So… Where the Hell Have I Been?
Hello. Remember me?
Apparently the last time I properly updated this website, dinosaurs still roamed Orchard Road and Instagram photos were square. So, yes. It has been A WHILE.
For anyone who wandered onto NingThing.com wondering whatever happened to Magic Babe Ning — I didn’t vanish in a puff of smoke. Although, professionally speaking, that would have been very on-brand.
I retired from being a stage illusionist/ escape artist. Then I moved to the UK for my postgrad studies. Then there was the unexpected move to Switzerland. Then I became a mum. Then there was a pandemic. Then life did approximately 947 other things. And now, after eight years away, I am finally back home in Singapore… And — plot twist — I’m doing magic again.
Wait. You lived in Switzerland?!
I did! In 2018, I received the Arts Scholarship from the National Arts Council and packed up my Singapore life for Europe. What was originally one chapter somehow became eight years away, including six years living in the French speaking part of Switzerland. And that certainly was… an experience. I became a mum there. My son Skye was born in Lausanne, and suddenly this woman who once voluntarily got chained up, set things on fire and escaped from ridiculously dangerous contraptions for a living was responsible for keeping an actual tiny human alive. Terrifying AF.
Somewhere along the way, I also went from performing on stages to becoming that mum at school.
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This was during Thanksgiving where we fed ALL the students and the school staff that day!
Singapore represent! Yes, we were the Singaporean family there, so we had to make sure we set a good example and made our nation proud!
From straitjackets and stage illusions to the PTA Executive Committee. 😂 My wonderful International School of Lausanne crew, where I somehow found myself elected to the ExCo and serving as Head of Communications. Switzerland really did give me a whole other life. ❤️
One of my favourite PTA adventures: helping plan and organise the annual International Day at ISL, celebrating the wonderfully ridiculous number of nationalities in our school community. Spot the Singaporean in front who decided normal clothes simply would not do 🇸🇬✈️😂 Yes, I wore an SQ uniform. Obviously.
I was elected onto the PTA Executive Committee at the International School of Lausanne (ISL), where I served as the Communications Coordinator — a sentence that still makes me laugh slightly when I remember that my previous professional life involved straitjackets, grand illusions and considerably more sequins. I also somehow became the school’s resident magician/musician whenever the occasion called for it, because apparently you can take the magician out of showbusiness, but you cannot stop her from volunteering to entertain a room full of children, young adults, and fun loving grown-ups.
And honestly? I loved it.
We built a life there. I made some truly wonderful friends from all over the world. I learnt what it was like to raise a child far away from home and became a version of myself I probably never would have met if I’d stayed in Singapore. I also wrote. A lot. Stepping away from performing gave me space to explore another part of myself that had always been there: the storyteller.
Switzerland gave our family beautiful memories, extraordinary friendships and a completely different rhythm of life. It also confirmed that I am categorically not designed for winter.
And then… Singapore.
After eight years in Europe, we packed up our lives and came home this summer.
Yes, HOME home.
Heat. Humidity. Hawker food. Family. Friends I’ve known forever. Singlish all around me again. The glorious ability to leave the house without first putting seventeen layers of clothing on a child.
And apparently, eight years is a perfectly reasonable incubation period for a podcast.
Coming home also meant picking up conversations that had been left on pause for a very, very long time.
Like the one with my dear friend Soo Wei.
Years ago — before I even left for Europe — the two of us had talked about creating something together. We had ideas. We had enthusiasm. We probably had snacks. What we did not have was timing.
Then I moved halfway across the world, life happened VERY LOUDLY, and our little project sat patiently on the back burner for approximately eight years.
So naturally, the moment I came home, we finally did it.
We started a podcast.
Because apparently what the internet was desperately missing was two women who have known each other for years being given microphones and absolutely no adult supervision.
We talk about life, creativity, motherhood, friendship, the strange places our respective journeys have taken us — and, in one episode, I finally sat down and talked properly about my years in Switzerland for the first time.
