Young Entrepreneur Brings Good Nights Sleeps to All with Toy Inventions
By Home Business Magazine
Even the bravest adult may jump at a creak in the walls or the shadows flickering across the doorway. Lyla Black was only 3 years old when she and her parents started their first business. With her mother, Emmy Award-winning costume designer Erin Slattery Black, Lyla designed a line of monster plush toys that keep away those which go bump in the night!
Lyla declared that she wanted to make a monster for her Daddy as a gift, to protect him from other monsters. She drew the picture and her mother helped her “make it real” with fur, foam and fabric scraps. When Erin’s husband saw the monster, he loved it so Lyla and Erin made a few more to sell at a local craft fair in Astoria, New York. Lyla Tov Monsters was officially born.
What started out as the brainchild of a three year old and a nice mother/daughter activity has blossomed into a full fledged business and a whole slew of Lyla Tov (“Good Night” in Hebrew) Monsters, giving children all over a good night’s sleep! She and her family now sell four adorable monsters as well as a book, Billy & Dak.
Lyla was named Young Inventor of the Year at the 2014 Toy and Game Inventors Excellence awards in Chicago, and was given the “Wonder Girl” Young Toy Entrepreneur Award from Women in Toys in 2015. A percentage of the Lyla Tov Monsters proceeds are donated to a children’s charity each year.
“Most often babies and children are the recipients of our Lyla Tov Monsters, but they are often purchased by adults — especially grandparents!” Erin says. “We know of more than one grown up who sleeps more soundly with a Lyla Tov Monster by his or her side!
As a mother of four young children, “Being able to both start and end my work day in pajamas, taking a break in between to prepare dinner and help with homework is wonderful,” she says. “I feel like I have the chance to be fully invested as a professional and a mother.” She hopes that in a few years, Lyla Tov Monsters are widely available in retail stores nationwide and that it is a brand recognized and respected by children and adults alike. Visit http://www.lylatov.com. HBM
