Spring 2026 Accelerator

Lunar Accel's Career Accelerator is the premier leadership development program for the next generation of executives, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, community organizers, and changemakers.

📆 March 14 - April 18, 2026

📍New York City, NY

APPLY AS A FELLOW

If you’re interested in becoming a mentor instead, learn more here!

WHAT TO EXPECT

Exclusive Fireside Chats

Gain exclusive access to AAPI trailblazers changing industries — from Fortune 500 C-Suite executives and unicorn founders to Michelin-star chefs and next-gen AAPI consumer brands. These are the voices changing the game.
Personalized Mentorship & Career Coaching

Connect with mid-career professionals who will guide you, challenge you, and open doors for both personal and professional growth.
Lifelong Community

Join a lifelong community of like-minded, ambitious AAPI peers, mentors, friends, and even future cofounders and funders. Beyond the program, all fellow alumni remain connected through regular community-only karaokes, picnics, and more.

TESTIMONIALS

“Lunar is a great opportunity to meet other people who are also career-driven and meet mentors who are a few steps ahead; it is a thought-provoking program with people who are open-minded and want to get to know each other, offering opportunities to self-reflect and engage in meaningful conversation with others.”
Angela H., S’25 Fellow
“Lunar Accel is an amazing way to build community, not just professionally but personally too. Although everyone was from different industries and backgrounds, everyone is driven, curious, and committed to growing. The mentors were great as well: they weren't just willing to share career advice, but also offered perspective on personal growth and life outside of work. The program is an opportunity to be challenged, supported, and connected with people who genuinely want to help you succeed.”
Bonnie L., S’25 Fellow
“It's a great way to meet new people and to find a support systems as you go through your career. The fireside chats are very insightful and allowed me to visualize myself in the executive level when I couldn’t before.”
Anonymous S’25 Fellow
“There’s no other community out there specifically focused on connecting, mentoring, and empowering Asian American professionals in NYC! At the heart of Lunar Accel are the amazing people in the community, who radiate kindness and humility. The bonds you forge here last well beyond the walls of the Accelerator program.”
Sonya K., Past Mentor
“It fostered a lot of insightful dialogue around the Asian American experience working in America. I felt a sense a camaraderie sharing my experience with my peers and was relieved to hear that I am not alone in my experiences.”
Brian L., Past Fellow
“The cohort has a lot of really great people…I left feeling pretty excited. I also felt more empowered to speak up at work, and reflective on my short-term career goals - it's something that I've been thinking about recently, so I looked forward to the programming that…allowed me to further define my career goals and move toward them tangibly.”
Elizabeth H., Past Fellow
“Lunar Accel is truly a one-of-a-kind accelerator, which fosters deep connections between Asian-American professionals in a way I haven't ever experienced before...It was incredible to have the opportunity to share experiences and knowledge with the wider group, as well as providing specific advice and guidance to my mentee, an aspiring entrepreneur.”
Andrew L., Past Mentor
“As someone who entered unemployment during this program and was trying to navigate what path to take next - I’d say parts of this program definitely inspired me to take my aspirations for entrepreneurship into more serious consideration!”
Anonymous, Past Fellow
“Lunar Accel inspired me to take charge of my brand and my career ... I joined Lunar at a time when I felt lost in my career and didn’t know what I wanted to do next, and even after the accelerator ended, I continued to reach out to mentors and get on calls to learn about their experiences, and I now have a better idea of what I want to do.”
Anonymous, Past Fellow

SPEAKERS

Lily Yang Former CFO, Strava

Lily Yang is a global C-level finance executive, board member, and advisor who brings deep expertise in financial leadership, tax and treasury management, and operational scaling for high-growth businesses across technology and life sciences. Her leadership experience spans companies including Strava, Pinterest, Medivation, and Gilead Sciences, where she has driven transformative growth, complex M&A, IPO readiness, and global expansion. Her broad financial acumen and strategic mindset provide valuable perspective to boards and Audit Committees seeking rigorous oversight and disciplined execution.
Lily currently serves on 2 public company boards. She serves on the audit and compensation committee of CSG Systems International (NASDAQ: CSGS) and Xponential Fitness (NYSE: XPOF) as audit committee chair. Known for her ability to navigate scale and risk in dynamic environments, she has led over a dozen M&A transactions, multiple capital market initiatives, and supported expansion into more than 30 countries.
Up until July 2025, Lily was the Chief Financial Officer at Strava, a global connected fitness platform with over 150 million users. At Strava, she led finance, strategy, and analytics to drive profitable growth. In Early 2025, she led the acquisitions of Runna and Breakaway, two highly strategic and accretive transactions, funded through equity raised at a record valuation and a favorable debt facility.
Previously, Lily was Chief Accounting Officer at Pinterest, where she played a central role in taking the company public at a $13B valuation, managing a $1.5B investment portfolio, and scaling financial operations globally.
Earlier in her career, she was Vice President of Finance at Medivation, where she led financial operations through its $14B acquisition by Pfizer, one of the most value-accretive biotech exits of its time, delivering significant returns to shareholders. Prior to that, she spent over a decade at Gilead Sciences, rising through a series of finance leadership roles into VP Corporate Controller as the company scaled from $1B to over $20B in revenue. There, she led global FP&A, controllership, and treasury during a period of unprecedented growth and multiple blockbuster drug launches.
Lily holds a B.S. in Accounting and Managerial Information Systems from Boston University and is an inactive Certified Public Accountant. She brings a global perspective, operational rigor, and collaborative leadership style to organizations navigating growth, innovation, and governance.

