Meet Sonya | Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sonya and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sonya, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I’ve wanted to make movies since I was a kid. I used to do sports competitively, and I was always the one with a camera, documenting our trips and making my friends act in my little films. After we got back, I’d spend days editing our “documentaries” in iMovie—it was one of my favorite things to do.

At the time, I never saw it as something serious. It felt like a fun hobby, not a possible career. By the time I was in high school, I had no idea what I wanted to study, but going to film school didn’t feel realistic. I didn’t have the portfolio they required, so I decided I wasn’t a filmmaker. I studied business and marketing instead and, for years, forgot about that early passion.

Only at 24, after graduating, struggling to find a good job in marketing, and trying out different projects, did I return to making videos. I got a camera and started filming anything that caught my eye. Things quickly started falling into place.

A year and a half later, I quit my 9–5 job and decided to bet on myself and do video creation full time. It felt like the only right thing to do—I had never loved anything this much, and I couldn’t keep wasting my days doing work I didn’t care about. It sounds cliché, but life is too short, and I’d already lost years. I couldn’t afford to be afraid anymore, so I took the leap and trusted that I’d find enough work to keep going.

Expressing myself creatively through videos became a form of therapy. It allowed me to process my own thoughts and emotions, and, to my surprise, it resonated with others too. People began telling me they saw parts of themselves in my work, as if the images and words gave shape to feelings they couldn’t quite name. It felt like I had found a quiet but powerful way to communicate with the world—a conversation without borders, connecting me to strangers I might never meet, yet somehow already understood.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My video work blends cinematic storytelling with an intimate, personal voice. Whether I’m making a short film or creating for a brand, I focus on capturing emotion and finding beauty in small, often overlooked moments. I think what sets me apart is the way my work feels personal yet universal, it’s rooted in my own perspective, but it resonates with people who see themselves in it.

I didn’t follow the traditional path into filmmaking. I studied business and marketing and worked in different industries before finally picking up a camera at 24. Without formal training, I taught myself everything; how to shoot, edit, and tell stories visually. Within weeks of sharing my work online, it went viral and later led to collaborations with brands like Gucci, Fujifilm, and Belmond.

Two years after picking up the camera, I wrote and directed my first short film, ‘How Long Until Now?’ which premiered at a festival in Austin, Texas. That was a pivotal moment when I realized I wanted to be a director, and that this is the best job in the world.

There’s no blueprint or instruction manual for this kind of career. An artistic path often means moving forward completely blindly—it’s uncertain, scary at times, but I wouldn’t trade this journey for anything else. I’ve learned to keep creating regardless of external validation, to bet on myself even when the outcome is uncertain, and to treat every project as a chance to grow.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’d start with a picnic on an island. Helsinki has a beautiful archipelago, and many islands are reachable by public transport. One of my favorites is Pihlajasaari. We’d explore the island, have a picnic lunch by the sea, and maybe go for a swim.

Over the next days, we’d walk around my favorite neighborhoods—Punavuori, Ullanlinna, and Eira—admiring the architecture and noticing little details on walls and windows. We’d stop for coffee and cinnamon buns at Café Succès, and in the evening have dinner at Restaurant Elm.

One morning we’d start at my favorite yoga studio, Sagayoga, then visit a couple of museums like Amos Rex and Ateneum. Afterwards, we’d have coffee by the sea at Café Compass. A sauna visit is a must when in Finland, so I’d take my friend to Lonna Island to spend a few hours relaxing there.

On Sunday evening, we’d end the week at Harju8, enjoying live jazz on the terrace.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many people, both those I know personally and those I have never met, who deserve credit in my story. The first person I have to mention is my dad. I feel incredibly lucky to have a parent who never projected his own dreams onto me and who supported whatever I was curious to explore. He was open to all my career experiments and fully backed my decision to pursue an artistic path, even though it might not be as “safe” as something more traditional. He has always reminded me how important it is to enjoy what you do for work.

I also owe a lot to the Directors Guild Helsinki — the production company that believed in me and saw me as a director before I truly saw it in myself. Their support in producing my first short film was invaluable, and it simply wouldn’t have happened without them.

And then there’s Creator Camp, which genuinely changed my life. After attending my first Creator Camp event in France in the summer of 2024, I came home and quit my job, deciding to fully bet on myself. Through Creator Camp, I found an incredible creative community, made real friends, and was given the opportunity to direct my first short film as part of the very first Camp Studios cohort.

Website: https://akulshinasonya.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/akulshinasonya/?hl=en

Image Credits
Hayley Lê, Ryan Tu