Candice Cho is the Managing Director of Policy and Counsel at AAPI Equity Alliance,
where she leads the development of people-centered, data-based policy for Stop AAPI
Hate. AAPI Equity Alliance is a Los Angeles-based coalition of over 40 community-
based organizations serving Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and a co-founding
partner of the national coalition Stop AAPI Hate.
Prior to her appointment by Mayor Karen Bass to the Human Relations Commission,
Candice served as the chief legal advisor on immigration for New York City, where she
wrote sanctuary city laws and advised on impact litigation to protect immigrant New
Yorkers during the Trump Administration. She was also the chief of staff to a NYC
commission updating the city’s constitution whose proposals to increase democratic
participation in local government were approved by the voters. She began her career as
a legislative staffer for U.S. Senator Richard J. Durbin, the second highest ranking
Democrat in the Senate.
Candice is the daughter of Korean immigrant parents, and the first in her family to
graduate from college and the first lawyer. She has degrees from Harvard College,
Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, and Columbia Law School,
and is admitted to practice law in New York and California.