Barbara Peng CEO, Business Insider

Barbara Peng is CEO of Business Insider, the popular and influential global news organization that focuses on business, technology, and innovation. Since becoming President of Business Insider in 2021, Peng has built a strong senior executive team and refined the brand’s strategy to refocus on the company’s ambitious, optimistic, and curious core audience.
Peng was previously President of Insider Intelligence, Insider Inc.'s research company, where she led the company’s merger with eMarketer, the renowned provider of digital intelligence and forecasts. She serves on the boards of Insider, Inc. and eMarketer. Peng graduated from MIT and lives in New York City.

Holman Gao Founder & CEO, Boost My School (Series A; Fundraising Platform for K-12 Schools)

Holman Gao is the Founder and CEO of Boost My School, the most complete payment solution for K-12 and higher-education advancement teams, trusted to raise over $100M every year across annual funds, capital campaigns, golf outings, and fundraising events. An engineer-turned-entrepreneur, Holman brings a blend of technical rigor and mission-driven leadership to building products that power real-world impact.
Holman began his career in Silicon Valley as a software engineer before turning his focus to education. What started as a side project to help his own high school math team raise money quickly evolved into something much bigger. That early experiment became Boost My School, which recently raised $10 million in venture capital funding to further scale its platform and expand its reach across the education sector.
Under Holman’s leadership, Boost My School has become a trusted partner to advancement teams across the country. His work reflects a broader belief in using technology to remove friction, unlock generosity, and strengthen the communities that schools serve.
Based in New York City, Holman remains deeply committed to education and community impact. Outside of work, he enjoys playing sports, making music with friends, and continually finding new ways to learn, build, and give back.

Luc Dang Founder & CEO, Phood (Series A; AI-Powered Food Waste Prevention Platform)

Luc Dang is the Founder and CEO of Phood, an AI-powered food waste prevention platform that helps food retailers and operators measure and reduce waste at the source. By using computer vision and machine learning, Phood enables businesses to turn food waste data into actionable insights that improve efficiency and support sustainability goals.
Inspired by growing up on a farm and later working in corporate finance, Luc founded Phood after learning that nearly 40% of food in the U.S. goes to waste. Since launching, the company has raised venture funding, including a $2M seed round, and is used by leading grocery and foodservice operators to meaningfully reduce waste and emissions.
Luc has been recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for social impact and sustainability.
Based in New York City, he continues to build technology at the intersection of food systems, data, and climate impact.

Spring 2026 Schedule

We are excited to announce an incredible line-up of in-person programming including:

👟 Opening Keynote with Lily Yang, former CFO of Strava (near IPO) and former CAO of Pinterest (NYSE: PINS)
🖋️ Closing Keynote with Barbara Peng, CEO of Business Insider
📈 Early-stage Founders Panel with Holman Gao, Founder & CEO of Boost (Series A), and Luc Dang, Founder & CEO of Phood (Series A)
🤝 Personalized mentorship from mid-career mentors, ranging from directors at Fortune 500s to venture-backed + bootstrapped founders
✏️ Small-group workshops and panels on topics such as managing up and negotiations
🥂 Community-building events in the city!

Note: These dates are still tentative and may be subject to change.

