Toks Aruoture turned £50, heartbreak, and a Google search into a luxury nursery empire that now calls Harrods home. Yes, that Harrods.
When the 2008 recession stripped her family of everything, including their home, business, and savings, Toks was pregnant and starting over in a friend’s guest room in the UK. With no money to hire help, she Googled “how to build a website,” took 26 days to complete it, and began reaching out to craftsmen across Europe to build what would become The Baby Cot Shop—a luxury nursery brand with storytelling and soul at its core.
The Baby Cot Shop is now the UK’s leading luxury nursery brand, trusted by royals, celebrities, and top hotels.
Today, Toks is more than a founder. She’s a speaker, podcaster, and storyteller reminding women that starting with nothing can be the greatest creative advantage of all—if you let it strip away your fear.
Toks continues to champion African excellence and in this conversation, she shared one major principle: your rock-bottom moment might just be your best marketing strategy.
Your journey began with losing everything and rebuilding with just £50. Could you take us through that important moment and the first steps you took toward creating The Baby Cot Shop?
Ah, yes, the £50 story. It wasn’t glamorous at all. We’d just moved back to the UK from the US after losing our home, business, and savings in the 2008 recession. I was pregnant with our fourth son, and we had to move in with friends. Everything we’d built was gone. I kept fighting my reality until one day I accepted that we’d lost everything. Acceptance gifts you with insight to see what you can build with. There’s something strangely liberating about having nothing, it strips away your fear of loss.
The first step wasn’t a grand plan. It was Googling “how to build a website” because I couldn’t afford a designer. That site took me 26 days. Then I contacted craftsmen across Europe to curate a selection of nursery furniture that felt like art. I started from where I was, with what I had. And that’s really the message I often share when I speak: you don’t need more to start, you need courage, and courage is moving forward in spite of fear. You also need mustard-seed faith.
The nursery is such an intimate and emotionally significant space in a home. What drew you specifically to luxury nursery design rather than other areas of interior design?
It started with a passion for interiors, my first “clients” were my own walls. I always had a knack for creating beauty in a space, and friends regularly sought guidance from me. So I enrolled on a design course after my employer at the time declined my request for part-time hours. I set up an interior design firm and not long after, we moved to the United States. We acquired a boutique baby furniture store in Atlanta, and that was it, I fell in love with craftsmanship and luxury interiors.
We would go on to lose the business- lose everything, and return to the UK, where I noticed the absence of beautifully made furniture. So I recreated an online version of what we’d built in Atlanta. That became the seed for The Baby Cot Shop.
In your TEDx talk “The Superpower of Authentic Storytelling,” you discuss embracing life’s uncertainties. Was there a particular moment that this rang through for you?
Absolutely. The day I received emails from five suppliers, all asking me to remove their products from my website. A competitor had convinced them to drop me and work exclusively with her, and they did. I went for a run so my children wouldn’t see me crying. As far as I was concerned, I’d just lost my business.
But I prayed while I ran, asking God what to do. And He said: “Design your own collection.” So that’s what I did. I started building what would become the BCS Collection.
That moment of loss became a turning point. I imagined how amazing it would be to tell the story, of how my suppliers dropped me in favour of someone else, and I built a furniture brand in response. That single thought gave me the courage to run with the idea.. And that’s exactly what I now do when I speak: I tell the whole truth, because I’ve seen how stories create connection. They open doors. And sometimes, they rebuild lives.
What did the launch in Harrods, London mean to you personally, beyond the business?
It was a full-circle moment. Everyone knows Harrods is the most iconic store in the world. Their sales slogan used to be, “There’s only one sale. There’s only one Harrods.” Before we opened our flagship store in Chelsea, I’d sometimes walk through Harrods and look at their nursery furniture. Every time, I walked away with the same thought: I can do this. I can even do better. But I had no idea how my brand would ever find a home there, until they reached out and invited us to open a concession.
The reception from Harrods has been incredibly warm and uplifting, and The Baby Cot Shop feels right at home in their nursery department.
