Women’s Leadership Accelerator 2022

The Women’s Leadership Accelerator is an intensive program that supercharges the leadership and management skills of women who are pushing digital innovation. The tuition-free program kicks off with three days of tailored, immersive virtual programming for 26 promising women leaders.

ONA provides support and coaching to participants throughout the year, through online workshops and coaching tailored to the needs of the cohort. Following the virtual kickoff, the 2022 cohort members will gather as a group in person in June and September for workshops of customized programming.

Selected from a pool of more than 200 applicants, the 26 women in 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.

Alana Rocha
Director of News Partnerships
The Texas Tribune
Ashleigh Graf
Freelance
Brianna Lee
Engagement Producer, College Pathways
KPCC/LAist
Brittany Cheng
Senior Digital Analyst
NPR
Caroline Nyce
Senior Associate Editor
The Atlantic
Catherine Jaffee
Founder/CEO, AMPED
House of Pod
Chaseedaw Giles
Digital Strategy & Audience Engagement Editor
Kaiser Health News
Christine Loureiro
Digital Editor
Toronto Star
Donesha Aldridge
Executive Producer of Digital Content
WXIA 11Alive
Emily Yount Swelgin
Chief Product Officer
The 19th
Gabriela Torres
Head of BBC World Service Social Team
BBC
Irene Noguchi
Executive Producer of Opinion Audio
The New York Times
Isadora Varejão
Engagement Producer
Retro Report
Jackie Bischof
Managing Editor for Business
Insider UK
Kaitlyn Jakola
Managing Editor
The Trace
Katie Bloor
Product Director, Experimentation
Dow Jones
Martina Ibanez-Baldor
Senior Art Director
Los Angeles Times
Nokuthula Manyathi
Deputy Multimedia Editor
News24
Ruth Serven
Education Editor
AL.com
Samanta Dias do Carmo
Newsroom Coordinator
The Intercept Brasil
Sapna Satagan
Product Director
CalMatters
Shereen Adel
Editorial Operations Manager
KALW
Audience Editor
Colorado Public Radio
Tomi Omololu-Lange
Product Manager, Mobile and Immersive
TIME
Uli Koeppen
Head of AI + Automation Lab, Co-Lead of BR Data
Bayerischer Rundfunk
Viktorija Mickute
Senior Producer
AJ Contrast, Al Jazeera Digital

The 2022 Women’s Leadership Accelerator provides:

  • Virtual kickoff workshop in March and an in-person cohort gathering in June, focused on hands-on personal and professional work; candid discussions about leadership, work-life balance and problem-solving in the newsroom; deep dives on developing leadership and management skills; and one-on-one mentoring from industry leaders
  • A year of check-ins and practical, targeted guidance and personal coaching on individual challenges
  • Registration to the 2022 Online News Association Conference (ONA22)
  • Closing workshop for the cohort in September, coinciding with ONA22
  • The opportunity to be a part of a cohort of peers to serve as a strong career-long support system

The 2022 Women’s Leadership Accelerator is supported by lead funder Dow Jones Foundation, with additional support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Inasmuch Foundation, the Tiffany Shackelford Foundation and Otter.ai.

Dow Jones Foundation

To learn more about supporting the program, contact Jessica Strelitz, Chief Strategic Partnerships Officer, at jessica@journalists.org.