Always Icecream is an Internet platform developed by educational experts, including teachers, academics, homeschooling parents, and award-winning software developers. The site is operated by Miaplaza Inc. - an US-German software development company founded 2004 and located in Silicon Valley.

Miaplaza's founder and CEO Dr. Johannes Ziegler came up with the idea for Always Icecream when he was looking for an appropriate internet website for his three daughters. In search of a site that combines safety, fun, educational value and online networking he was unhappy with the existing sites. That's how the idea for Always Icecream was born.

An international team has developed Always Icecream between between Fall 2008 and September 2009. This team consists of Brhan Marcos, a young German student with Eritrean origin. She worked with Larissa Sheppard from Truckee, CA, a 15 year old gifted drawing talent who developed all the manga graphics of Always Icecream's "host" Aki. The developers team lead by Tobias Polley are Thomas Köhn, Thomas Rehn, Martin Maas, Florian Benz, Max Haslbeck, Christian Borkenhagen, Benjamin Karran, Jan Gosmann, Ludwig Schmidt, Julian Rüth, Christoph Flake, and Daniel Ziegler. Many of them are award winners of national and international software developers contests.

There is also family spirit on Always Icecream. Dr. Johannes Ziegler's wife Swenja, both educated at top schools in Europe, Asia, and the United States, and their daughters contributed many ideas to Always Icecream. Stefan Petry (product management) and Tobias Bielenstein (Communications) contributed not only with their professional insights but also as fathers as well as David Hansen (Marketing) as a father and grandfather. They were assisted in the marketing team by Mirco Ghilardi from Switzerland and Rafael Haymann from Germany. The graphics concept was developed by Bastian Langgut.

Also part of the team are many girls aged between 7 and 12 in the US and in Germany who helped with invaluable feedback and many ideas while Always Icecream was developed. Their important insights made Always Icecream happen as a fun and educational environment for girls only.

More information for parents is provided here. If you would like to learn more about miaplaza please click here.