We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sara Altukhaim. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sara below.

Hi Sara, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with a fun one – what’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?

I launched The Toyary because I believe there’s a more sustainable, convenient and community-driven way for our children to access learning and inclusive-based toys and games without the personal cost, clutter or commitment.

I have three kids myself that span 4-8 years old now. The pandemic magnified our need for learning through play while also magnifying the huge challenge of toy consumption. Simply put, children need toys and games to learn. This is their #1 job. As parents, we also need toys to keep sane!

However, the usual ways of “consuming” toys are not effective or sustainable. As much as we need them, more toys lead to more clutter, more spending and massive waste. The vast majority of toys are made of non-recyclable plastic. As one of the most plastic intensive industries in the world, traditional toy consumption raises huge environmental concerns. At the same time, rotating toys and play experiences is vital to our children’s development. The Toyary exists to solve the problem of toy waste while giving kids even more options for play.

Sara, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Based just north of Boston, we launched The Toyary to offer an alternative path to toy consumption and constructive play—one that could help positively influence the ways that the youngest (and most rapidly developing) among us perceive consumption, approach reuse and sharing, and engage locally.

As busy parents ourselves, we think one of the biggest benefits of joining our toy lending platform and service is that The Toyary just helps make life easier, less cluttered and more affordable for caregivers. Our members like to think of and use us as a toy library or toy share, but one that places convenience above all. To keep toy lending accessible to busy parents, our entire collection is available online and members have the option to swap orders in person at our warehouse or pickup location(s) or through deliveries.

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

The Toyary brings a very different concept and way of consuming toys and games to the table. One of the biggest challenges from the start is driving basic awareness of our model along with the benefits that come with shifting toward a more lending- and reuse-driven mindset. We can talk passionately about what we’re doing and why all day, but at the end of the day we have to actually show it. We do this by paying strong attention to the quality and condition of the toys and games we offer in our collection, by strengthening our reverse logistics prowess locally and by building up an archive of toy and game parts that keep lending as stress-free as possible for members. I think it’s this attention to detail and constant improvement that is key to building our reputation in a world where our model is not the norm, and where (social) word of mouth is everything.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

While our social media presence is still growing, we are mighty! Word of mouth, largely via social media, is vital to driving awareness of The Toyary and fueling our mission. Our members have truly become our advocates and social media helps us channel that advocacy in ways that are helpful to others too. These are the 3 lenses I use most when it comes to the types of content I lean on:

*Does it show or tell? As a social media consumer, I personally don’t want to be lectured or told to do things. What I do want is to see what is working for others, and how. Genuine images and testimonials of our members at play go a long way, as does the ability to showcase our collection in its entirety now that we have a bigger warehouse space to display everything.

*Is it authentic? It is so easy and unhealthy to get caught up in trying to please an algorithm. When we do this, we risk creating content that can feel and be artificial. I’d rather devote time to post content that is invigorating to me because I know it will excite and please our members versus spending precious time to force content for the sake of it.

*Is it helpful? As the person running a business, we can sometimes overlook the things that we take for granted because we are so immersed in them. For example, taking a minute to capture and share the behind-the-scenes stories and reels of our inventory doesn’t just provide great social value, it helps reinforce all we are doing to truly serve our members and to let them know the vast (and growing) options they have available to them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thetoyary.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetoyary/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetoyary
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-al-tukhaim-8586814/

Image Credits
Images are all by me/The Toyary