The Founding of Cybergrrl and 
the WebGrrl Network
She first discovered computers when she started doing temp work and heard
that she could make more money per hour if she had computer skills. So she
learned basic word processing and eventually landed a job in the music
industry. Aliza hoped the music business would enable her to develop her
creative interests and skills while allowing her to cultivate her passion
for writing.
When she moved to New York City in the late 80's, Aliza sold her car and
with the money bought her first computer with a 1200 bps modem. She became
entranced with this new toy and probably could have been a hacker if she
had discovered computers as a kid. She had fallen into the typical "girl's
trap" of not being encouraged to excel in math and science while at
school.
Her time in the music business became a disappointment when she realized
that like many other industries, the men controlled the power gateways and
women were pretty much relegated to the inconsequential positions. She
might still be wondering about her career path in the music industry if it
wasn't for a traumatic, life changing experience in late 1994. She and a
friend were robbed at gunpoint and kidnapped!
Staring down the barrel of a loaded gun can get anyone to re-think their
life and after surviving the harrowing ordeal, Aliza bought a plane
ticket to Santa Fe to get away from New York City for awhile. While there,
she saw an ad for a $10 class in HTML programming class and signed up.
That changed the course of her life.
Aliza first created the Cybergrrl(sm) website in January 1995 and gave it a
double R because she felt it had more edge and personality. And being a bit
shy, she drew the Cybergrrl icon herself with a mouse, rather than putting
up her own photograph. A new media star was quietly born! The site started
out with links to women's home pages, domestic violence resources, and
Aliza's favorite things. In March, Cybergrrl was selected as a "Cool Site
of the Day" and suddenly the site gathered a significant following.
At these meetings, women are invited to tell what they do, what they need
from and what they have to offer to the Webgrrl community. These gatherings
are an incredible networking opportunity for women involved with or
interested in breaking into the new media industry, or just interested in
learning about the Internet in a comfortable environment. In less than two
years, the networking organization has grown to over 70 chapters
with over 3500 members. Several
chapters also do outreach to budding future Webgrrls through mentoring
programs with young girls and teens.
In the two years since the launch of Cybergrrl, it is one of the most
popular women-oriented sites. In addition to the Cybergrrl
and Webgrrl sites, Aliza's company also produces Femina, a directory of
women-friendly sites, and WomenSpace. There are also women's e-mail lists and a Cybergrrl comic strip will be introduced soon.
In addition to owning a thriving new media studio, Aliza is a popular
speaker about women on the Web at industry events and has appeared as a
columnist for websites including Lycos, Oracle and Lifetime TV and for
publications including Ms., Executive Female, The Net and Websight. And
only a few years ago, she had rejected computers as being cold, soulless,
horrible things that sapped creativity and encouraged monotony. Little
would she have guessed that the computer would become the impetus for some
of her best creativity to date.
Aliza Sherman certainly hadn't planned on becoming "Cybergrrl", the popular
icon leading women and girls onto the web. It all sort of happened by
accident. In fact, she doesn't even have a college degree and had taken
eclectic courses from Russian History to Shakespeare to Business Law
while she was enrolled in college. She spent time toiling as a waitress in
the local Howard Johnson's running the ice cream counter while trying to
decide what she wanted to do when she grew up.
April '95 was the inauguration month for another one of Aliza's brainchilds,
Webgrrls(sm), which has garnered her the position as the leading icon for
advancing the presence of females on the web and in the new media industry.
Because of the lack of women on the Net in early '95, Aliza thought it would
be great to meet the other women whom she had been visiting on the Web. She
put out the e-mail invitation and six women showed up for the first
Webgrrl's meeting which was held at the trendy @Café in New York's East
Village. Seven months later, the Webgrrl meetings were drawing 200 women and
they had to move to a twice-a-month format to accommodate the interest.
