Women’s Leadership Accelerator

The Women’s Leadership Accelerator is a six-month intensive program that supercharges the leadership and management skills of leaders who are pushing digital innovation. Each year we welcome a cohort of women and non-binary individuals representing a range of backgrounds, expertise and newsrooms around the globe.

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Applications for the 2024 cohort are now closed. The deadline to submit all application materials (including recommendation letters) was Friday, March 22, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

The Women’s Leadership Accelerator offers an intensive program of mentoring, discussion and learning from some of the top minds in digital media. Participants work closely with mentors on challenges unique to their careers and also receive support and coaching from ONA throughout the year.

Tuition for the 2024 Women’s Leadership Accelerator is $1,000 and all selected participants will receive a full pass to ONA’s annual conference, ONA24. For more information, please refer to the Accelerator’s FAQs.

2024 Program Timeline

March 6: Applications open
March 22: Applications due at 11:59 p.m. EDT
May 2024: Notifications of application status
May 2024: Participants announced
May 2024: Virtual Welcome Workshop (Half-Day)
May-August 2024: Virtual Monthly Learning + Connection Sessions, along with personal coaching and paired cohort discussions
Sept. 18-21: ONA24 in Atlanta (Optional – full conference pass provided)
Sept. 20-22: In-Person Accelerator Workshop directly connected to/following ONA24 in Atlanta
Mid-October 2024: Post-Workshop Reflections & Check-In (Virtual, 2-3 hours)
Early November 2024: Closing Going-Forward Workshop (Virtual, Two-Day)

The 2024 Women’s Leadership Accelerator is supported by lead funder Dow Jones Foundation with additional funding from the Tiffany Shackelford Foundation and Ballard Spahr LLP.

We seek funders for each new program and have several opportunities to support this program as well as our other year-round programs for women in digital news leadership. To learn more about supporting the programs, contact Hanaa Rifaey, Head of Strategic Partnerships, at hanaa@journalists.org.

The application period for the 2022 Cohort is now closed.

Once the selection process is complete, 26 women leaders in digital journalism will receive yearlong support to level up their careers.

See Program Requirements

The Women's Leadership program began in 2015 and has evolved to be a year-long cohort experience. Learn about the past programs, including previous cohorts, speakers, sponsors and programming.