HOST INTRO: Budding journalist Cristine Trimarco, while in Studio H of Baruch College, interviewed her fellow classmate Koko Nsougan. Together they discussed hobbies, inspirations, and more.
TRACK: In college, you have the opportunity to test the waters of an array of subjects and career paths. Nsougan, 20, chose to major in finance.
ACT: KOKO: One of the reasons I chose to become a finance major is because of it’s more narrow focus and it still allows you to like explore a field that has good job opportunities.
TRACK: Together we discussed her hobbies and what she does in her free time.
ACT: KOKO: I enjoy reading, baking, but what I enjoy most is playing the piano.
TRACK: Interests are often inspired by someone you look up to in that field.
ACT: KOKO: One artist I look up to who plays the piano is Charlie Puth. I admire Charlie Puth because of his general history in music. I once heard that he actually taught himself how to sing by mimicking what he learned from autotune. He later applied those skills to the piano and now he’s a well known artist so I admire him for that.
TRACK: Piano has many different cords, and when played together they create a tune or full song.
ACT: KOKO: I can play the major C chord, major D chord, but I can also play around and do the diminished fifth. It’s cool.
TRACK: When learning an instrument, one can come across some difficulty.
ACT: KOKO: One of my biggest hurdles in learning piano is like, learning how to play with both hands instead of just using one. I still struggle with it sometimes because one hand can do so much and it’s just hard to train your other hand. Especially since I’m a righty and not a lefty.
TRACK: When Nsougan was in highschool, the song “Baby Shark” was popular. She shared a funny story about this song with me.
ACT: KOKO: There was this time I was playing Baby Shark in a practice room back in highschool. This guy just barged in and told me to stop playing it because he was so annoyed by the song. I got why he was annoyed but I wanted to learn it for my niece.
TRACK: Since she started playing piano, the list of songs she can play has grown overtime.
ACT: KOKO: I can play a lot of songs. Well, songs that I know and like. I can play “ The Way” by Ariana Grande featuring Mac Miller. And I can play any Ed Sheeran song, Beyonce song, and I love playing a song by Celine Dion, I forgot the name.
TRACK: Nsougan speaks about how something she once disliked turned into a hobby she can’t get enough of.
ACT: KOKO: I used to actually hate reading but, I found this app like two years back, it is called Episode. Episode is basically a platform where anyone can post or write stories. You share what runs through your mind and you know, I got attached to that. Getting inside people’s heads, seeing what they’re writing. I really like the plots and growing attached to characters. So that’s definitely why I got into reading. One of my favorite authors is Penelope Douglas.
TRACK: Through the years I’ve learned people like reading for many different reasons. Readers immerse themselves in a world the writer created.
ACT: KOKO: I like being caught by surprise. I like the raw and emotional ride and I just love being attached to characters, for even a day.
TRACK: Going forward, Nsougan hopes to narrow her focus in her field of study, strive to learn more using both hands on the piano, and continue reading. For Baruch College multimedia class this is Cristine Trimarco.