Valdeen Shears-Neptune
A curious mind and persistence from the age of nine are what saw Jevon James go from being just fascinated with the workings of magnets to becoming a local, popular street and Youtube magician.
Known by his followers as Perspective, The Entertainer, James can be seen on the online channel performing his "tricks" and even catching the full attention of his audience as he performs a particularly enlightening spoken word piece called Misdirection.
From turning people's $1 bill into $100 bills, to transforming them into a large marble-like ball, Perspective captures and holds whichever audience he engages.
He exudes confidence, whether he is sporting corn rows or a '70s Afro, and would be the first to tell you that his uniqueness comes from his interaction with the audience and the ability to make them feel like part of the mystery.
Where did it all start, though?
"I was always amazed, fascinated and intrigued by mysteries and I love to gain knowledge on things which peak my interest. As a child I never planned on being a magician, yet I would sit for hours just admiring and analysing the operations of magnets and how it would attract certain objects without any seen explanation.
I remember this one time in my adolescent years I went into a store to buy toys and I saw a flat magical device in which you can place three coins and there were three holes at the top of the device and three at the bottom and the pencil would appear to penetrate those three coins and exit the bottom and that peaked my interest, and as I grew older I did my research into how magicians did the seemingly impossible and I began to understand," he explained to Sunday Guardian recently.
A former student of the Morvant Laventille Secondary School, James said his teenage years would not immediately see him become the magician he is today. Rather he would pick up a variety of jobs including packing the shelves of groceries and being a security officer.
However, not one to settle and being spiritually grounded, James went on to pursue a Bachelor's in Theology at the University of the Southern Caribbean.
Growing up in Morvant, where he still resides, he said motivated him to always excel at whatever he attempted. Giving his age simply as "twenty-something", James said he was bent on erasing the stigma of stereotyping that usually goes hand in hand with addresses deemed "crime hot spots."He decided then to absorb as much information about the hows and whys of magic and magicians as he could.
So began his journey.Several years ago, a close-up DVD by magician David Blaine peaked his curiosity even more.James said, he began slowing down Blaine's videos to see if he could figure out some of his antics.
"I did figure some out," he said.
This would be the catalyst to spur him on to offering the public his own act.His first audience, he said, was his parents and older brother and young sister.
This, though, soon went from being just family and close friends to fascinated school children, spectators and passersby on the nation's streets. James also caters to private events, such as birthdays, executive and corporate functions.
Was he always this confident?
While he has never performed on a "big stage" James said his audiences have progressively grown through the years. He admitted going from a nervous performer to a confident entertainer.
In fact, he shared with the Sunday Guardian his most embarrassing moment as performer, when his very first performance before a crowd, a trick, refused to co-operate.
"The first time I performed before a crowd, I was supposed to make my shoe lace tie together by just shaking my feet but I shook and shook yet to the audience's amusement my shoe lace laid still on the floor. For me it was embarrassing, to them comical and I was able to make it look like part of the act. For aspiring performers or whatever field you endeavour to enter into, take these few simple words of advice, 'Be focused, persistent, consistent and always be diligent in all that you do and you will reach before kings'," he urged.
He hasn't yet made it to being "before kings" but his videos did spark an interest at the local television channel, Synergy TV, and he was featured on its Breaking Dawn programme.
James fascinated the television presenter, as he made a small plastic ball disappear from inside the presenter's hand into a box, that he had minutes before examined and deemed empty.
When his second trick showed that he could use "magic dust" to transform the presenter's money to a greater value than what he had given, the public was told that he would certainly be asked back on the show.
"It's the priceless reaction on people's faces that does it for me, that gives me encouragement to continue and to keep putting smiles on the faces of others, even random strangers," he added.
And when he's not up to his old "tricks," James is using his musical abilities as a singer, and guitarist to lighten the hearts of the sick at the nation's hospitals.
With his usual trademark air of confidence and winning smile, James noted that T&T and the world should certainly expect to see and hear more from and about Perspective, The Entertainer.