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I like to interview people who have many different interests – Renaissance people, or, in the words of feminist marketing consultant Kelly Diels, “multipassionate makers.” My friend Tori Noquez could be the poster child for this type of person. I’ve known her since middle school, and I’ve watched her go from a music and science-obsessed kid to an accomplished magician and math professor – or in the words of the New York Times, a “math professor by day, conjurer by night.” We talked in this interview about how her two chosen disciplines interact in her life, and especially about how she achieves that coveted and often-discussed “balance.” I also learned that magic is a lot more similar to music than I thought (It requires practice! There are different types! Who knew?!), and that the struggle for diversity in the world of magic parallels the larger shifts happening in all areas of our culture.
Visit Tori’s website to learn more, or find her on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube!
- How Tori got interested in magic at age 22, and how being a “lifer student” helped to kick start her new passion (4:46)
- How her teaching experience helps her to perform as a magician (12:04)
- Why linear algebra is cool (17:31)
- Magic involves creating SCRIPTS?! I had no idea! How Tori comes up with her scripts, and what it was like creating one for her TV appearance on Penn and Teller’s show (18:25)
- How Tori practices magic, and the practice strategies necessary for the different types of magic (21:20)
- We discuss the landscape for women in magic, and Tori points out an additional barrier for women in the magic world that is not present in the STEM (science, technology, math, and engineering) world (29:10)
- Find out when Tori will perform magic tricks for her college students, and the impact her magic career has on her students’ perception of her in the classroom (36:49)
- Tori’s take on that age-old conflict between folks who exclusively dedicate themselves to their artistic pursuit and folks who have a day job (41:35)
- Her advice for anyone who wants to get into magic as an adult (45:42)
- The best advice she ever received as a multipassionate maker (48:16)