Yiannis Kapnias was born and raised in Nea Smyrni, Attica. He was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, which later caused him to lose his sight. As a blind person, he began participating in educational, cultural, and sports activities related to blindness. Since 2005, he has been involved with the Paralympic sport of goalball, as a player for the A.S.T. Omirou team, with which he won 5 Greek championships. He also served as the captain of the national team from 2007 to 2013. At the same time, he participated in the theatre group of the Lighthouse of the Blind of Greece, with which he presented many performances, two of which were based on his own theatrical scripts. He is a certified Braille instructor and has been teaching Braille to both sighted and blind students since 2013. In 2013, he began working as a guide for the interactive event Dialogue in the Dark, and one year later, he became the Operations Manager of the project as a certified Masterguide. In 2017, he co-founded the social cooperative enterprise Black Light with his team of blind guides, where he serves as Co-founder & CFO.