The things I loved. The things that went spectacularly sideways. The friendships. The PTA years. Raising Skye there. My car getting broken into. Being the resident magician/musician at his school. And all the other stories that never made. And something unexpected happened after I got back…
I started missing magic.
Not necessarily the old version of it. As you know, I spent years as Magic Babe Ning doing grand stage illusions, crazy escape feats, smashing world records and performances where the objective occasionally seemed to be: How close can Ning get to dying before someone stops her?
I loved her.
Magic Babe was fearless, ridiculous and fabulous. But I’m not trying to recreate her. I’m a millennial at her peak. I’m a proud boy mum. I’m an author and a storyteller. I’ve lived another entire lifetime since I last performed gigs regularly on stage on cruise ships. And when opportunities to perform started appearing again after I returned to Singapore… I said yes.
And just like that… she’s back.
Back doing what I love — close-up magic for OQ Trading at Temper, Singapore. September 2026
Last week, I found myself dressed in red, standing in a room at Temper in Singapore, performing close-up magic for the lovely people at OQ Trading. My first corporate close-up engagement since coming home. And I had one of those strange little out-of-body moments where part of my brain went:
Oh. I remember this.
Not just the mechanics of the magic. The other bit. The part where someone leans closer because they absolutely NEED to know what you’re doing. The moment their expression changes. The laughter. The accusations of witchcraft. The requests for 4D and Toto lottery numbers. The person who immediately drags their friend over with, “YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS.” That delicious few seconds when a group of grown adults collectively forgets about emails, deadlines and whatever is waiting for them tomorrow because something impossible has apparently just happened right underneath their noses.
That moment when everybody leans in because something isn’t quite adding up…
I missed this.
And looking around that room, I realised something else. I don’t want to go backwards. I’m not resurrecting Magic Babe Ning circa 2008. This feels like a new chapter. The magic is closer now. More personal. More playful. There’s mentalism in the mix. There’s storytelling. There are fewer enormous boxes and considerably less chance of me requiring emergency services. Motherhood has changed me. Writing seven books has changed me. Living overseas for eight years has changed me. Growing older has definitely changed me.
But that slightly naughty part of my brain that delights in making people question reality? Yeah.
She’s doing just fine.
Magician exits. Spectator continues trying to work out what the hell just happened. My work here is done 😂
So yes. I’m officially out of magic retirement.
SURPRISE! 😂
I’m performing professionally again… close-up magic, mentalism and interactive experiences for corporate and private events, with stage work creeping back into the picture too.
But this time I’m bringing all the different versions of myself with me.
Magician. Mentalist. Storyteller.
I’m less interested these days in simply making somebody say, “How did you do that?”
I want to make people laugh. I want to make them curious. I want to create that tiny pocket of wonder where, just for a moment, the rules don’t seem to work anymore. And I want them to leave with a story worth telling.
THIS. This reaction is exactly why I came back ❤️
Because somewhere along the way, I realised that’s what magic means to me now.
Not tricks.
Meaning.
So here we are.
Experience Meaningful Magic.
And if you’re wondering what happens next… So am I 😂
There are already new gigs, collaborations, writing projects and other adventures bubbling away, but I’m not going to make any heroic promises about suddenly becoming a diligent blogger. We all know how that will end.
So if you’d actually like to keep up with the current Ning in the wild… magic, mentalism, books, motherhood, behind-the-scenes nonsense and whatever new rabbit hole I’ve fallen into that week… come find me on Instagram and Facebook.
If you knew me from the Magic Babe Ning days: hello again. ❤️
If you found me through my books: hello from the other side of my ADHD-C brain.
And if you’re discovering me for the first time… Hi. I’m Ning. Magician. Mentalist. Storyteller. I make people wonder.
And after eight years away, it feels really, really good to be home.
♥ Ning xx
Turns out you can take the girl out of magic for eight years… but good luck getting the magic out of the girl ❤️ Singapore, I’m home.
