Yoani María Sánchez Cordero (born September 4, 1975) is a Cuban blogger.  She writes criticism about the difficulties of life for people living in Cuba under its current government. Her blog, Generation Y, is in 17 languages.  She received many international awards for her blog. In November 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama, wrote that her blog "provides the world a unique window into the realities of daily life in Cuba" and applauded her efforts to "empower fellow Cubans to express themselves through the use of technology."  In 2011, she received the International Women of Courage Award.

Life 
Yoani Sánchez was born September 4, 1975, in Havana, Cuba.  Her father is William Sánchez. Her mother is Maria Eumelia Cordero. Her father worked for the railroad.  Later, when Cuba's national railroads had problems, he worked to fix bicycles. When Sanchez was in primary school, Cuba was rich, because it received money from the Soviet Union. Later, when Sanchez was in high school and university, the Soviet Union had problems, Cuba lost the money, and Cuba's culture changed.  

Sanchez went to high school in the countryside".  She wrote: "I left high school in the countryside feeling that nothing belonged to me, not even my body.  Living in shelters creates the sensation that your whole life, your privacy, your personal possessions and even your nakedness has become public property."  Sanchez decided she wanted privacy.  

For two years, Sánchez went to the university at Instituto Pedagógico.  She studied Spanish literature. Then she went to the Faculty of Arts and Letters in 1995.  She got a degree in Hispanic philology and a specialty in contemporary Latin American literature.

Work 
In 2000, Sanchez worked for Editorial Gente Nueva, a publisher of children's books.  Then Sanchez worked as a Spanish teacher for German tourists in Havana." 

In 2002, Sánchez went to Switzerland.  Two years later, she went back to Cuba.  Back in Cuba, Sánchez started the magazine Consenso, later named Contodos.    Sánchez is also involved with the digital magazine Convivencia.

In 2007, Sánchez went to the "debate of the intellectuals", a conference at the House of The Americas.  It was a discussion among intellectuals about Cuba’s culture.  But Sanchez and others were not allowed inside, so they wrote emails. The emails became the digital magazine Contodos This was the reason Sánchez started her blog, Generation Y.     

In November 2008, Sánchez was invited to write her blog entries on The Huffington Post.

Awards

2008 – Ortega y Gasset Prize for Journalism 
2008 – "100 Most Influential People in the World” – Time magazine   
2008 – "100 most notable Hispanoamericans" – El País newspaper  
2008 – "10 most influential people of 2008" – Gatopardo Magazine   
2008 – “10 Most Influential Latin American Intellectuals” of the year – Foreign Policy magazine  
2009 – "25 Best Blogs of 2009" – Time magazine 
2009 – "Young Global Leader Honoree" – World Economic Forum 
2009 – Maria Moors Cabot prize – Columbia University Prize 
2010 – World Press Freedom Hero – International Press Institute 
2010 – Prince Claus Award – Prince Claus Fund
2011 – International Women of Courage Award – U.S. Department of State
2012 – “10 Most Influential Ibero American Intellectuals” of the year – Foreign Policy magazine

References

Other websites 

Generation Y website
 2011 International Women of Courage Awards, U.S. State Department photostream on Flickr 
Secretary's International Women of Courage Award (U.S. Department of State)

1975 births
Living people
Human rights activists
Nonviolence advocates
People from Havana
HuffPost writers and columnists
Women who received the International Women of Courage Award
Cuban writers