Inspiring Conversations with Bianca Sisillo-DeFries of Inspired Play Cafe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bianca Sisillo-DeFries.

Hi Bianca, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hello, I am Bianca, soul owner, investor, CEO + Creative Founder of INSPIRED Play Café LLC. I am a Christian woman of great faith who loves the Lord, wife to my husband Robert, and mother to four beautiful children. From young as I can recall, I’ve had a natural love and connection with children. Without effort, I have always been fascinated in understanding and observing human behavior, specifically, “why we do what we do and what motivates us?” As a teenager, I had a vision from God and at that time all I could see when I closed my eyes was what ended up being the building of Overland Park location, INSPIRED Play Cafe, but it was empty space with white walls and front windows. Many years later, after I began motherhood, I began getting more pieces to the puzzle. I began working with my friends, who then became my business consultants. I had vision to build a space where children could gather to be loved, to learn, and to grow. A vision where the world would be changed one community at a time. As I always say, this was only the beginning to something greater.

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I grew up in Overland Park, KS my whole life and graduated from Johnson County Community College in 2013 with an associate’s degree in Criminal Justice. I went on to study further (yes, I love school) and graduated from the University of Kansas in 2016, with my degrees in Applied Behavior Analysis and Psychology. At KU, I also did a year-long practicum in a laboratory for Organizational Behavioral Management, where I consulted with other businesses to make their operation more effective with research-based methods. I also obtained a certificate in Leadership Excellence and Community Building, as I have always had a love for community building and leadership. After college, I became credentialed as a Registered Behavior Technician (ABA Therapist). I then worked clinically for seven years, specializing in providing 1:1 Behavioral Therapy for children and mostly worked with military families out of Ft. Leavenworth. Finally, and in the midst of this, I was a primarily stayed home after my son was born.

It was here, the beginning of motherhood, where I noticed an immediate demand and lack of indoor places for children. I was planning my son’s 2nd birthday party and realized I had almost no options. Not only was this concept lacking, but so was the educational and nutritious piece to “play places”. That is when I began researching and self-teaching educational methods to play. Soon after, I changed my home environment and lifestyle to reflect a child led, play based living environment for my son and other children who would come to our home to visit. I also began to share my sons educational play journey with other moms and friends through social media by creating “AuggiesMontessori” account. This is when I noticed the sincere and deep interest others had in learning and experiencing educational play and the environments in their own lives. At this moment, I became inspired to bring my teenage, God given vision, its first breath of life!

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INSPIRED Play Cafe LLC bridges the gap between a child-led, play educational environment for the whole-child and a full-service cafe, with nutritious food and beverage for the whole community to enjoy.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Owning a small business and a brick and mortar at that is nothing close to easy or simple. There are many challenges along the way that require you to be resilient, stick to your vision, and walk in love no matter what the circumstances in front of you look like. I opened in the middle of COVID, so getting people to trust that it was safe to be back in the community was a challenge for sure. I believe I gracefully was able to do that by providing sanitization solutions along the way and just by meeting my guests where they were at in their comfort zone. As a business that primarily caters to women and children, one can imagine the weight that carries as people are trusting me with their entire livelihood. I would say the biggest challenges I have faced are financially. People truly want the support that this concept provides but then the economy has changed so much in the last four years that I do believe that affects the communities ability to attend “extra” activities like a play cafe. All in all, I truly have been met with so much grace and support from people who come visit my two facilities. People are more kind and loving than we currently give society credit for.

We’ve been impressed with Inspired Play Cafe, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are Kansas City’s first play cafe and truly one of the first to the Midwest. We are the first Montessori based indoor play space, where everything inside can be linked back to education, inspiring the mind, and providing a safe space for children to grow, learn, and be curious without limitations. We also have a full service menu, where we specialize in nutritious food, which most play spaces either do not have a full menu or provide quickly made foods that do not tend to be particularly healthy. We also offer GF options and vegetarian as well, making sure not to leave out that group of people in our community. These are some of the unique features about IPC. We also happen to be an inclusive space, welcoming all people and care about children with neurodivergent and special needs, as I used to be a behavior therapist who worked with special needs, I truly care about this community of people as well. Our brand is something we stick to, it is eloquent and earthly (something I paid professionals a lot of money to create for me back in 2020!) This is not something I shorted myself on because I believe a good brand is so important to achieve recognition and memory of what we provide at IPC. We are a up-scale play cafe, where we focus on keeping things clean and bright.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
God! He truly brought me here and has put me in a position for divine appointments and being at the right place at the right time, as well as meeting people along the way who would support and uplift my vision and mission of Inspired Play Cafe.

PB&J Resturant’s (Pat and Faye Khoury) were my business consultants who helped make this possible as well. They guided me on the restaurant part of my concept which I had no prior knowledge of, and linked me up with many other great people in the community who would help build out and support the behind the scenes building process of IPC.

Pricing:

• $19/ child and $10 siblings
• after 12:30 its $15 / child and $10 siblings
• NO CHARGE FOR ADULTS/NON PLAYING GUESTS
• Birthdays start at $375
• FREE educational classes weekdays

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.inspiredplaycafe.com
• Instagram: @inspiredplaycafe
• Facebook: @inspiredplaycafe