diff --git a/migrations/20170414193114-database-utf8mb4.js b/migrations/20170414193114-database-utf8mb4.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f1c9c838b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/migrations/20170414193114-database-utf8mb4.js
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+'use strict';
+
+var url = require('url');
+
+exports.up = function(db, callback) {
+    var dbName = url.parse(process.env.DATABASE_URL).path.substr(1); // remove slash
+
+    // by default, mysql collates case insensitively. 'utf8_general_cs' is not available
+    db.runSql('ALTER DATABASE ' + dbName + '  DEFAULT CHARACTER SET=utf8mb4 DEFAULT COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci', callback);
+};
+
+exports.down = function(db, callback) {
+    callback();
+};
diff --git a/setup/start/mysql.cnf b/setup/start/mysql.cnf
index eaba3f248..8339fa901 100644
--- a/setup/start/mysql.cnf
+++ b/setup/start/mysql.cnf
@@ -8,3 +8,19 @@ max_connections=50
 # on ec2, without this we get a sporadic connection drop when doing the initial migration
 max_allowed_packet=32M
 
+# https://mathiasbynens.be/notes/mysql-utf8mb4
+character-set-server = utf8mb4
+collation-server = utf8mb4_unicode_ci
+
+[mysqldump]
+quick
+quote-names
+max_allowed_packet  = 16M
+default-character-set = utf8mb4
+
+[mysql]
+default-character-set = utf8mb4
+
+[client]
+default-character-set = utf8mb4
+