Ep. 41: From dancer to director, with Sonja Kostich

"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 leads one of America's premier dance companies, partnering with Co-Artistic Directors Julie Kent and Stanton Welch to bring Houston Ballet's "best kept secret" to the world.  She talks honestly about the fear of starting over, what it felt like to walk into Goldman Sachs without ever having owned a suit, and why not knowing what comes next is sometimes exactly the right condition for discovery. Don't miss this conversation about reinvention, courage, and the winding path that leads to your dream job.  💡 Key Takeaways: The skills that make a great dancer, including discipline, rapid learning, and teamwork, are also what make a great leader. Why the path forward doesn't have to be a straight line. How Houston Ballet is taking a modern approach to ensuring ballet remains relevant for global audiences. Photo credits: Julieta Cervantes, Chris Lee, Andrea Mohin, Dave Rossman, Marty Sohl, Michelle Watson, Quinn Wharton  Connect with Sonja: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonja-kostich-51249a1/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sonja.kostich/  Website: www.houstonballet.org  ✅ Sign up for the newsletter:  https://theleadershipdance.substack.com/s/the-leadership-dance 👉 Listen and follow: https://linktr.ee/theleadershipdance Music from InAudio: https://inaudio.org/ "Catwalk Queen"