We had the good fortune of connecting with Maritess Zurbano Cathleen Abalos and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Maritess Zurbano, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
From Maritess Zurbano: As a Filipino-American young woman who learned magic in Las Vegas and in the tradition of white-male dominated magic field, I wanted to excel. So in addition to learning theater magic, I studied the occult and established a successful fortune-telling business. I started reading cards at Las Vegas conventions and corporate events, had some fancy clients, celebrities, politicians, and years later, became a master psychic in NYC phone lines. But it was disheartening to read tarot cards with predominanty light-skinned characters. I wanted the future to belong to everyone, of all skin colors, genders, and abilities. This is what fueled my dream to create a forward-thinking deck of tarot cards, that was intersectional, inclusive, and full of love and fun. I met the illustrator Cathleen Abalos when I commissioned her to illustrate my graphic novel. Her work is atmospheric, fanciful and light. The exact opposite of traditional tarot cards that were full of gloom and doom and frightening images. Cathleen is an absolute joyful collaborator, a social justice warrior, and one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life. I asked her to take a chance and collaborate with me in creating the Decolonized Tarot card deck and book. I felt confident in sharing a business with her, knowing that she has a great sense of humor and has the patience and creativity to withstand and thrive within the ups and downs of starting a new business.

From Cathleen Abalos:
Originally, my business started from trying to pick up other forms of income. I was teaching drawing and sculpting part-time to elementary students and I was also exhibiting my artwork at galleries and other art events. One of the events allowed me to also sell my art, and after that experience, I began to look for other art events to sell my art. I eventually moved to selling at comic conventions and art festivals. When the pandemic happened, I transitioned to being an artist full-time. That was around the time I met Maritess. I worked with her on her graphic novel, and then the Decolonized Tarot idea came from one of our zoom meetings.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
From my website: Maritess Zurbano has been known internationally as a master magician and hypnotist for decades. Zurbano has left her mark through her lectures and performances for colleagues and audiences across the U.S. and around the world. These include Las Vegas, New York, Berlin, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, and Japan.

Zurbano continues to perform in magic clubs across the United States and Europe which devastate even the most sophisticated and knowledgeable practitioners. Zurbano’s approach to mentalism is more psychological and “natural” than gimmicky, closer to “natural magic” than usual mentalism.

As one of the most accomplished female magicians/hypnotists/mentalists on the planet, she is often asked for her origin story. She began as a hobbyist at Chicago’s Magic Inc. and moved to Las Vegas to deal Blackjack at the Dunes Casino. This transitioned into a full-time career as a close-up magician. who has performed at most of the major casinos on the strip doing corporate magic events. Zurbano spent part of her career as the house strolling magician at Harrah’s Las Vegas and had her own illusion show at Hotel Hananoyu in Japan. This culminated in being nominated and competing at 2000 The World Championship of Magic in Lisbon, Portugal.
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AUTHOR
She is an outspoken advocate for women and people of color to break barriers in non-traditional fields. She uses the theme of magic to invite conversations about multiculturalism, gender, and colonization.
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ACCOLADES:
Zurbano is a Hedgebrook, VONA, and Jack Straw Fellow. She served as artist-in-residence at both Harvestworks NYC and at The Asian American Arts Alliance. Zurbano has been published in several literary magazines and wrote Op-Eds for Ms. Magazine and the Seattle Times on magic. She has been interviewed and featured by Lifetime Television, BBC News, Epoch Times, New York Newsday, and The Village Voice. Her unique status as a prominent female magician informs her writing. Her one-woman show has been produced off-Broadway in New York at Ars Nova, The NYC International Fringe Festival and in dramaturg collaboration with The Public Theater NYC. As a mentalist, she has worked as a master phone psychic in New York and internationally.

From Cathleen:
Cathleen is a visual development artist and illustrator in Los Angeles. She works in both digital and traditional media, specializing in background and character design, as well as comics and storyboarding. Her art style is a little bit whimsical, and she uses color and lighting to effectively portray the emotion of a piece. Her artwork is constantly inspired by moments in her life or by the world around her.

She has worked for clients such as Upper Deck / Marvel Comics, Visual Communications and the Los Angeles Pan Pacific Film Festival, Lethal Chicken Games, the city of Old Town Pasadena, Oh Rio! Productions, and the Ronald McDonald House Charities. Her artwork has been featured in the Torrance Art Museum, the San Diego Art Institute, and numerous galleries in the Southern California region. She also co-published the children’s book, “It’s Sandcastle Building Day”.

When she’s not working on projects, she is exhibiting her work at comic conventions throughout the country (some of which include San Diego Comic-Con, C2E2, Salt Lake City Comic Con, and New York Comic Con). Her work has also been exhibited in galleries and museums in the southern California region.

Some of Cathleen’s current projects include concept and character design work for the 2D animated film “What We’re Meant For”, a YA fantasy graphic novel based on a filipino magician, and the webcomic series “Herowood Boulevard”.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Whenever I perform at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, it’s always a glamorous time, I usually perform for a week. So far I’ve performed in the close-up room, and the parlor room. I’ve met and entertained several celebrities there. The restaurant is lovely and the bar is flowing. You need to know a member to gain entry, but in LA, you’re usually just one degree of separation from knowing a magician. I love hanging out at the Farmer’s Market, my friend’s family owns The Banana Leaf Singaporean food. I adore the Cambodian food that’s found in strip malls in Long Beach.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We want to do a shoutout to all our kickstarter supporters from 26 countries who helped us raise the capital to print, produce, and ship out these cards/books. We’re still fulfilling orders–which is very intense work. In that timeframe, I battled breast cancer for two years, and Cathleen gave birth to a premature child. The name of the deck, “Decolonized Tarot,” three years ago, was a controversial title, and people tried to discourage us from using the word, “decolonized,” as they felt it was devisive. It is decisive. That word attracts only people who are interested in social justice and love. So again, we want to send out all our love and gratitude to everyone around the world who believe in progress.

Website: DecolonizedTarot.com

Instagram: DecolonizedTarot

Linkedin: Maritess Zurbano

Other: TikTok: @DecolonizedTarot

Image Credits
Cathleen Abalos, Olli Tumelius, Peter Bean, Maritess Zurbano

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.