Eileen is a Cuban freelance journalist, consultant and fixer. She covers issues related to gender and LGBTIQ+ communities, social, environmental, and economic rights, and culture. Her work has been featured in The Guardian, Die Zeit, New Lines Magazine, Die Tageszeitung, Open Democracy, among other international media.
Eileen has worked as a communication consultant for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, Cuba) and the journalism department of the School of Communication of the University of Havana. Eileen has been a mentor with the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR).
She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Havana. CrossCulture Programme alumna, from the German Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, ifa (Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations), where she served as a co-curator for ifa’s Share Magazine. She is a member of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network of the Reuters Institute and the Latin American Network of Young Journalists (Red LATAM de Jóvenes Periodistas).
Eileen has received fellowships from international organizations such as the Taz-Panter Foundation, Climate Tracker, the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN), Nuffic, DW Akademie and Alharaca. She has been a fixer for The Times, El Hilo podcast and Los Angeles Times is co-author of two books about Cuban hip hop, and investigative journalism in Cuba.
Over the past eight years, I have reported on how Cuban civil society has evolved since the advent of widespread internet access. Technological change led to an unprecedented social transformation. We have witnessed the emergence of groups dedicated to environmental causes, LGBTIQ issues, and feminism. It has been a revelation to see just how much can be achieved through grassroots mobilization and civic engagement.Eileen Sosin Martínez