Humans of Hillel: Mikko Kohnke-Sunenshine
I was lucky enough to have a chance to talk with Mikko Kohnke-Sunenshine, Steinhardt ’26, about the music industry, living in New York, and involvement with Hillel.
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Mikko and our conversation is how deeply passionate they are about music and art in general. She’s pursuing a degree in Music Business, a Steinhardt program. The hope is to go to law school and then become a music lawyer so that they can help with licensing and copyright issues for songwriters. When asked if they had ever wanted to be on the performance side of the industry, it was an adamant “no.” Mikko shared that they “grew up playing and making music, but knew that [they] were not a performer or personality.”
I know that they have no plans to record or make their own music but it would be wrong to not consider Mikko an artist as well, although yarn is her preferred medium. Since the beginning of the pandemic, she has become an avid crocheter, making stuffed animals and clothing for her friends and family. (And as someone who has received one of Mikko’s handmade pieces, I can truly say they are a one-of-a-kind gift.) When asked what prompted this hobby, they shared that they are “totally an over-thinker, and because crocheting is repetitive and time-consuming, it allows you to sit down and feel productive while also shutting your brain off.” They see crocheting as an outlet for anxiety or stress, as well as other activities that keep you physically preoccupied, like walking. In fact, Mikko considers the walkability of the city to be her favorite thing about New York. Growing up, Mikko lived far from school and friends. They had to drive or be driven wherever they wanted to go. But in the city, their friends are all close by, as is anywhere they might want to go, like bookstores or coffee shops. But while Mikko considers New York her home now, it wasn’t always “New York or Nowhere” for them. When they first applied to NYU, they never really expected to be accepted at all. To Mikko, it was an “unattainable dream school” as a child but applied anyway because of her mother’s nagging. But even if they hadn’t ended up at NYU, Mikko knew she wanted to move to an East Coast city. They grew up in San Diego, California, but her mom’s side of the family is from the tri-state area. They said that they fell in love with “the culture and the seasons” when visiting family here.
Mikko also says that NYC is a great place to be for someone who wants to enter the world of music. NYU offered them the opportunity to “keep doing things they loved without having to be the musician.” Since coming to school, they have met a number of highly connected faculty members, from lawyers to managers and everything in between. She says that the program “exposes you to all the tools you need.” Mikko feels like NYU has offered them their own network of mentors and peers within the music business. A part of those connections can even be credited to NYU Hillel. When asked about a musician they would like more people to know about, Mikko was quick to share the name of Hillel’s own Dina Pfeffer. A member of Kehillah and a talented songwriter, Dina is the frontman for Good Judgement, a band Mikko has worked with. That was something surprising for Mikko about NYU Hillel that it could become a secular networking space just as much as it provided a religious and cultural community for them. Right now, their work with musicians is centered around marketing. Mikko spoke about how “Especially right now, with how easy it is to record music and how much is being produced, it can be incredibly hard to make money purely from streams. A lot of being an artist has to do with marketing and being on social media. You have to make people think about you and notice you.” But for many artists, this isn’t their main concern. “A lot of artists just want to make art and don’t want to think about selling themselves to the world or all the other obstacles that exist now.” That’s where Mikko comes in. She wants to help artists reach the world and the world reach artists.
