Bynia Reed’s career and life revolve around children — and not just her own.

Her long list of titles includes: mother of two, child psychotherapist by training, and co-founder and chief operating officer of the children’s indoor playground Hyper Kidz.

“I definitely believe in the power of play,” she said. “Pretty much all I do with kids is play therapy, so I understand how important and critical play is to children’s well-being.”

Reed and her business partners, Chinnababu Gudapati and Sangeetha Gudapati, opened the first Hyper Kidz, a 14,000-square-foot space in Columbia in February 2018. Reed works closely with Chinnababu on business decisions.

Reed, 47, has been a Howard County resident since 2001, so starting a business there was only natural. And for a business with a motto of “safe, clean, fun,” Columbia is ideal, she said. It has Hyper Kidz’s target market of parents who care about the community and their children. And the county really cares about business owners there, she said.

But Hyper Kidz has grown into a company known beyond the county’s borders with a second location in Ashburn, Virginia, that opened in 2021. As of this year, you can find franchised locations in Baltimore, Crofton, and Rockville, as well as outside the state in Bolingbrook, Illinois; Durham, North Carolina; and soon, Dallas.

The Baltimore Banner: What was the inspiration behind starting your own business?

Bynia Reed: We visited an indoor playground in Atlanta, Georgia, and we realized that we needed something like that for Howard County, but we wanted to improve upon it.

We had gone to so many different birthday parties and events, and the places were dark, the ceilings were low, or there was no natural light coming in. Or there were big kids mixed with little kids, and there was no developmentally appropriate play.

Play is how children socialize, communicate and learn. And we just did not have enough places for them.

In working with the county, I ended up meeting my business partners, and we continued to develop the concept. It took two years or so to fully develop our business plan and our mission.

We knew we didn’t want to have a play space that had arcade games, coin-operated machinery, or screens — nothing electronic. We just wanted to get back to good, old-fashioned, organic play.

The Banner: What does a day at Hyper Kidz look like for you?

Reed: After I get my kids off to school, I go through mountains and mountains of emails. I check in on where my different projects are and touch base with my business partner [Chinnababu].

I visit the Columbia location usually once a week. Ashburn is much further out, so I typically only get out there about once a month. If I need to go to Crofton, for some reason, I go there or Baltimore. But the owners are doing a wonderful job, so we don’t have to get involved on-site very much.

We have a team that does marketing for us, but I’m still taking a look at what they’re posting and how those ads are performing. I’m doing some posting and marketing myself.

I handle most of the legal stuff, and I do the financial stuff as well. I mostly deal with our operations.

And each location has its own theme, so I interface a lot with our equipment manufacturer. I have my hands in a lot of things, but in terms of new projects, I do all of the design — the drawings, the renderings, getting the design of the space where it needs to be.

The Banner: It feels like you’ve got a lot of pots on the burner, as they say. But within all of that, is there anything that you really enjoy doing?

Reed: I would say the design part because it’s an opportunity for me to be creative.

When a franchisee signs their lease, their landlord will give them a drawing of the space. They send that to me, and I draw and map out everything. Where the bathroom should be, where the play zone should be. I work collaboratively with them so that they feel like they are part of the process.

Once they’ve chosen their theme, I get on the phone with my equipment manufacturer and solely interface with them in terms of a 3D drawing — making the indoor playground come to life.

The Banner: What’s something you wish people knew about your business or the indoor playground industry?

Reed: We’re open seven days a week. We’re never closed unless it’s Christmas or something like that, so there’s a lot of wear and tear on the space and the equipment.

When we do order new equipment, we have to order it from overseas. It’s going to be six weeks to two months before we can get a new piece.

I wish people knew that this is not stuff that we can just buy from Lowe’s and fix it. We have customized equipment, and that’s why HyperKidz is so awesome and special.

The Banner: Your first and main location is in Howard County. What’s been the appeal of doing business there?

Reed: It’s a great community of parents who want healthy play for their kids. They value and appreciate what HyperKidz has to offer. We’re a very highly educated community, so we want our kids to be learning and having healthy and socially appropriate interactions.

But I think the biggest thing is the support we’ve gotten from the Economic Development Authority. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to get the doors open.

We were rejected by every bank, not just national ones. Howard Bank denied us. We were a startup and didn’t have collateral or a lot of capital. We just had a concept.

Howard County EDA took a chance on us and loaned us $200,000. That got our foot in the door to find our lease and place our equipment order.

The Banner: What’s next for you and HyperKidz?

Reed: At the rate that my business partner [Chinnababu] is getting leads and getting them signed and on board, I would estimate that by the end of 2024, we will have seven open locations.

I know that by the end of 2026, our goal is 25, so our goal by the end of 2028 is 50, minimum. And maybe an international location. I don’t know what they have, but if we were to get a lead in Canada, that would be really cool. I would be over the moon if we were to get an international location.