Garance Choko

Garance is a social entrepreneur, international system builder and innovation strategist currently residing in New York City. She is the founder of Coda, a global network of grassroots problem solvers exchanging how-tos across continents. Born and raised in Paris, France, she started her career as a concert pianist at the age of 3. Later, when she moved to the United States to continue her performance studies, she pursued her passion for political theory and design practices. She has designed organizational structures, national and local health care systems, educational programs, impact evaluations and poverty relief strategies for institutions, corporations and governments in Africa, Europe, the United States and the Caribbean. She earned a Master of Public Administration from Cornell University.

Garance's philosophy is rooted in challenging the notion of institutionalized expertise and its deriving power structures. She has used systems thinking and participatory design principles in her work with the US Congress, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Clinton Global Initiative, Purpose, The Lowline, Community Solutions, Nesta, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. As a speaker and educator, she has taught her unique participatory design framework at the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, Parsons School of Design, Brown, Yale University, and to high-level government officials.