Danielle Chiel

PhD. Founder. Author. Speaker

Danielle Chiel’s lifelong passions for innovation, education, and giving women a voice have enabled her to make significant social contributions in both Australia and India.

About

Danielle is a Founder, CEO, and academic. She currently owns and operates KOCO Knitting, a knitwear company specialising in commercial hand knitting. KOCO (Knit One, Change One) engages women in rural villages in Southern India to produce artisan knitwear for global fashion brands.

Combined, her lifelong passions for innovation, education, and giving women a voice have enabled her to make significant social contributions in both Australia and India.

As a published author, her book KOCO – How Handknitting is Changing Lives and the Fashion Industry describes the story of KOCO’s sisterhood, which has touched the hearts of brands and consumers around the world.

Her professional background as a business owner and manager, which spans three decades and as many continents, was kickstarted by her academic work, teaching, and a fundamental drive to ‘lead by example’.

People and business management are her forte, including staff, students, suppliers, business associates, and business and local communities in Australia and overseas. A born communicator, her passion for knitwear became a springboard for life as an entrepreneur and an accidental advocate for the advancement of women’s voices in rural India.

Koco Knitting

KOCO Knitting was established in Australia by Danielle Chiel in partnership with women who live in rural villages of Tamil Nadu southern India.

What began as a solution to producing hand-knitted garments offshore is now a sisterhood of artisans and a business with the United Nations’ Global Goals for Sustainable Development entwined in our DNA. We have scaled the art of hand knitting to produce commercial quantities of garments, all entirely hand knitted.

Gallery

manufacturing process is entirely human-powered

Changing lives

mission to hand knit the world together

A born communicator

Weaving wool's magic

People Matter

Speaker

Danielle is an accomplished author, business leader and expert. She brings a wealth of experience and insight to share with your audiences, with a background in Music, startup innovation and then as the Founder & CEO of Koco Gloabl. Her speaking style is relatable, packed with stories from the trenches of business building and inspiring. 

Contact

Copyright © 2024 Danielle Chiel