We were lucky to catch up with SUUVI recently and have shared our conversation below.
SUUVI, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?
It’s hilarious to me that people think of me as the cool girl now, because I was probably the most uncool child you could ever meet. Most of my formative memories revolve around being painfully shy and nerdy and heavily bullied for being so. I come from a very academic and intellectual family that emphasized my scholastic development and virtually little else, which meant that I was trilingual and did math workbooks for fun as a toddler, but was horribly socialized, awkward, and dressed like a tomboy (and not in the fashionable way).
I only have one friend today who’s known me since that era, and she always brags that she “knew me before I was cool,” and many of my good friends who know me well joke that I’m a closet nerd. By the time I was a teenager, I was tired of being picked on and decided that I would take vengeance on my own unpopularity. I realized that style, fashion, social skills, and all that jazz could actually be studied the same way I had applied my brainpower to doing science experiments or studying history (my big obsession) as a kid and took such a hard left turn on my image and personality that people barely recognized me when I suddenly knew how to dress and interact with humans in normal settings.
The problem with this, I eventually realized, was that everyone in academic circles, which is where you are if you’re studying classical cello like I was, started to not take me seriously. When I was 19, I taught myself German and moved to Berlin with only one intention: to do my grad studies with a particular cello pedagogue who was becoming known as the best in Europe. I distinctly remember him turning me away, despite me showing up at the university multiple times and literally knocking on his door begging for a lesson, the last time telling me that he didn’t understand why I wanted to be a cellist and that I should go work in fashion instead (this was not meant as a compliment).
A few years later, when I applied for my Artist Diploma at Juilliard, the professors were shocked when they read my essays- my favorite comment from a bemused teacher was, “you’re actually an intellectual… but people who look like you don’t write like this.” I still remember colleagues at the time being furious that I was offered the one spot in the program open the year I applied and calling me a “glorified Instagram model.” It was truly my Elle Woods moment, and all of these experiences have just taught me how ridiculous stereotypes are. I know plenty of brilliant people who work in fashion, and I know several people from my academic background who would do well to step outside the walls of their Ivy Leagues and spend some time experiencing the real world. And also, being a nerd is cool- I don’t regret it.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m a cellist, producer, and interdisciplinary artist, but I’ve always felt a bit of an identity crisis with all of these labels and tried to get away from them. I started cello lessons at age two and got into Juilliard when I was ten; I always thought I wanted to be a musician, but I now often think I did way too much formal schooling. By the time I got my undergrad at age 18, I hated academic settings so much that I swore I’d never return to one again and didn’t want to play cello anymore, so I ran around Europe for a few years doing everything from working as a bookseller in Paris at Shakespeare and Company to modeling, dabbling in photography, and soaking up some heavy techno in Berlin. After a while, I felt like I needed structure again, so I went back to studying and also took a job as a marketing executive for a tech startup in Switzerland, which I did all throughout grad school. Meanwhile, I still somehow managed to develop my solo cello career, which really kicked off when I was 21 and got my first residency at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris and my debut at The Berlin Philharmonie. Despite all this, I was still super unsatisfied with my life and started a bunch of businesses and side hustles that all eventually failed (but left me with valuable lessons) throughout my early 20s.
Eventually, I got bored of this, so I decided to challenge myself by doing a postgrad and ended up back at Juilliard doing their joint program with Columbia University. I think one of the most valuable things about coming from a rigorous academic background and having studied art and music in very formal settings, but coupling that with a huge affinity and love for pop culture and a lot of real-life exploration (these stories are NSFW), is that I’m able to view things from many different perspectives. There will always be the part of me that is trained to assess and analyze whatever is in front of me from an intellectualized point of view, but I actually often find it detrimental and my biggest challenge is always shutting it off enough that I can trust my own feelings and instincts for what works in contemporary culture.
Ultimately, however, I think there is incredible value in having such a diverse background because I’m able to bring a very unique perspective to whatever projects I work on today as a musician, artist, and producer. However, I’m still cynical about the amount of time I spent in a classroom and have spent the last chapter of my life making up for it by soaking up as many diverse experiences as possible. There’s only so much you can learn from books, and I think it’s incredibly important to balance formal studies with accumulating experiences in reality.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I was on crutches for several months and had to relearn to walk again by the time I came off of them. It was truly one of the most humbling experiences of my life and taught me so much about being helpless and vulnerable. However, I had also been insanely determined to have a quick recovery because I was supposed to go back on tour with Hans Zimmer’s show, and my surgeon had told me I wouldn’t be ready to travel by the dates. I ignored all the orders to rest after surgery and immediately went back to training Muay Thai twelve days after leaving the hospital (my coaches were insane enough to let me sit on a chair in front of a heavy bag and punch and kick with my good leg) and devoted myself religiously to physical therapy.
The day my surgeon gave me the clear to fly again, I got on a plane that same night and flew to Europe to do the tour. I was still in incredible pain and remember forcing myself to smile onstage and then running off immediately afterward to ice and elevate my leg backstage and pop painkillers. That particular production has tons of risers and stairs that I have to walk on and off of throughout the show while carrying a cello, which was terrifying for me because I was often walking right near the edge and would still get a flashback of the accident every time I looked down. It wasn’t pretty, but you do what you have to! And anyway, I like living close to edges.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
So many. I’m kind of an information junkie and insatiable bibliophile, so I’m constantly reading something or listening to a podcast or interview. There have been so many writers and thinkers who have influenced me throughout the years, but some of the most important contemporary ones have been Seth Godin, Ray Dalio, David Ogilvy, Tim Ferriss, Tony Robbins, George Lois, Ryan Holiday, Robert Greene, Naval Ravikant, Eric Weinstein, Adam Grant, Peter Thiel, and Scott Adams. Whether or not you agree with all of their politics or world views aside (I certainly don’t), all of them have proven track records of success from which we can all parse and gain knowledge.
Contact Info:
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