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:
- Alana Rocha, Director of News Partnerships, The Texas Tribune
- Ashleigh Graf, Freelance
- Brianna Lee, Engagement Producer, College Pathways, KPCC public radio / LAist
- Britt 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 News
- 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 Ibáñez-Baldor, Senior Art Director, The 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 Satagopan, Product Director, CalMatters
- Shereen Adel, Editorial Operations Manager, KALW
- Stephanie Rivera, Audience Editor, Colorado Public Radio
- Tomi Omololu-Lange, Product Manager, Mobile + Immersive, TIME
- Uli Köppen, Head of AI + Automation Lab, Co-Lead of BR Data, Bayerischer Rundfunk
- Viktorija Mickute, Senior Producer, AJ Contrast, Al Jazeera Digital
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 Foundation, Inasmuch Foundation, the Tiffany Shackelford Foundation and Otter.ai.
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.