Girl Ambition launches community site for girls
Girl Ambition is launching a community web site for girls ages 7 to 13 today. While there are many sites that target this group, the three moms who founded Girl Ambition say they’re focusing on creating a fun place where girls can communicate with each other in an environment that promotes both online safety and self-esteem.
The Danville, Calif.-based site is a kind of starter social network for girls who can graduate to sites such as MySpace or Facebook later in life, said co-founder and chief executive Hilary DeCesare.
The site has a cute two-dimensional style with lots of colors and features games, live chatting, videos, contests, instant messaging, email, an original Web video show, and an area where parents can interact. As a mother, DeCesare said she learned that children have to be taught how to safely use the Internet and still communicate freely with other children. She said she was concerned about the lack of role models for females and about unsettling Internet experiences such as cyber bullying.
DeCesare (left) previous worked at Oracle for 10 years and was a founder of Whitespace. Co-founders include serial entrepreneur Paige McCullough (right, previously founder of the San Francisco Baking Co.) and Kim Bruce (center). The company has 10 employees and has been funded to date by the founders and angels. Now that it’s launched, it’s starting to look for an institutional round of funding. The company has a team of expert advocates, including Dr. Robert B. Field, founder and director of Quest Family Guidance Center and Directive Parenting; Debbie Johnston, cyber-crime activist and president of SaferSchools.org; and Dr. Michele Borba, an educator and author.
The company has been testing the site since August and has more than 1,000 users. Among them is a group of girls who roam the site and offer their insights about what could be improved. The site’s safe Internet tools include email and IM clients that require parental approval. The site costs $4.99 a month or $49.90 a year to join. It will also make money from sponsored events and ads on the parents’ section of the site.
The company was founded about 18 months ago. Its competitors include sites such as Club Penguin, Habbo, Mattel’s Barbie site, and a variety of other girl-focused game worlds.
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About the Author, Dean Takahashi
Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.