Seeing our brand there isn’t just a business win. It’s a quiet nod from God saying, “I saw you. I never left.” It’s proof that if you build from the inside out, the results will last. The journey has been slow, intentionally so. I’m not afraid of failure, but I have no desire to fail again. I want the brand to be true, not just pretty. I want people to trust what we build.
You mention that the stories we feel ashamed of hold incredible power. What story from your past were you most hesitant to share, and how did embracing it transform your business or personal life?
Telling people I lost everything. I hated saying those words. It felt like failure. Like shame.
But once I began to own it, really own it, and rewrote that story into what I now call my Rock Star Story, everything changed. That one shift brought speaking invitations, brand collaborations, and conversations with people who said, “I chose to work with you because I trust you.”
Telling the truth not only set me free, it opened doors I didn’t even know existed. And it continues to be one of the most powerful parts of my work today, whether I’m on a podcast or a stage.
Between The Baby Cot Shop, The Revealry, your podcasts, and speaking engagements, you wear many entrepreneurial hats. How do you maintain focus and authenticity across these various ventures?
Some days I don’t. Some days I drop the ball. But I’ve learned to embrace the blessing of a new day. If I end the day feeling off-track, I remind myself: tomorrow is a clean slate.
All my work flows from the same source, helping people live from the inside out. Whether it’s designing a nursery, speaking on stage, or sharing an idea on a podcast, the message is always the same: beneath all the layers lies your most powerful self. When you live from that place, you’re not striving, you’re aligned. And alignment brings clarity. I am also a woman of deep faith, and my connection to God helps me.
You’ve built a successful business in a space traditionally associated with women. How do you navigate gender stereotypes while running a business that intersects motherhood and high-end design?
I don’t try to prove anything. I just do the work, and I do it well. I’m blessed to have been raised in a home where gender wasn’t used as a measuring stick. I’m the only girl sandwiched between brothers. I’m also married with four sons. So there weren’t many women around me growing up, but I was never treated differently.
I don’t walk into a room full of men and think, oh dear, I’m a woman. I’ve always been the only girl in the room. I just show up, do the work, and trust that the results will speak for themselves.
Your work centers on authenticity and “owning your narrative.” How do you guide women entrepreneurs to find confidence in sharing their authentic stories in business contexts that often reward conformity?
I remind them that we all carry stories we’ve tried to bury. And it’s those very stories that connect us.
We connect better with people through shared experiences, not just the wins, but the stumbles. I’ve found that when women reframe their story with honesty, something powerful happens. Their brand becomes more than a business, it becomes a voice. And that voice resonates far deeper than any sales pitch ever could.
Your podcast “Living Inside Out and The Authentic Edge” focuses on purpose-driven entrepreneurship. How do you personally balance profit motives with purpose in your business decisions?
I believe the most important thing I can do with my life is fulfil the reason God placed me on this earth. That belief is at the heart of everything I do. Purpose isn’t a side note, it’s the foundation. I could be selling furniture or flipping panckakes, it wouldn’t change my mission.
That said, I still look at the numbers. But when a decision looks good on paper and feels off in my spirit, I pause. I am a risk taker, but I also use my intuition. I don’t take opportunities that don’t sit right in my spirit.
What advice would you give to young women who dream of building luxury brands but don’t see many people who look like them in those spaces?
Start anyway. I believe our desires are a strong indication of our ability.
Representation is powerful, but don’t wait for permission to be what you’ve never seen. Be the example you wish existed. And when you feel doubt creeping in, reconnect with your core- the part of you that is connected to God. Try not to be obsessed with the need to see people who look like you, as it can be distracting.
Also, get mentorship. Surround yourself with friends who will challenge you, champion you, and remind you who you are when you forget.
As you look toward the future of female entrepreneurship, what emerging trends or opportunities do you see that particularly excite you for the next generation of women business leaders?
I see a growing hunger for meaning. Women are no longer satisfied with surface-level success. They want work that matters. They want to leave a mark.
What excites me most is the rise of micro-communities, small, purpose-led groups who support each other and shape culture together.
I also see a beautiful intersection forming between technology, storytelling, and heart. And that’s where I believe the future lies, for women who lead with purpose and aren’t afraid to share their journey out loud.
