Our Birthday Party - Seven Moments That Made the Night 

November 7th, something magical happened in London. Not just rabbits in hats – though there was plenty of that too (teaser!) – but the deeper kind. The kind that happens when a community gathers to celebrate not just what they've built, but who they've become together.

Abracademy's 10th anniversary party was one of a few gatherings in our "10 Years of Wonder" celebrations, and as the evening unfolded, seven moments stood out. Each one told a story about our journey from teaching card tricks to kids, to unleashing the magic in some of the world's leading organisations.

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1. The People

Clients, collaborators, friends, family, believers, partners. As Rubens put it, "It felt like walking through time."

Every chapter of Abracademy's story was in that room. The early believers who saw potential in an off-piste idea. The first corporate client who took a chance on magic as learning. The partners from Freeformers to HSBC who trusted us with their people. The team at MURAL who co-created our first major virtual offsite during lockdown when the world had stopped gathering.

Looking around the room, you could see it: we didn't just grow a business. We grew a community of people who believe in wonder, possibility, and the untapped magic in every human being.

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2. The Panel Stories

Jenny Theolin gracefully hosted our founders on stage, and the stories tumbled out. How we came to be – Rubens meeting Alex and dreaming of a magic school, Rubens sharing the idea with Katy and Katy saying 'I'm in', and later bringing in Priya's expertise to build our corporate offer. Our first tentative corporate session. That pivotal HSBC project that showed us what was possible when you partner with the right people. The MURAL virtual gathering during COVID that proved wonder doesn't need a physical space.

"Between laughter and clinking glasses, stories surfaced – of experiments, bold moments and mistakes turned into learning," Rubens reflected later. These weren't polished case studies. They were real moments of uncertainty, courage, and discovery.

What became clear: our core has never changed. We've always been about unleashing the magic of people. But magic, we've discovered, is bigger than tricks. It's wonder that opens minds. Belief that shifts what's possible. Serendipity that sparks connection. We still teach magic – we always will – but now we explore its many dimensions: the neuroscience of awe, the psychology of possibility, the art of noticing what could be. We help people rediscover the magic that's already in them.

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3. The Openness

Everyone arrived curious and ready to connect. Clients met Magilitators. Magilitators met board members. Board members met collaborators. The room buzzed with genuine curiosity.

This wasn't networking. This was space for real connection – something Abracademy has been doing for a decade, just at larger scale now. From one-off workshops to long-term programmes with major companies, the principle remains: magic happens in the spaces between people.

"The room buzzed with possibility – pure cross-pollination magic," Rubens noted. It's what we create for our clients. It's what we created for ourselves that night.

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4. The Travelled Visitors

Some people flew in just for the party. From the Netherlands. From Sweden. From Germany.

Katy captured it beautifully: "People who've shaped this journey, choosing to celebrate with us. Because they wanted to."

In ten years, we've moved from hoping clients would give us a chance to having a community that shows up across continents. Not because they have to. Because something we've built together matters to them.

That's the real measure of success.

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5. The Love and Care

Sparkling welcome drinks. Tote bags in multiple colours. Little pins to take home. Handwritten thank you notes for each guest. Jenny surprising the team with DANG ribbons—"a small symbol of something big."

"Every detail whispered: you matter," said Rubens. Huge thanks to Alisha Ullal and Karen Chong for the invisible work that made everything feel effortless.

This attention to detail isn't new. It's how we've always approached our work – whether it's a two-hour workshop or a year-long transformation programme. The care shows. People feel it.

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6. The Performers

Sonia Benito's breathtaking magic. Alexander Pittas and Tobias Grünfelder enchanting small circles all evening. These weren't entertainment add-ons. They were reminders of why we do what we do.

Wonder isn't a nice-to-have. It's a doorway. To curiosity. To possibility. To seeing what could be rather than what is. We've spent ten years exploring the science behind this – the neuroscience of awe, the psychology of belief, the conditions that make possibility visible.

But sometimes, you just need to watch a magician and remember: the world is more amazing than we usually allow ourselves to notice.

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7. The Cake

Hidden behind a mysterious black box. Then a white rabbit appeared. Then gorgeous cake.

"The perfect finale," Rubens said. But also the perfect metaphor: we've never lost our sense of play, even as we've grown into partnerships with major organisations. We've stayed curious even as we've gotten more sophisticated.

We still believe in rabbits and cake and mystery boxes. We just also believe in longitudinal studies and organisational transformation and sustainable behaviour change.

Both/and, not either/or.

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What's Next: Wonder Continues

As Katy reflected: "I find it hard in the day-to-day to see what we've built, but in these moments I get to witness it."

Friday night was WONDERful (as Debora put it), magical in true Abracademy style (Naomi), and absolutely awesome (Dina). But it was just the beginning of our celebrations.

If you couldn't join us in London, we'd love you to join us online on 3rd December for the next chapter of our 10 Years of Wonder. Sign up now.

To everyone who's been part of this journey: thank you. Here's to the next ten years of unleashing magic, one person at a time.

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Photography by Adam Kang

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