Garance Choko

Garance Choko is an entrepreneur and founder of Coda Societies, a strategic advisory firm focused on implementing equity-based solutions to reshape social and physical infrastructures. Coda Societies originated from an international network of innovation strategists, social entrepreneurs, designers, urban planners, and public administrators committed to advancing alternative approaches to social change. Choko’s early dedication to music, particularly the piano, influenced her approach to public administration, innovation, and social impact. She pursued advanced studies in piano and political science in the United States while earning a Master of Public Administration from Cornell University.

Choko’s career spans roles in policy, management consulting, and urban planning. She has worked on Capitol Hill and launched social innovation firms, designing and implementing physical spaces, health care systems, public administration processes, think tanks, regional economic agendas, and labor policies for institutions, corporations, and governments across North America, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean. Choko established Coda Societies to deliver social and economic infrastructures for equity, drawing on expertise in urban planning, public policy, and the social sciences. The firm’s methodology is influenced by her musical training, emphasizing discipline and purpose.

Coda Societies advances global social justice and equity by reshaping infrastructures such as national health care systems, economic development plans, and policy institutes. Clients include the Sundance Institute, Mastercard Foundation, Aspen Institute, Africa Center, National Ministry of Planning of the Democratic Republic of Congo, National Health System of the United Kingdom, MacArthur Foundation, and Royal Society for Arts. The firm’s projects include building policy institutes, departments, and programs dedicated to inclusive growth, supporting organizations in shaping their futures through social impact and systems change.

In addition to her work at Coda Societies, Choko is active in civic and cultural organizations. She serves on the Board of Directors at Sing for Hope and the Association of Corporate Treasurers, and is a member of the Advisory Council of the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth North America. Choko is producer and host of "A Propos," a podcast in English presented by the French Consulate of New York. She is a founding member of CHIEF and has lectured at Cornell, delivered keynote addresses at Brown, and given guest lectures at Harvard, Barnard, and Yale. Choko’s work bridges music, public policy, and social entrepreneurship, focusing on equity, systems change, and leadership.