FAQs

Lunar Accel’s flagship career accelerator is a transformative leadership development program for ambitious, early-career East and Southeast Asian American professionals in New York. The program is a year-long experience that kicks off with 6 intensive weeks of structured programming, including:
- Exclusive Fireside Chats: Learn from industry-changing AAPI leaders, founders, and executives at organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies and unicorn startups to Michelin-star restaurants and rising AAPI consumer brands.
- Personalized Mentorship & Career Coaching: Build relationships with accomplished mid-career professionals, ranging from directors at Fortune 500s to bootstrapped 8-figure founders. Learn how they got there, from when they were in your shoes not so long ago.
- Lifelong Community: Join a lifelong community of like-minded, ambitious AAPI peers, friends, and mentors. Alumni get access to Lunar Accel events we host in the future!
Lunar Accel’s Career Accelerator is designed to expose fellows to speakers, mentors, and career advancement resources that would typically be less accessible in a day-to-day corporate environment. Fellows benefit from:
- Access to prominent Asian American executives, founders, and thought leaders
- Network of mid to senior-level mentors who can offer personalized guidance and support
- Priority access to alumni events, including galas, leadership and career coaching, founder fireside chats, and more
- Lifelong community of like-minded peers, supporters, and future co-founders and business partners
Eligible applicants should:
- Have 2-6 years of professional work experience, in any industry
- Be physically present in NYC (or within commuting distance) for the duration of the accelerator
- Identify as coming from an East and/or Southeast Asian background
There are a few groups that generally benefit the most from the program:
1. Individuals actively pursuing a leadership role or a promotion within the next 1-2 years,
2. Individuals considering pivoting industries/roles and/or pursuing an unconventional or high-risk career path
3. Individuals interested in or actively pursuing entrepreneurship,
4. Individuals interested in the Asian American experience, especially with regard to professional outcomes
However, there is no one-size-fits-all fellow archetype. All fellows share an aspiration to make an outsized impact on their community, but beyond that, fellows are extremely diverse in both background and career aspirations.
While we would love to accept all applicants, each year we receive many more applications than people we can accommodate. In spirit of fairness and transparency, all applicants will be reviewed via the following process:
- All applications are first passed through a blind review and evaluated according to a standardized rubric.
- Shortlisted applicants will be invited to a short chat with one of our team members.
- We aim to send out fellow acceptances 2-3 weeks prior to the program start date.
- Upon notification of acceptance, submission of the $200 program fee will be required within 72 hours (3 days) in order to reserve and confirm your place in the program (except in cases where financial aid has been requested).
- We reserve the right to release your space in the program after 72 hours to waitlisted applicants.
Our past fellows come from all industries, backgrounds, and organization sizes.
The program will conclude with a celebratory closing speaker event and banquet. All fellows, mentors, guest speakers, volunteers, and alumni are invited to commemorate the occasion.
Beyond the 5-6 weeks of dedicated programming, fellows and mentors are recommended to meet up at least once a quarter and will continue to have access to events year-round.
Past year-round events have included small-group dinner series with Sean Ro (Co-Founder, Lunar Hard Seltzer) and Daniel Chang (VP of M&A, AmEx Global Business Travel), as well as happy hours, potlucks, and more.
Those especially interested in taking an active leadership role in Lunar Accel are encouraged to speak to a current member of the leadership team about potential open roles!
The program fee for Spring 2026 career accelerator is $250. Lunar Accel is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and 100% operated by volunteers, so program fees are used exclusively to help us cover the cost of venues, speakers, and other expenses related to running the 5-6-week program.
The cost to run the program averages ~$500 per fellow – Lunar Accel subsidizes the majority of this cost as part of our mission to make our programs financially accessible to everyone.
Many companies have benefit policies that reimburse professional development and/or continuing education programs such as Lunar Accel. Check with your manager or HR team to see if you are eligible for these benefits.
Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we also offer scholarship opportunities for first generation professionals. Please see the below FAQ for more details!
As part of our mission to promote socioeconomic accessibility and diversity, Lunar Accel is proud to offer our First Generation Professional Scholarship for eligible applicants.
On top of our fellow eligibility requirements, you are eligible for this scholarship if you are the first in your immediate family to hold a white-collar professional role.
To be considered for this scholarship, please fill out an additional section in the application form. Lunar Accel reserves the right to determine eligibility on a case-by-case basis.
In addition to this scholarship, many companies have benefit policies that reimburse professional development and/or continuing education programs such as Lunar Accel. Check with your manager or HR team to see if you are eligible for these benefits. If you need help with process feel free to contact us and we can provide email templates to help facilitate the process.
Finally, if you are accepted to the program and the former two options do not apply to you, you may request financial assistance and we will evaluate on a case-by-case basis.
The 2026 Career Accelerator runs from March 15 to April 18, 2026.
In order to be fully engaged, fellows should expect to dedicate 3-5 hours each weekend, and 1-2 hours (optionally) on weekdays for community socials. However, each week will look different, and some weeks will be more or less.