The Insider | Gaia Elisa Rossi

Gaia started performing magic at the age of thirteen — and won the Italian Magic Championship that same year. She went on to become the only woman in history to hold that title, and has since competed as a finalist at the World Magic Championships.

But what makes her truly unusual is what she does off the stage. She holds a degree in psychology, is training as a clinical psychologist, and has taken magic into prisons as a tool for reform. She's spoken at TEDx Milano Women, written for magic publications, and built a practice that treats illusion as a branch of human science.

She performs and speaks in Italian, English, and French, and she grew up watching her parents rehearse magic in their living room — which, honestly, explains a lot.

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