Aliza Sherman

Aliza Sherman (Uh-LEE-zuh; also Aliza Pilar Sherman and Aliza Sherman Risdahl) born December 19, 1964, Honolulu, Hawaii) is a new media entrepreneur, author, women's issues activist, and international speaker.

Sherman has received recognition for her role as an entrepreneur focused on women's issues, particularly women's role in the new media industry and their participation on the Internet.

Cybergrrl and Webgrrls

In 1995, she founded the first full-service Internet company owned by a woman - Cybergrrl, Inc. - and the first global women's new media networking organization - Webgrrls International, a hybrid of online and offline networking, education and mentoring for women interested in technology-related fields. She also launched the first three general interest web sites for women - Cybergrrl.com, [http://www.webgrrls.com Webgrrls.com] , and [http://www.femina.com Femina.com] - all predating other major women's web sites. Lambert, Laura. (2005). "Aliza Sherman." in "The Internet: A Historical Encyclopedia. Part 1, Biographies." Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.] She is credited with coining the term "Webgrrls" to refer to women with Web sites. [ Carla Sinclair. "Net Chick: A Smart-Girl Guide to the Wired World." Henry Holt, 1995.]

The initial goal of Webgrrls was to provide a way for women to meet other women who were interested in and knowledgeable about the Internet. From Webgrrls' start as a series of meetups in New York City, the organization grew to include Webgrrls chapters founded around the US and eventually around the world. In addition to this Webgrrls International offered job lists and online training to members.

Past work

Sherman was named by Newsweek magazine as one of the "Top 50 People Who Matter Most on the Internet" in 1995, one of only three women on the list [ "The net 50." "Newsweek" (12/25/95, Vol. 126/127, Issue 26/1)] .

She spent 1995 through 1999 speaking about the Internet for women at colleges and universities including Harvard Business School, Simmons College Graduate School of Management, Rutgers, New York University and Columbia University School of Business. She was also invited to speak internationally about issues pertaining to women and the Internet at events including Technology Conference for Women's NGOs, De Haag, Netherlands; Links Education Technology Conference, Stockholm, Sweden; 1999 Women Leaders Conference, Wellington, New Zealand and 1999 Women's Summit of the Americas, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

She was part of the American Association of University Women's Educational Foundation Commission on Technology, Gender, and Teacher Education exploring the technology gender gap in schools culminating in a report called [http://www.aauw.org/research/girls_education/techsavvy.cfm Tech-Savvy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age (2000)] .

She has been an advisor to nonprofit organizations for girls including [http://www.genaustin.org GenAustin] and numerous websites and women-owned Internet businesses including [http://www.hipguide.com HipGuide] and [http://www.collegebroadband.com College Broadband] .

In 1997 she left Webgrrls to concentrate on writing. In 2000, Kevin Kennedy became CEO of both Cybergrrl, Inc. and Webgrrls. In 2001, Sherman relocated to Wyoming from New York City. ["Ex-tech pioneer finds she's at home on the range." " [http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/2002/01/16/maney.htm USA Today, 01/15/2002] ."]

Current work

She is an avid blogger with several blogs of her own including [http://babyfruit.typepad.com/ Babyfruit] and [http://babyfruit.typepad.com/mediagirl Aliza Sherman Rants and Raves] .

Her sixth book is "The Everything Blogging Book," published in 2006.

Bibliography

Books by Sherman include:

* "PowerTools for Women in Business: 10 Ways to Succeed in Life and Work." (Entrepreneur Press, 2001) ISBN 1-891984-32-2
* "Cybergrrl @ Work: Tips and Inspiration for the Professional You." (Penguin Putnam, 2001) ISBN 0-425-17656-8
* "Cybergrrl: A Woman's Guide to the World Wide Web." (Ballantine, 1998) ISBN 0-345-42382-8
* "The Everything Blogging Book." (Adams Media, July 2006) ISBN 1-59337-589-1.

References

Notes

Other references
* "Aliza Sherman: Cybergrrl at the wheel" - " [http://archives.cnn.com/2001/CAREER/jobenvy/05/04/cybergrrl/ CNN, May 4, 2001] "
* "Cybergrrl" author aims to get more women on the Web" - " [http://www.cnn.com/books/dialogue/9802/aliza.sherman/index.html CNN, Feb 9, 1998] "
* "Aliza Sherman as `Cybergrrl' propels women and girls into cyberspace" - "The Augusta Chronicle/Associated Press, December 4, 1996" [http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/120496/girl.html]

External links

* [http://www.witi.com/wire/witiwomen/asherman/asherman_complete.shtml Interview with Aliza Sherman] , from WITI
* [http://www.mediaegg.com/ Mediaegg.com] -- Sherman's personal website.
* [http://webgrrls.com/ webgrrls.com]
* [http://www.femina.com/ femina.com]