Introducing the 2022 cohort of the Women’s Leadership Accelerator

26 women with expertise from local news to product innovation selected for yearlong leadership training and coaching

By on March 16, 2022

The Online News Association (ONA) is honored to introduce the 2022 cohort of the Women’s Leadership Accelerator (#ONAWLA). The accelerator is a yearlong program designed to advance leadership and management skills through tailored training, coaching and practical guidance to navigate career challenges. The program also nurtures career-long connections to a powerful community of support, both within each year’s cohort and across a broader network of leaders that includes accelerator alums, mentors and speakers.

The 26 leaders selected for the 2022 cohort represent six countries and serve audiences from Birmingham, Alabama, to Johannesburg, South Africa. The majority of this inspiring group identify as women of color, and they bring to the cohort a range of journalism backgrounds. We are thrilled to welcome editors, managers, producers, founders, directors, and journalists with expertise in local news, product, operations, partnerships, audience, digital strategy, AI, immersive storytelling, and visual and audio production.

The 2022 Women’s Leadership Accelerator includes:

Supporting women in digital journalism

The 2022 Women’s Leadership Accelerator is tuition-free thanks to lead funder Dow Jones Foundation, with additional support from the John S. and James L. Knight FoundationInasmuch Foundation, the Tiffany Shackelford Foundation and Otter.ai.

Dow Jones Foundation

ONA has organized cohort-based leadership training for women since 2015. Beyond the accelerator, ONA’s initiatives to support women in digital journalism have expanded to include inspiring conversation series on advocating for your team and leadership styles and entrepreneurship, facilitated networking events, training tailored to women in local news, dedicated programming at the annual conference and collaborations with ONA Local organizers in Miami, Pittsburgh, London and other cities.

To learn about contributing to ONA’s goal to advance women in digital journalism, contact Jessica Strelitz, Chief Strategic Partnerships Officer, at jessica@journalists.org. Learn more about ways to get involved.


The Online News Association was founded in 1999 as a forum for digital news pioneers to collaborate on common challenges and encourage the practice of the highest journalistic standards. Become an ONA member or make a donation to sustain our mission to inspire innovation and excellence in digital journalism.

To learn about other training opportunities and resources from the Online News Association, subscribe to the ONA Weekly newsletter and follow us on Twitter @ONA.