
S4E41 - Ep. 41: From dancer to director, with Sonja Kostich
Published: May 11, 2026
Duration: 38:02
"I don't think ballet ever left me. Ballet has had my heart since I was a child."
Sonja Kostich, Executive Director of Houston Ballet, joins host Alissa Hsu Lynch to trace a career that began at 17 when Mikhail Baryshnikov personally recruited her to American Ballet Theatre. She went on to perform with San Francisco Ballet, Zurich Ballet, and the White Oak Dance Project, and co-founded her own contemporary dance company OtherShore. Then, at 42, she walked away from the stage, earned a business degree, and landed at Goldman Sachs.
But ballet never left her. Today, Sonja...