Kseniia Mykytivna Vasylenko (Ukrainian: Ксенія Микитівна Василенко;[1][2] born July 8, 1985), better known by the pen name Sonya Koshkina (Ukrainian: Со́ня Ко́шкіна);[a], is a Ukrainian journalist, who is also co-owner and editor-in-chief of the online publication, LB.ua.
Early life and education
Ksenia Mykytivna Vasilenko was born in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, 1985. Her father is Mykita Kimovych Vasilenko, a lecturer at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Kyiv National University; KNU). During the period of 1998–2002, she studied at the School of Young Journalists "Yun-Press" at the Kyiv Palace of Children and Youth. After graduating, she taught there for two years.[3]
Career
She served as a correspondent of the newspaper The Day ("Den") (2003–05).[3] In September 2005, she started working for the online publication Obozrevatel. It was then, at the suggestion of the site's editor-in-chief, Oleg Medvedev, that she took a pseudonym.[2]
Koshkina graduated in 2007 from the Institute of Journalism, KNU. Dissatisfied with her education, she entered the graduate school of National University Odesa Law Academy, majoring in "Philosophy of Law".[3][2] Since 2008, she has been teaching at the Gorshenin Institute in Kyiv.
In June 2009, leaving Obozrevatel, she became the editor-in-chief and co-owner of the Livyi Bereh online publication.[3][4][5]
In October 2019, she defended her PhD dissertation in KNU, where she taught journalism.
Koshkina is affiliated with the YouTube project, "Kishkina", and the author of, Maydan. An Untold Story.[6]
Personal life
On May 23, 2019, Koshkina gave birth to a daughter named Esther.[7]