Kostya Kimlat is a Ukrainian-American magician, motivational speaker, entrepreneur, and business consultant who uses magic to help companies train employees. As a speaker, he helps groups understand the importance of perception in their daily lives through the art of magic and sleight of hand. In January 2006, he became the youngest magician to be featured in a Magic Magazinecover story centered upon his technical skills and early business success. In August 2015, Kimlat fooled the legendary magician duo Penn & Teller with an original card trick on their TV show, . The appearance was notable for the duo's extreme reaction of bewilderment, with Entertainment Weekly describing Kimlat as the series' "best fooler yet."
Early life
Kimlat was born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1983, and immigrated to Orlando, Florida with his parents, sister, and grandmother in 1992. His parents wanted a life away from Communism and the lingering effects of the Chernobyl disaster, and a life in which the family's Judaism would no longer be called into question. Both of his parents, Irina and Boris, had earned master's degrees in engineering in the Soviet Union. Boris had received two such degrees and held multiple engineering patents. According to Kimlat, "... that didn't matter when we got here. So they just started all over." Kimlat first became interested in magic when he was 12 years old from watching The World's Greatest Magic on television. At age 14, he was regularly working in restaurants and at private events as a sleight-of-hand magician. By age 18, after graduating Winter Park High School, Kimlat had written his first book of magic and toured the United States lecturing to other magicians. He attended the University of Central Florida, where he studied philosophy, psychology, and literature. Kimlat graduated with an honors degree, after completing a thesis on the connection between philosophy and magic.
Business Highlights
Kimlat is the CEO of Event Magic International LLC, including sub-brands , Restaurant Magic Business, and .
Businesses
Keynote Speaking
Kimlat travels the country delivering corporate and sales trainings and keynotes of his trademarked Think Like A Magician™ presentation, which combines his magic talents with business-focused presentations.
"The biggest lesson for businesses, or really, for anybody, is that you have the ability to influence people's perception with your language, the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you present yourself," Kimlat said. "Everything we do creates perception. In order to avoid miscommunication and misperceptions, we have to be able to see things from our audience's point of view, whether that audience is a client, a customer, a patient, a child, or a spouse."
See Magic Live
Based in Orlando, Florida, See Magic Live is a company of magicians that performs for corporate events, non-profit galas, trade shows, and private celebrations throughout the country. They perform regularly for fans at Orlando Magic NBA games.
Restaurant Magic Business
Restaurant Magic Business places performing magicians in restaurants, consults restaurant operators, and also trained staff on customer service.
Book
Think Like a Magician is the title of Kimlat's best-known keynote presentation and forthcoming book. Kimlat helps businesses drive relationship-based growth by using the lessons of magic to see things from another person's perspective.
Television Appearances
Kimlat appeared on Season 2 of on The CW Network and fooled Penn & Teller. On the episode, Kimlat performed a card trick using an original method, which involved shuffling a deck face-up-into-face-down, and then making all of the cards instantly face the same direction, except for Penn & Teller's selected cards. Penn, failing to understand how the trick worked, reacted with mock anger, lifting his stool over his head and throwing cards in Kimlat's face, while Teller reacted with delight, emitting audible giggles. Penn highlighted Kimlat's performance on his podcast, Penn's Sunday School:
We did that exact trick on The Today Show. Teller and I know every method of doing that trick. We know it inside out. That was kind of 'oh well, that trick you did on The Today Show? I'm now gonna show you how it's done.' When Teller saw his name pop on the introduction... I saw Teller just go, 'we've lost.' You know he's just that good. And when I finally found out how he did it, I was so much more amazed. I wanted to run up and tell people, 'do you know that he actually did this?' It's mind-blowing.
Kimlat returned to Penn & Teller: Fool Us in 2018. This time, he performed an effect in which he "dribbled," or cascaded a deck of cards from his hand down to the table. From the middle of the falling deck, he plucked out Penn's chosen card. The duo correctly guessed that Kimlat was not, in fact, performing a "trick," but displaying a talent of skill. Penn said, "We don't think there was a trick. We think you actually did what you actually said you were going to do." In reference to not fooling Penn & Teller the second time, Kimlat said:
It was a huge compliment. I selected this trick, knowing that if they figured it out, they would essentially be acknowledging to the world the time and effort that went into it. This was the rare opportunity to have the method be acknowledged publicly and serve a greater purpose—to showcase to the public the work that goes into perfecting a magic effect.
After the "bust" Penn & Teller left their seats to shake Kimlat's hand on stage, an honor typically reserved for those magicians who fool them. While walking back to their judge seats, Penn told the audience, "He's better than you think, I'm telling you that."
Community Involvement
Kimlat's team of See Magic Live magicians regularly perform at Orlando-area non-profit fundraisers. His team also has taught magic summer camps and classes for the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Downtown Orlando.
