Sonia Gil
{{short description|Venezuelan internet celebrity (born 1981)}}
{{notability |date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sonia Gil
| image = Sonia Gil Webby2012.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Gil with her Webby award in 2012
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1981|09|24}}
| birth_place = Venezuela
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation =
| known_for = Language learning software, vlogging
| years_active = 2005-present
| website = {{url|www.soniagil.com}}
}}
Sonia Gil (born 24 September 1981) is an entrepreneur and travel vlogger. She is the co-founder of the digital language learning platform Fluenz, where she leads the creation of all learning content. She is also the host and co-creator of Sonia's Travels,{{cite web|last=Vanderborg|first=Carey|title=Sonia Gil Takes Viewers Back To The Heart Of What Traveling Is All About With 'Sonia's Travels'|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/sonia-gil-takes-viewers-back-heart-what-traveling-all-about-sonias-travels-700977|work=International Business Times|date=31 May 2012 |accessdate=26 February 2014}} which airs weekly on YouTube and Yahoo Screen. She also stars in the Ulive travel series Almost Free. She is the winner of the 2012 People's Voice Webby Award for Best Web Personality, and the 2014 People's Voice Webby Award for Best "DIY-How to" online show for her How to Travel series.{{cite web|title=Travel Tips: Best Travel Website|url=https://screen.yahoo.com/travel-tips-best-travel-website-212415347.html|publisher=Yahoo! Screen|accessdate=2 May 2014}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
Early life and education
Sonia Gil was born in Venezuela, in a multilingual family.{{cite web|title=Sonia Gil: Interview Outtakes BTS Behind the Scenes| date=19 September 2012 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_742864&feature=iv&src_vid=WJbMoJnMc2Q&v=rB5RdJoWkTA|publisher=Wall Street Journal Digital Network|accessdate=26 February 2014}} She grew up in Caracas and Boca Raton, Florida, and attended Cornell University, where she studied plant genetics.
Career
During the first few years of college, Gil worked on an Internet start-up. The portal loquesea.com was online from 1997 to 2002, and was known as a very early social network for young people.{{cite web|last=Del Pozo|first=Fernando|title=Loquesea.com|url=http://www.failbeta.com/2008/09/loqueseacom/|publisher=Failbeta|accessdate=26 February 2014}} The company "became the largest network of sites for youths in Latin America", and at some point had "19 sites running in 4 languages".{{cite news|last=Goode|first=Lauren|title=Fluenz hopes to help users to fluency|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/12/31/fluenz-hopes-to-help-users-to-fluency/|work=Digits|date=31 December 2009 |publisher=Wall Street Journal|accessdate=26 February 2014}}
According to Joshua Cohen,{{who|date=October 2020}} Gil started the vlog Sonia's Travels after she began traveling extensively for her work with Fluenz, which "make the costs of producing Sonia's Travels marginal instead of prohibitive".{{cite web|last=Cohen|first=Joshua|title=You Haven't Seen An Independent Online Show Like This|date=28 March 2012 |url=http://www.tubefilter.com/2012/03/28/sonias-travels/#sthash.UbhkRIVw.dpuf|publisher=TubeFilter|accessdate=26 February 2014}} She partnered with Mariana Hellmund, an award-winning filmmaker with an extensive career,{{cite web|title=Mariana Hellmund|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/432861/Mariana-Hellmund/biography|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413011758/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/432861/Mariana-Hellmund/biography|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 April 2014|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|date=2014|accessdate=26 February 2014}} and together they developed the visual style that characterizes the web series.{{cite web|title=Through the eyes of… Sonia Gil|url=http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.USER.P2/countries?display=map|publisher=Travelettes|accessdate=26 February 2014}}
Another one of her projects, the non-profit Fluenz.org, distributes free English language programs for people in need.{{cite web|last=Acevedo|first=Inti|title=Fluenz.org: "El idioma es un derecho humano"|url=http://alt1040.com/2008/11/fluenzorg-el-idioma-es-un-derecho-humano|publisher=Alt1040|accessdate=26 February 2014}}
Gil also has her own video series, Almost Free, on Scripps Network's Ulive.com.{{cite web|title=BREAKING: Toldja! Scripps Networks' ULive.com to Debut a Dozen Online Originals|url=http://www.thevideoink.com/breaking-news/breaking-scripps-networks-ulive-com-to-debut-a-dozen-online-originals/#.Uw9gKYUXck4|publisher=VideoInk|accessdate=27 February 2014}}
In the spring of 2016, she became a co-founder and investor at Nuverz.{{cite web|title=Shape Up Your Memory Muscles: 7 Steps to Learn a Language|url=http://www.nuverz.com/advice/shape-up-your-memory-muscles-7-steps-to-learn-a-language/#sthash.IecNjcut.dpuf|publisher=Nuverz|access-date=2016-08-02|archive-date=2016-08-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801235108/http://nuverz.com/advice/shape-up-your-memory-muscles-7-steps-to-learn-a-language/#sthash.IecNjcut.dpuf|url-status=dead}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.soniagil.com/ Official website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221015615/http://www.soniagil.com/ |date=2014-02-21 }}
- [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqZ2HZqow7l35qrhH-DBo4w/ Sonia's Travels] on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gil, Sonia}}
Category:Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni