Daffodil Creatives
Product development & promotional agency
Services
PLANNING
Evaluating your product or service idea. Have your idea ranked in key areas related to a child-centric approach. Receive a customized report with rationale and feedback on considerations for development.
DESIGN
Working with you as you design. A guiding framework can be created to ensure your work is evidence-based. Have core components and unique assets created for your product or service.
REITERATION
Supporting you as you test. Get assistance developing a plan to test your product or service with target users and potential customers in the initial stages all the way to outcome studies. Receive support in implementing the feedback to improve your offering.
PROMOTION
Assisting you with promotional assets. Have marketing assets developed or professionally edited that highlight the research, features, and benefits. This can include blogs, newsletters, e-books, whitepapers, courses, video scripts, presentations, and the like.
BUSINESS COACHING
Empowering you on your entrepreneurial journey. Receive tailored coaching services to gain actionable insights on business strategy, product development, marketing, and professional growth.
GETTING IT RIGHT
It can be tricky when designing for kids and their supporting adults.
Is it actually child-centric?
Child-centric means focusing on the needs, interests, and well-being of children. It refers to an approach, philosophy, or design that prioritizes what’s best for kids, whether in education, parenting, product development, or services.
A child-centric approach ensures that decisions, environments, and experiences are tailored to support a child’s development, learning, and ability to thrive.
Are you getting it right?
Is it developmentally appropriate? Is it built on evidence? Will kids enjoy it? Will it resonate with parents? Will teachers be eager to use it? Will it stand the test of time?
That’s where Daffodil Creatives comes in to support you. With deep expertise in child development, education, technology, psychology, parenting, and wellness, many projects need what we offer. Yet, if you are a solo entrepreneur or a small team, it can be particularly challenging to fill that need on your project efficiently and affordably.
Each client project is also very unique and this means carefully listening and learning about your needs. If you aren’t sure where to begin or you already have a specific need identified, Daffodil Creatives is ready to meet you where you are today.
Daffodil Creatives can provide you skills that will pay dividends in child-centric products & services that are appropriate, evidence-based, and resonate with your target audience or customer.
About Me
Lilla Dale McManis, MEd, PhD
As an independent consultant, I’ve worked with over one hundred clients to help them bring their ideas to life. I have partnered with clients from diverse background and all around the globe to bring a myriad of child-centric products and services successfully into the marketplace.
In addition to consulting, I’ve held government, faculty, and industry leadership positions. These include the Massachusetts Department of Education, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the University of Texas School of Public Health, the University of Texas Department of Developmental Pediatrics, Hatch Early Learning, Parent in the Know, Electus Global Education, Face2Face Health, and NeuroMedPro.
I hold a PhD in psychology, a masters’ in education, and a bachelors’ in child development. I am also a certified parent coach and a former K-12 special education teacher. I have a certificate in entrepreneurship from Harvard University and completed the National Science Foundation I-Corps entrepreneurial program.
As an undergraduate, I planned to become a speech therapist, but upon attending a lecture on child development I had an epiphany and knew this was my path. After receiving a bachelor’s with honors in child development, I then went on to earn a master’s degree in intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, and behavioral disorders and taught for several years. Yet, I was interesting in going further and so completed a PhD in psychology with a concentration in cognition, doing my dissertation on parenting stress and child outcomes.
I worked in the area of child and adolescent education and health for many years in the public sector. This was followed by an opportunity to go into industry and I have worked in psychology, child development, parenting, educational technology, and health and wellness. I started my own parent coaching and assessment business and ran this successfully for several years. Being in the entrepreneur space was very interesting to me and I began to do consulting about ten years ago, which has now become my full-time passion.
I am committed to promoting positive outcomes for children and their supporting adults and have been fortunate enough to do so for 30+ years. I greatly enjoy working with other like-minded people with the same goal. How can we all best do that? I think this quote from Jess Lair, American educator and author, and yes, advertising consultant, eloquently provides the answer. “Children are not things to be molded, but are people to be unfolded.”
I chose the name Daffodil Creatives because like children, daffodils represent new beginnings, creativity, energy, resilience, and promise…and this is also like the work my wonderful clients bring to life!
Testimonials
I greatly appreciate the kind words of just some of my amazing clients! I focus on working with clients in the child-centric market who are developing products & services meant directly for kids or the many types of adults who support them. I consistently receive excellent feedback and retain many long-term client-consultant relationships. I particularly like working with entrepreneurs and small companies.
