Toks Aruoture: Speaker Profile
Toks is a British-Nigerian businesswoman and the founder of The Baby Cot Shop, a luxury baby furniture brand based in London. She hosts the acclaimed podcast Living Inside Out with Toks.
“The most valuable tools for exponential growth are the gifts each person carries…”
A great believer in using her natural gifts, Toks left her career in the pharmaceutical sales industry and launched her interior design business, specialising in residential homes. Shortly afterwards, she transitioned her passion for interiors into her first retail establishment in the United States, where she developed a love for craftsmanship and luxury furniture.
The financial crisis in 2008 led to her relocation back to the UK. After exploring the market, she discovered a gap in luxury furniture for babies. Toks established her new company, The Baby Cot Shop, an online shopping destination for discerning expectant parents. Five years later, she transitioned it into a brick-and-mortar store located on the famous King’s Road in Chelsea, London.
Her inspirational work has been featured on the pages of major British and international publications, including Vogue and Hello! Magazines, and her clients include celebrities, sports personalities, and royalty. Toks works with entrepreneurial women who want to play bigger in their businesses. First shortlisted for the Precious Best Business Award in 2012, Toks has gone on to become the absolute best at helping female professionals transition into entrepreneurship so they can use their skills to play bigger.
She is a highly creative, dynamic, impeccably presented, and driven luxury business owner with over ten (10) years of business experience. Having started and scaled her business, Toks understands the dynamics of business growth and knows how to maximise a brand’s awareness, sales, and profitability.
Toks believes that the most valuable tools for exponential growth are the gifts each person carries, but limiting beliefs often envelop them, which makes accessing their exceptional abilities nearly impossible. Through her speaking and coaching, she helps women in business unwrap their gifts by identifying and removing these mindsets so they can excel.
She was a finalist at the prestigious Kensington & Chelsea Business Awards in 2018 and 2019 and twice shortlisted for Retailer of the Year by the Women in Business Awards in 2015 and 2016. Toks is passionate about transferring her knowledge to the younger generation, and she mentors young people through the award-winning charity Urban Synergy.
In July 2020, Toks was one of fifty business owners selected by the UK Government in their GREATInspirations Campaign. The campaign celebrated businesses that responded remarkably during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Toks keynotes at women’s conferences and corporations; her corporate client list includes PricewaterhouseCoopers and Spring Fair, UK. In 2023, Toks delivered a powerful TED Talk, The Superpower of Authentic Storytelling.
To book Toks as a speaker for your next event, send a message or download her speaker pack.
