On February 15th, radio station KCRW hosted the Online News Association’s closing event to their annual Women’s Leadership Accelerator launch and conference. The conference focused on career seminars and workshops for women working in online media and journalism.

Online News Association program director Jennifer Mizgata (right) interviews Hammer Museum program director Claudia Bestor (left), and KCRW general manager Jennifer Ferro during the ONA’s Women’s Leadership Accelerator event mixer, held at Santa Monica College’s CMD campus, in Santa Monica, CA, February 15, 2019. (Julie Dole/ Pirate)

Pirate Staff

On February 15th, radio station KCRW hosted the Online News Association’s closing event to their annual Women’s Leadership Accelerator launch and conference. The conference focused on career seminars and workshops for women working in online media and journalism.

SMC media and journalism students also attended, as space permitted.

Held at the station’s new production offices on SMC’s CMD campus, the closing event began with a casual meet-and-greet, followed by an on-stage group interview, called: How KCRW and the Hammer Museum Build Audience Through Meaningful Experiences.  

Onstage, ONA program director Jennifer Mizgata interviewed Hammer Museum program director Claudia Bestor and KCRW general manager Jennifer Ferro.  In addition to asking Bestor and Ferro about their audience-building programming, Mizgata queried her two guests about their careers, including how they progressed in their workplaces, and specific advice for new or mid-career women in media.

ONA’s Women’s Leadership Accelerator is an intensive, year-long program designed to boost and refine women’s leadership and management skills in the realm of digital innovation.

Program participants compete annually to join that year’s cohort class.  Each cohort member chooses a challenge specific to their careers, learning skills and tools to steer their professional trajectories and career impact.  The Accelerator program launches each February, with a week of tailored, immersive programming, and each September, a workshop at ONA’s annual conference closes that year’s Accelerator cohort class.

Based in Washington D.C., the ONA is the world’s largest association of digital journalists.  Their membership includes everyone from journalists, technologists, and executives, to academics and students who produce news media, as well as those who support digital delivery systems.

The Los Angeles-area ONA work group can be found at: https://www.meetup.com/ONA-LA.

Membership is not required to join this meetup group.

For more information and an application to apply to the ONA’s Women’s Leadership Accelerator, see: https://journalists.org/programs/womens-leadership-accelerator/

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