We recently connected with Amani Berryhill and have shared our conversation below.

Amani, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Honestly, I just wanted to introduce the thought of inclusive play to families within my very own community but that’s not where it all began.

Before I mustard up the courage to start my own play business, I first became a healthcare warrior, oops I mean professional. It was my time in that industry, meeting new families and taking care of various different types of patients, where I found a new community looking for a solution to the limitations of traditional family entertainment places around Nashville. Please don’t get me wrong, I actually worked at a FEC to get through school but the patients I had didn’t have the same access to this place due to their different abilities. That made me frustrated but curious to find a way to become more inclusive. I learned to be an advocate but that wasn’t enough so I started the process to offer inclusive play to both neurodivergent and neurotypical families. There I hoped to encourage imaginative play, developmental skills, and foster a conversation amongst neighbors facing similar experiences…a hub of sort. THAT’S when Toddies was born.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

First off, hello I’m Amani! I created Toddies after deciding to stop complaining about lack of inclusion in Nashville within the Family Entertainment Center space. I wanted to produce this safe fun space to learn, play, and collaborate with other inclusivity advocates. Call me crazy but though I remained in healthcare, I started my journey within the play industry as a side project turned business. As a mom, I felt it was important to show my daughter that you should always inspire to help others while following your dreams and what better way than to start with play.

At Toddies, we deliver soft play equipment for celebrations, therapeutic sessions, and community events.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Quite certainly! Did you know we were on track to lease our first location a few months after origination? Thankfully COVID quickly halted those plans (only now I can say that). Our commercial-sized equipment was already making its way stateside and we had no clue if the world would “open back up” to have a place to use it. I was taught the lesson on pivoting and began to offer the equipment to mobile pediatric therapists who couldn’t go into their old offices but couldn’t afford not to treat patients for their progression. Then we pivoted to offering to families looking for a way to celebrate their little ones the safest way possible. Those days of sterilization techniques were paying off outside of the office and we provided contactless delivery.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My market was my community! My families and playmates trusted me from me previously taking care of them and how dedicated I am to delivering them the best of me in business. Word of mouth spread and now I’ve had the pleasure of gaining new playmates during a special time in their lives. I can’t wait to show them what I’ve been working on next just for them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ToddiesPlace.com
• Instagram: @toddiesplace
• Facebook: @ToddiesPlace
• Twitter: @toddiesplace