User:Weberika

Erika L. Rich (Walker) was born August 26, 1971 in Northern New Jersey to Eileen and Gregory Griffoul. She is an entrepreneur and has founded or co-founded several Internet companies, the main one being RUWebby, LLC.

Erika was “online” in virtual communities back in 1985 when the internet was a new frontier. She loved how one could communicate with people from all walks of life and areas of the world. After a 3 year long position in corporate America, Erika took a break from flickering screens and followed a long time childhood dream and started working with Standardbred racehorses in 1989. After years of long hours, meeting and making new friends from all over the world in real time and gathering the experience of dealing with dozens of demanding owners and trainers, Erika left the love of four footed friends behind to follow another dream.

Erika went on to try her hand at the world of Digital Graphic Design and showcase her artistic skills. A local small town newspaper, the Parsippany Focus, gave her a chance to show how quick she could not only learn how to layout an entire newspaper, but learn an entirely new computer operating system: Apple OS.

That spiraled into several different positions within the Printing Industry, culminating in several Printing and Graphic Design Awards at the Pip Printing National Conferences in Las Vegas, Nevada. She also worked for Minuteman Press of Parsippany and Sunset Thermographers. Hitting the salary ceiling in desktop graphic design at the time and not wanting to commute into New York City, she decided to try a career in the Internet and work for herself. A move that would offer more opportunities and expand her horizons.

Finding the new, current Internet world to be a rewarding and challenging place, she jumped in feet first with a fellow consulting friend, Richard Hayward, and started RUWebby, LLC in 1999. They wanted to provide customers with Project Management, Website Design and Development, Content Management, Software Training and Search Engine Marketing expertise.

Carolynn Monaco of CTM Job Solutions and Jay Benkovich and Nancy Eckert of The Birchwood Group, became RUWebby’s first clients. They are still with RUWebby today.

Richard stepped down in December of 2002 to pursue other interests, leaving Erika as sole proprietor of RUWebby.

Erika keeps her skills up-to-date by attending numerous educational classes in XML, ColdFusion, Microsoft seminars as well as researching the Internet on a weekly basis. She obtained my ColdFusion CFMX Development Certifications as well as completing an Advanced ColdFusion, JavaScript and Database Design Boot Camp in Atlanta, Georgia.

Erika keeps her life well rounded by playing golf, boating and fishing, reading, cooking and enjoying the company of her friends and family in North Georgia. She can be reached via her blog at WebErika.com.