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 1-5 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.

Our past fellows come from a diverse set of backgrounds, including top companies across various industries, nonprofits and philanthropy, as well as early employees at seed-stage startups.

We value and highly encourage candidates from any background, including unconventional backgrounds, to apply!

All fellows are assigned to an industry pod consisting of 1-2 mid-career mentors. Reaching out to other mentors is also welcome and encouraged.

The mentorship pairing will last for 12 months beyond the accelerator end, and mentors and fellows are expected to keep a regular cadence (to be determined by mutual preference).

Our past mentors include senior managers at Fortune 500 companies, founders of bootstrapped and venture-backed companies, and individual freelancers.

The full accelerator mentor roster will be shared with accepted fellows.

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, by the first week of March.

• 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.

The 6-week 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 6 weeks of dedicated programming, fellows and mentors are recommended to meetup 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 AAPI ERG happy hours.

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 2025 career accelerator is $200. Lunar Accel is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and is completely 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 6-week program. The cost to run the program averages $400-500 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.

Yes! We (and researchers) believe that grit and perseverance are some of the strongest predictors of success.

No, we welcome candidates from any nationality to apply — non-US citizenship does not negatively impact applications. However, we do require all fellows to be physically present in New York City for the duration of the program.

Yes! We’re actively seeking mentors with 8-25 years of experience with management and/or entrepreneurial experience. Mentors have access to all programming events. Learn more about joining as a mentor here.

At Lunar Accel, we strongly believe in supporting and giving back to the Asian American community with no strings attached and no profit incentives. From a tactical perspective, we also believe the developing the best possible program experience with the greatest impact is best done without the obligation to deliver a financial return. That's also why our speakers come in pro-bono and our team, board of director members, and mentors contribute their time on an entirely volunteer-basis.

Applications for our 2025 spring cohort will close Sunday, February 2 at 11:59 PM EST.

Please email us at hello@lunaraccel.org, and a member of our team will be in touch as soon as possible!