Sitting at his desk, Tyler Gibgot opened his laptop and logged onto Omegle, a video chat site allowing users to be randomly paired with other users of the platform. The high schooler then began performing magic.

After a while, he encountered a teenage boy with his parents. The situation was tense; the parents were arguing and shooting each other “nasty looks,” said Gibgot, a senior majoring in cognitive science. However, by the end of his magic performance, the mother was in tears and the father was moved, he said.

Gibgot said the father mentioned how, for the first time in months, the entire family was in the same room with smiles on their faces. Gibgot said he still remains in touch with the family, and this moment reminded him that magic “goes so much beyond the tricks.”

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Today, Gibgot is president of the USC Magic Association and a legally blind magician who shares his love for magic, storytelling and public speaking with the world.

To not only spread his passion for magic but also to make magic more accessible, Gibgot pursued a mentorship in London with a professor who aimed to bring the joy of magic to the blind community. In his junior year, Gibgot led a class on magic and Greek culture during a year abroad in Athens as a student teacher.

Most recently, in late 2024, Gibgot traveled to Las Vegas to present an academic paper he co-authored alongside three professors on auditory magic tricks for a blind audience at a conference of over 100 professors. The paper was published in Trends In Cognitive Sciences in early November last year.

“I felt like that’s why my eyes were a gift to me. They always pushed me to work harder at everything I did,” Gibgot said. “Because my eyes could never see the world the same as everybody else’s, I’ve always sought out that feeling of magic within myself. That’s why I see it as my ultimate mission in life to be able to invoke magic, that feeling and experience, in everybody that I meet.”

Gibgot was born with aniridia, which makes his surroundings appear excessively bright at all times. As a result, Gibgot said he learned to navigate the world with his other senses, mainly relying on his hearing and touch.

In academic and social settings, Gibgot devised workarounds to accommodate his vision impairment. In the classroom, he used his phone as a magnifying tool to read the words on the board, and at parties, he depended on his hearing and touch for interpersonal communication. Despite describing his eyesight as a “challenge” growing up, Gibgot said it also became a “strength.”

“By the time I got to high school, [I realized] I didn’t see the world any worse — I only saw it differently,” Gibgot said. “Because of my lack of sight, I had something a lot deeper. I had a deep sense of empathy and understanding for people, almost like a sixth sense, because I’m able to communicate with people beyond sight, with emotion, with understanding and with compassion.”

During the coronavirus pandemic, Gibgot’s passion for magic was ignited when he picked up a deck of cards lying around in his home. Gibgot started performing for friends and family and, fascinated by their reactions, expanded his audience by bringing his talent online.

“When I discovered magic, I realized that for the first time in my life, I had found something that allowed me to see things that other people couldn’t see,” Gibgot said. “I was able to see the little mechanics behind the trick, but other people were dumbfounded by it. They felt such curiosity and wonderment by it, and it was never about deceiving people or being able to do things people don’t understand, I just loved to put a smile on people’s faces.”

In his freshman year of college, Gibgot joined USC’s Magic Association, when it only had a few members. Gibgot expanded the association’s online presence by creating and managing its Instagram page, growing it to over 500 followers and nearly 60 members.

The audience of the USC Magic Association’s performances was not the only ones shocked by the end of Gibgot’s performances, as he also left a strong impression on members of the student organization.

“He doesn’t see [his condition] as a disability,” said Nelson Lee, a former USC Magic Association member and USC alum. “He sees it as his superpower [and] doesn’t care about the limitations placed on him … Spending time with him has really changed my perspective on approaching not just magic, but everything in general.”

When he’s not performing magic, Gibgot shares his passion for public speaking. Rook Campbell, who taught Gibgot’s public speaking course in 2024, said Gibgot is a “curious learner” with “so many skill sets.”

Campbell, a clinical assistant professor of communication, said Gibgot delivered a particularly impactful toast to his mother for an assignment he had previously missed due to undergoing and recovering from artificial iris implant surgery.

“It was so sweet and vulnerable, well crafted, and powerful,” Campbell said. “He’s able to angle into a million different deep, philosophical, playful or joyful kinds of topics with gravity — and magic, somehow, is a part of all of it. It’s awesome.”

As he prepares to graduate from USC, Gibgot said he aims to continue his mission to “help others see their personal challenges as opportunities for growth.”

“[These experiences] reinforced my passion and love for connecting with large audiences [and] sharing my story with the world,” Gibgot said. “If there’s one thing I see myself doing, it’s standing up in front of as many people as possible — hundreds or thousands or even hundreds of thousands — and hopefully, using my wisdom, and using my experiences, to create positive change in the world.”