Mentor woman’s toy creation to hit stores nationwide this month
Mentor, Ohio — Sandy Harsanyi Murphy’s invention was born out of necessity.
After many a sleepless nights with a toddler who was afraid of being alone and in the dark, the Mentor mother was determined more than ever to help son Zoli make the transition from nursery crib to the big bed.
“I don’t think he was ready, but we needed him to be ready and it broke my heart,” recalls Murphy who, at the time, was eight months pregnant with her second child.
In one night, she hand-sewed a green stuffed animal with buttons for eyeballs and a hole in the back for a flashlight to be inserted. She wrote a story that encouraged Zoli to squeeze the toy’s tummy to light up his new room whenever he was scared.
It worked, and a nighttime guardian was created.
Murphy, a former part-time graphic designer and marketer now stay-at-home mom, became an accidental entrepreneur.
Two years later, her rough idea was turned into a product called “A Light in the Night,” a plush creature with eyes of a frog, long arms and a belly that gives off a nice green glow when pressed.
