Leadership Team
Shawn Cooper
Director of Sales / PartnerShawn Cooper has been working with Wizard Studios since 2007. After spending over two decades working in the Hospitality and Event Production Industry, Shawn knows how to truly deliver impactful, immersive, and engaging corporate and experiential events and experiences while integrating cutting-edge technology to increase event interactivity. Shawn believes that managing and exceeding client’s expectations is what makes him and his team at Wizard Studios successful and desirable.
Shawn holds a BA in Business/Corporate Communications from Quinnipiac University and has also completed 2 years of Leadership, Sales and Management training from Yale University.
Shawn has been volunteering as an EMT, Fire Fighter, and Water Rescue Officer since 2004, having received Fire Fighter of the Year and EMS Provider of the Year with multiple life-saving and heroic commendations.
Currently, Shawn lives on Long Island with his wife, Rachel, and son Bradley.
Matthew Saravay
founder
Matthew Saravay is the Founder of Wizard Studios NY and has vast experience in event production, theater and television production, branding, marketing, and sales in several industries.
In 2002 Matthew manifested Wizard Studios NY from an idea. He started with a laptop and a cell phone in the basement of his home. He turned Wizard Studios into a world-class event production company, with over 100 teammates, producing over 600 events annually.
Matthew’s work in Special Events has been recognized over the years through the many awards he has won for set design, logistics management, Social Media Engagement, and Sustainability. In 2011 Wizard Studios was named Best Corporate Event Planner by the NY Chapter of the International Special Events Society at its annual Big Apple Awards. In 2018 Mr. Saravay was inducted into the Hall of Legends of the International Live Events Association, NY Metro Chapter.
Matthew has served on the Board of Directors of the New York Chapter of the International Special Events Society from 2004 – 2010, and 2012-2016. His career includes stints as Advertising Manager of Brand Marketing Magazine; Marketing Manager for WABC-TV in New York; and Director of Business Development for Cendant Corporation.
Matthew currently lives in Katonah, NY with his wife Vicha and is the proud father of four sons.
Jamahl Gambler
Director of Talent acquisition and development
Jamahl Gambler joined the Wizard Team with a broad range of experience in Technology and Event Management. As Director of Talent Acquisition and Development, he leads our recruiting efforts by providing a values-focused approach to finding the best people to join our team. He also provides direction and leadership in training all team members in technical, professional and personal development.
Before joining Wizard Studios, Jamahl honed his interpersonal skills working in diverse industries for over 20 years, including Hospitality, Event Technology, IT, and Experiential AV integration. The common thread throughout was developing and maintaining solid relationships with the people; Clients, Staff, and Management.
Across his career, Jamahl has adhered to a people-first focus in managing teams. His years managing Events and Productions in the NYC hospitality industry have aligned him with a spirit to serve. Not only to ensure clients' expectations are met but also his team's. Encouraging each team member's technical and professional development, he created opportunities for many to advance their careers.
His years as Senior Account Manager for a Global IT and an Experiential AV Integrator helped hone a process-driven approach to creating procedures and operational standards, improving efficiency within the organizations.
His passion for people led Jamahl to a career shift from Account Management to the People and Culture team. Taking the lead and maximizing the efficiency of the HRIS and ATS systems. This allowed for more automated processes, removing bottlenecks and increasing employee engagement.
As a member of SHRM, Jamahl brings a strong understanding and natural ability to calmly and respectfully process and handle confidential issues in accordance with policies and regulations.
"Helping to find and cultivate the best possible people to support our clients and one another is what drives me."
Jazmine clark
Director of Finance
Jazmine Clark joins Wizard Studios with 20+ years of Accounting experience. Accounting is actually in her DNA, as she comes from a family of accountants and entrepreneurs. Throughout her years, she worked as a Professional Assistant with one of the Big 4 consulting firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which at the time was a newly created role in the Business & Compliance Services team. While this opportunity grew her passion for numbers, being present during the Enron scandal, made her realize there were many avenues to explore that could encompass that same love without the mundane aspect that would ensue.
During the Enron tenure at PwC, she was introduced to the creative side of finance that she previously had not been exposed to. It was then when she began her love of working with creatives and the unlimited imagination, integrated with the reality of the budget. While her previous experience includes working with various experiential production companies, music festivals, content creation, branding, ideation and marketing agencies are what makes her the perfect fit to the prestigious work being done here at Wizard Studios.
Jazmine brings her love of working with creatives and numbers to Wizard Studios to assist with financial and risk management operations of the company. Within her role, includes the development of a financial and operational strategy, metrics tied to that strategy, and the ongoing development & monitoring of control systems designed to grow the company assets and report accurate financial results.
Currently residing in New York, with her husband, Jazmine enjoys traveling and cherishes time spent with loved ones. Her favorite moments are visiting her daughter, Ahmya, who is attending and soon graduating from a University in Florida.
Rebecca Abernathy
Director of Operations
Rebecca Abernathy joined the team at Wizard Studios in June of 2016 as a Production Coordinator. In December of 2017, she was promoted to Production Manager. And in January of 2018, Rebecca was promoted to Director of Production and was in that position until March of 2020. She returned to Wizard Studios this past April as the Director of Operations.
Prior to joining Wizard Studios, Rebecca spent most of her professional career in retail management in Orlando, FL, and Boston, MA. She worked for DKNY and Ulta, each for over 5 years. As a manager for those companies, she focused on developing teams and leading them to operational excellence. This included training teams on inventory processes, visual standards, and labor efficiencies. When Rebecca moved to New York in 2012, she changed career paths and began work as a personal assistant. In this position, Rebecca was able to learn the ins and outs of the city. She was with the same high-profile family for four years until they moved out of state.
Rebecca enjoys working on all the different types of events that Wizard produces. She also loves being part of a team of dynamic people who are passionate about the company and our clients.
Jonathan ‘Yiani’ Yianilos
Creative Director
Creating beauty and being around good people, that’s all Yiani cares about. He’s been doing exactly that in NYC for 10 years. His first production gig was 2010 ago as a PA for fashion runway show in Times Square. Since then he has managed creative visuals for over 300 NYC corporate, private, fine art, fashion, retail, and experiential marketing events.
Jonathan Peter Yianilos, often called “Yiani”, started as a freelance carpenter with Wizard in 2016 and began leading builds and installs in 2017. By 2018, in-house Wizard creative service capabilities expanded into an additional warehouse. That same year Yiani built and hung the doors on our very own workshop.
As the Director of Creative Services Yiani helps clients and team members explore and enjoy their own creativity and hands on skills as he guides the many layers of the creative production process.
Before Wizard, Yiani assisted a fine artist in NYC as the operations manager of a stone sculpture studio. He also worked as a fine art handler and carpenter. He studied Sculpture and Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. He lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife Emily and son Peter Jonathan.
Leah Edwards
Director of Production in Creative Services
Leha Edwards’ experience in the events industry began in 2006 at a floral shop in Minnesota. It’s where she fell in love with designing wedding floral arrangements, decided to move into wedding planning, and eventually made the transition to corporate events & fabrication.
In 2016, Leha moved to New York City to explore more opportunities and expand her skill set even further. In the last 6 years, Leha has found the most joy in start-up organizations. She has worn many hats as these companies got off the ground, serving as an event planner, design & fabrication lead, and has spearheaded business development initiatives.
Leha’s passion is leading great people through incredible projects, so it’s a no-brainer that her journey brought her to Wizard Studios, where she will take on a new role as our Director of Production in Creative Services.
Leha continually finds joy in, and is inspired by stories told by strangers in dive bars, mixed textures found in nature, and developing clever Halloween costumes each year!"