In 1994, James Clark, her boss at Silicon Graphics Inc., told her he wasleaving to start a new company called Mosaic Communications. She askedwhether she might go with him.

Mr. Clark was delighted that she was willing to take a flier on the newenterprise. And she was his first hire. There would be no raise in pay, hetold her, just the same $53,000 she was already making, but he would throwin 10,000 stock options that would allow her to buy Mosaic shares athalf-a-penny each.

To Ms. Schjerning, who is now 58 years old, it was a meaningless gesture. "Ididn't know what a stock option was," she says. But she admired Mr. Clark,who, she says, is a smart and generous guy, and she figured that her ownincome would increase in the new job.

Little did she know. On Nov. 28, 1994, Mosaic changed its name to NetscapeCommunications Inc., and on the day of the company's initial publicoffering, Ms. Schjerning made 20 years' pay. She thus joined the small butgrowing ranks of millionaire secretaries of the internet age. (Dozens ofcompanies, including UUNets in Fairfax, Virginia; Ascend Communications Inc.in Alameda, California; and Cisco Systems in San Jose, boast millionairesecretaries.)

These days she is a retired secretary, free to spend her days golfing,driving her Dodge Durango and watching the financial news on CNBC."It used to boggle me when Jim talked about millions. For me, a $100 billwas a huge thing," she says.

Things have changed for Ms. Schjerning and other, too. The Newport Beach,California, chapter of the International Association of AdministrativeProfessionals, a secretaries group, has bought in an accountant, SimonPearlman, to speak on tax planning and stock options. Secretaries "arehaving discussions that are very similar to the discussions executiveshave," says Mr. Pearlman, who runs a CPA firm in Irvine.

At the same time, a Silicon Valley secretarial-help firm, Palo Alto StaffingServices, in the past year began specializing in internet start-ups. As aresult, 70 per cent of the firm's placements are in companies that offerstock options. Secretaries are realizing that "if you're at a traditionalcompany, you'll do better by joining a start-up and getting stock options,"says Cathy Searby, the company's president.

Meanwhile, help-wanted ads for secretaries, like one that ran April 11 for areceptionist at Homestead Technologies, in Menlo Park, California, mentionstock-option packages even before they tout vacation days.

All this excitement may be just what is needed this week, ProfessionalSecretaries Week in the U.S. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,the number of secretaries in the U.S. has plummeted to 2.8 million in 1998from four million in 1986.

"There's been a shortage because of the image problem," says Rick Stroud, aspokesman for the administrative professionals association based in KansasCity, Missouri. (Last year the group changed its name to the IAAP fromProfessional Secretaries International.)

Of course, most companies' stock options never do go through the roof. Awoman interviewing in Ms. Searby's office says that three times she hasreceived stock-option packages from computer-software companies and threetimes they have fizzled.

Ms. Schjerning, one of the lucky ones, still doesn't want to be compared toa lottery winner. "I earned every penny of it," says Ms. Schjerning, adding,``Believe me.''

Indeed, even before Ms. Scherning understood what options were, she knewthat the job she took with Mosaic was a grind. She put in 14-hour and16-hour days, working alongside Mr. Clark, engineer Bill Foss and Netscapeco-founder Mark Andreessen. There was a decided lack of creature comforts.For two months, before Netscape got its office, she had to work at Mr.Clark's home using a TV tray as her desk.

Soon, Ms. Schjerning came to be known as ``Netscape Mom'' -- and she put thetitle on her business card. It was apt. She did all the things secretariesdo -- managing Mr. Clark's schedule, fending off people who wanted too muchof his time -- but she also bought dinners, straightened ties, brusheddandruff off shoulders, scrubbed toilets and cleaned the office. ``I'd findold pieces of hamburger and pizza,'' she says, adding, ``(The earlyemployees) were like little kids, you know.''

Says Mr. Clark: ``She was kind of like a dorm mother in the early days. Ithink she actually did their laundry occasionally.''

When she started at Netscape, Ms. Schjerning's own home was in a trailerpark in San Jose where she had moved in order to care for her aging parents.``I would go home from work and be absolutely exhausted and then go in andcheck on them,'' she says.

Despite the hardships, Ms. Schjerning made her mark on the company,``Without D'Anne, there would be no Netscape,'' says Mr. Foss.On Aug. 8, 1995, the company's shares opened on New York Stock Exchangetrading at $28 and quickly jumped above $70. Despite a caution fromNetscape's then-CEO Jim Barksdate to ignore the stock price, employees wereriveted. As an executive secretary, ``I had to act restrained,'' says Ms.Schjerning, ``But it was difficult.'' A fellow worker had come in with anelectronic stock ticker and had put it on her desk.

Netscape's stock closed its first trading day at $54. D'Anne Schjerning,still living in the trailer park, was worth $1.08 million.

Ms. Schjerning started selling shares in December 1995 and over the nextthree years, she sold all of her stock for a total of $1.2 million, to``better my life,'' she says. (The thrice-divorced Ms. Schjerning also gave4,000 options -- 20 per cent of her holdings -- to her sons, now 36 and 38years old.) With the proceeds, she treated herself to frequent massages,trips to Mexico, season tickets to the San Jose Sharks hockey team and awhite Cadillac. ``I had the nicest car in the whole mobile park,'' shesays.

After she retired in 1997, Ms. Schjerning paid $365,000 for a townhouse in awealthy retirement community outside San Jose. On a Monday morning earlythis month, Ms Schjerning's phone rings, interrupting her concentration onthe stock ticker running along the base of her television. ``I know! shesqueals to her friend on the other line, a secretary at America OnlineInc., which had just acquired Netscape. ``AOL was at 170!'' (Ms. Schjerningstill has some AOL stock she bought for what she calls her ``play account.'')Does Ms. Scherning know how to set up a charitable trust for tax purposes?Asks the secretary, Jane Hoelker. Ms. Schjerning urges her to talk to anaccountant.

As she hangs up the phone, Ms. Schjerning remarks: ``I never thought I'd beasked these questions. These are things I had never heard of before.''

The Asian Wall Street Journal