Mentalist superstar, motivational speaker, corporate entertainer, and entrepreneur Gerard Senehi is an amazing person to be around, any way you slice it. Recognized internationally as “The Experimentalist,” he is also difficult to define. He defies all categories, evoking mystery and inspiring audiences to be curious about what they can see and don’t know. In addition, he is the Founder of The Open Future Institute: The QUESTion Project—a non-profit organization founded to expand the role of education.
Gerard creates a captivating environment where audience members can reimagine their ideas of what’s achievable while challenging them to explore possibilities beyond imagined boundaries. For example, Senehi first became inspired by unseen possibilities at 10 when his friends drew cards from a deck, and he could correctly predict three in a row.
MAGIC & MENTALISM
Born in Paris and raised in Switzerland, he became even more enamored with the mysteries of the unknown not long after when his mother had a dream one night about a friend of hers accidentally catching herself on fire that then actually occurred. Already fluent in two languages and proficient in two more by the time he came to the United States at 12, Senehi spent hours in his bedroom exploring magic and mentalism and “becoming fascinated with the things I couldn’t understand.”
As a student at Amherst College in Massachusetts, he continued entertaining his classmates with impossible feats. However, he only considered performing professionally in the early 2000s, following a career as a science, art teacher, and social worker. Then, while doing nonprofit work, friends persuaded him to try show business. He began by calling a local New York talent agency which immediately took him on as a client after seeing his act.
Since then, he has been featured on numerous television programs nationally and internationally, including The Today Show and Ellen. New York Magazine once referred to Senehi’s performances as “some sort of religious experience from the sixteenth century,” He has performed privately for everyone from former President Bill Clinton and legendary TV producer Norman Lear.
Many clients in the corporate world also quickly took notice, and he is often invited as the keynote presenter for conferences. They often comment on the near-impossible challenge of surpassing one of Senehi’s performances for future events. Deutsche Bank once said: “You were the most talked about presenter of our entire conference—and we had some of the most renowned thinkers in the world.”
DEDICATED TO EDUCATION
He founded the Open Future Institute and the QUESTion Project with his wife in 2014. He is dedicated to expanding the role of education to teach a new curriculum that helps high school students define who they are and approach their life and future with inspiration and purpose. The QUESTion Class is taught in public high schools in New York City and has reached over 12,000 students. Gerard graduated from Amherst College and received a Master of Education from the University of Massachusetts. He lives in New York City with his wife, Francesca. He regularly convenes a cross-section of the city’s brightest minds in “Evolutionary Salons” to explore human purpose and potential questions.
For more information on Gerard Senehi, visit experimentalist.com; for Open Future Institute, visit openfutureinstitute.org