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Who is Ana Corina Sosa? All about María Corina Machado's daughter as Nobel Peace Prize laureate appears in Oslo after escaping from Venezuela

Maria Corina Machado couldn't make it to the Nobel Prize award ceremony, but her daughter was there receive her award on her behalf.
posted by Akanksha Mishra
Thursday 12/11/2025 at 9:05AM EST
  • CARACAS, VENEZUELA - JANUARY 9: Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, gives a speech during an anti-government protest on January 9, 2025 in Caracas, Venezuela. According to information shared by the Vente Venezuela Party, Machado was intercepted by government forces deployed by president Nicolas Maduro after finishing her participation in the rally. (Photo by Alfredo Lasry R/Getty Images)
    CARACAS, VENEZUELA - JANUARY 9: Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, gives a speech during an anti-government protest on January 9, 2025 in Caracas, Venezuela. According to information shared by the Vente Venezuela Party, Machado was intercepted by government forces deployed by president Nicolas Maduro after finishing her participation in the rally. (Photo by Alfredo Lasry R/Getty Images)

    On Wednesday, December 10, the 2025 Nobel Prize award ceremony was hosted in Oslo City Hall. While most Nobel laureates of this year were present at the ceremony with their family and friends, one of them was missing - Maria Corina Machado. 

    Machado, who is a Venezuelan politician and activist, wasn't able to make it to Oslo in time for the ceremony over the threat on her safety. However, she did send her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, as her representative to accept the honorable award on her behalf.

    Ana Corina Sosa lives in New York, where she leads a SaaS company, Celonis, as its Chief of Staff to the President. According to her LinkedIn profile, Sosa came to the US in 2012 after getting enrolled in the University of Michigan, where she studied Industrial and Operations Engineering. 

    After graduating in 2014, Ana joined PwC as a Senior Associate in 2015, and was promoted as a manager five years later. In 2021, Sosa left her job to pursue MBA from Harvard Business School. Two years later, she started working at Celonis in New York. 

    After accepting her mother's award, Ana also delivered a speech written by her mother in the ceremony, starting with:

    "And as I wait [for] that moment to hug her, to kiss her, to embrace her, after two years, I think of the other daughters and sons who do not get to see their mothers."

    Then reading her mother's speech, Ana painted a picture of hope for a better future for the Venezuelans in front of the audience, saying:

    "All the simple joys the world takes for granted will be ours. Because in the end, our journey towards freedom has always lived inside us. We are returning to ourselves. We are returning home."

    After Ana delivered Maria's speech at the Nobel ceremony, she received a standing ovation and a long round of applause from everyone in the audience, including the Norway royal family, BBC reports.

    Maria Corina Machado waved at her supporters from her hotel balcony in Oslo

    While Maria Corina Machado could not arrive in time for attending the Nobel Prize award ceremony, she did make it to Oslo later on Wednesday night. 

    The Nobel Laureate also came out out her hotel room's balcony (at Oslo's Grand Hotel) to wave at the crowd of people gathered on the streets to see her. 

    In addition to the fact that Machado is a Nobel Laureate, her arrival in Norway was also an extraordinary occurrence to witness as it marked her daring escape from Venezuela after a decade-long travel ban. Maria has been declared a fugitive by Nicolas Maduro - the President of Venezuela.

    Per Independent UK, Machado departed from her homeland by boat, traveling through the Caribbeann island of Curacao. From Curacao, she allegedly boarded on a private plane to Norway.

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    TOPICS: Maria Corina Machado, Ana Corina Sosa