwide television could make such an impact and lasting impression.
Since she was a small child, her mother encouraged Dania’s poetry and story-telling abilities and Dania holds those precious memories close to her heart. When she decided to include those skills into her magic it immediately felt natural and “right.”
With that discovery of a new performance presentation, came her own unique style and brand which was distinctively different to others in the magic world. Her gamble was a huge success and Dania became a new magic phenomenon. Dania’s personal story resonated with the audiences and judges – it was sincere, humble and beautifully executed, skilled magic.
Dania received not one, but two “golden buzzers” for her performances on Spain’s Got Talent. The first was given by two of the four judges during her audition performance. The second was an even more prestigious honor as a four-judge group buzzer during the semi-finals was given, which is the highest recognition of respect and excellence on the program.
Dania says, “people love to connect with other people. Everyone has his or her own personal stories. As an artist I love to put myself out there and to share my experiences. If they can take something out of my journey and if I can motivate them, that’s the sensation I love to create with the audience; so that they too can feel empowered. I want them to think, if she did it, I can do it, anyone can.”
America’s Got Talent, the Champions in 2020.
“It was a high honor to be a Latin American woman and the first female magician to appear on AGT’s the Champions.” Dania’s concerns that her magic might not connect to American viewers were unfounded and after her first performance, the public voted for her to qualify for the semi-finals of the show.
“I felt like a diva on AGT’s, the Champions. I’d learned and gained confidence from my experiences on Spain’s Got Talent and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.”
Penn & Teller Fool Us WINNER 2021
In the midst of a pandemic Dania created a new magic act specifically for the Penn & Teller Fool Us show. The catalyst for her magic was an old legend “Red String of Destiny or Fate”. In Dania’s magic she tested a young couple’s relationship to be destined to be together. Giving the couple the option to choose one of many red strings extending from the sides of a heart shaped box and proving they were soul mates by choosing the only connected string. Her creativity and magic efforts were rewarded and she received a “Fool Us” award.
Dania states, “on both Penn & Teller and AGT the producers and staff were so supportive, helpful and professional.”
VANISH Int’l Magic Magazine featured Dania in July, 2021 as the cover and feature article. Dania has three different Magical Women, the “Winners Circle”, talks on our YouTube channel series. She’s also on the Magical Women VIP Star Panel Talk with magic superstar David Copperfield. Dania Diaz is most definitely a “Magical Woman” and we look forward to documenting her next successes.
Alexandra Duvivier is the daughter of beloved and respected French magician, Dominique Duvivier. Growing up in a magic household, Alexandra had “inside access” and full emersion to the elite in the magic community. However, that also came at a cost. Alexandra didn’t wish to fill her father’s shoes, but rather she wanted to design her own shoes. Choosing and leaning towards stylish stilettos and boots. She strove to create and perform magic that reflected her personally, to escape her father’s shadow and to establish herself as a professional magician with her own unique style, skills and performance.
She admits, “intensive exposure to all forms of magic from a young age gave me the opportunity to decide for myself what I personally enjoyed and what didn’t appeal to me. I did this unconsciously and it reflects my personal taste. I developed and built my own character, magic skills, preferences, artistic choices and knowledge to become a version of myself as an artist.”
In 2018 she performed a magic routine created by her father, for Penn & Teller’s Fool Us televised show, taped in Las Vegas for the CW network. Not only did she spellbind Penn & Teller, she fooled them becoming the first French female to win a Penn & Teller Fool Us award.
It was a game changer and over-night Alexandra gained global exposure and respect. Perhaps even more importantly that win gave her a giant boost of self-confidence. Penn Jillette comments after her performance sum it up beautifully, “Your style is just fabulous, so much charm and so much class.”
When I asked Alexandra what changed for her after the Penn & Teller win she explained,
“Everything changed, the Penn & Teller win was like a healing potion for me and it dramatically changed how I was viewed as a magician. Although I had been performing magic shows for decades thanks to the worldwide exposure I received from Penn and Teller opportunities and new possibilities immediately opened for me.”
Ding Yang is a promising Chinese magician whose stage-magic and dove performances have revolutionized the way magicians perform that style of magic.
Gone is the classical, masculine tuxedo and bulky jackets, instead Ding performs her impossible magic in a form-fitting, velvet cat-suit. Ding’s magic is mentored and coached by two FISM winners, Juliana Chen and Greg Frewin. With this outstanding team Ding’s future is very bright.
In fact, Ding has have taken the magic world by storm. Her new, innovative look combined with artistic performance choices which are unique to her specific talents and skill sets and make her magic so mesmerizing to watch.
In 2015 she won the highest honor in China winning the Golden Chrysanthemum Award and the Golden Award at the Shanghai International Competition, the same year. She has subsequently won prizes and appeared in prestigious magic shows in Europe. In 2019 she debuted her magic act in Las Vegas at Magic LIVE receiving standing ovation successes from appreciative American audiences.
Ding Yang’s remarkable magic was flagged by Magicana and in 2019 she was awarded the “International Rising Star” by the Allan Slaight Award Foundation.
In July 2021, Ding won the International Brotherhood of Magicians Adult Competition Award and the People’s Choice Award. As a result of these wins Ding will compete at FISM, the World Championships of Magic in Quebec, Canada in 2022. We watch with anticipation, to see what Ding’s next triumph will be.
The BBC World Service called Lisa Menna “the most influential female magician of the 20th century” and I completely agree with that statement.
Lisa is a highly skilled and respected magician with a fine wit and excellent comedic timing. She has proven time and time again talent, abilities, intelligence and humor can convert the toughest of audiences or peers to discover curiosity and wonder.
By age 11 she was a pro as Lisa Lollipop the Clown presenting birthday party magic shows that were the “go to” for local family entertainment. By age 18 she had performed over 2,000 shows and was a seasoned performer.
She was the first women ever to perform in each of the Magic Castles different rooms and she is admired as a pioneer in a male- dominated profession. She’s opened doors for women in magic and has set a very high standard AND she holds the honor of being the only woman to lecture twice at FISM.
Lisa was ranked the #1 corporate magician in the world and her clients include Fortune 500 corporations such as Apple, American Express and Intel, to name a few.
Her trade show work has been credited in the Wall Street Journal as stopping traffic and bringing 10 times as many sales leads as conventional booth displays.
Most entertainers would be satisfied with those remarkable successes, but Lisa being Lisa has taken it a leap further.
In 2011 she created Cause to Wonder, curiosity can magically reduce suffering . Cause to Wonder is a nonprofit charity who travels to places like Ethiopia, India, New Guinea & Mozambique to use magic and music to inspire change with mantra’s like “helping women brings good luck” and the “importance of fresh clean water.” Her magic and musical jingles plant new thoughts for the future it’s working. and her philanthropist work took her to the UN where she presented for the United Nations commissioner for human rights.
It is an honor and a pleasure include Lisa on our Magical Women interview series, her own intellectual property of life stories and experiences are truly remarkable.
Renée Claude Auclair didn’t want to be a magician as a child. Instead she wanted to be a world class diver on the Canadian National diving team and she trained and achieved that goal.
It was her husband Pierre Harmon who introduced Renee to magic in 2008 and it was her work ethic and competitive drive which attracted her to creating successful magic events, and a magic club in Quebec which allows Canadian magicians to compete internationally in the magic world.
Renée & Pierre are a strong partnering team. They’ve created and grown an annual magic festival in Quebec which will celebrate it’s 10th anniversary in 2021, more than 20,000 people attended the last festival and over 150 professional magicians from all over the globe have participated.
As of July, 2020 Renée became the president of the Canadian Association of Magicians, she also worked diligently to secure the next FISM convention which will be held for the first time in North America in 2022 in Montreal.
Renée is not a magician, but she does create magic and she is a magical woman. It was enlightening to talk to Renée to learn how she’s managed to achieve remarkable, unprecedented successes within magic organizations and committees.
Julie Eng appeared on-stage before she was born. Literally! Julie’s father was respected Canadian magician Tony Eng and magic was in her DNA and her family’s main source of livelihood from the start.
Julie loved to spend time with her father and she inherited his passion and love of magic. She has excellent performance, speaking and technical closeup magic skills all of which she credits her father.
Her magical life is truly unique, she is one of the most respected, cherished authorities in magic today. We are grateful to speak with Julie and that she managed to squeeze us into her very complex schedule where she wears multiple hats and excels at every task, she applies herself to. It’s a privilege to learn more firsthand about Julie’s journey, her astonishing accomplishments, her successes and her challenges as the executive director of Magicana.
Mistie Knight is a magical woman and she represents so many facets of magic she shines brightly. Living in Las Vegas and credited as a proven magic partner and leading female illusionist, this former Miss Las Vegas performs magic in her own distinctive way.
She’s articulate, effervescent, intelligent, musical, funny, beautiful & likeable. Along with her partner and husband Kyle she’s enjoyed success after success with magic and shows that are quality, proven entertainment.
Mistie wears many hats and is a consultant, a script writer, a manager, an agent, a magician and a wife. With boundless energy and focus she isn’t afraid of hard work and to do what it takes to make her magic and shows the best that they can be. Mistie and Kyle’s laser focus, creativity and talent account for their winning the grand prize on Wizard Wars.
Mistie’s Magical Women talk and sequels about her approach to magic, her strengths, her challenges and her relationship being married to magic and her husband are a delight.