Dino Might
Andrea Hurley (wife of men’s basketball head coach Dan Hurley) with Andrick at Huskython 2025
As a UConn undergrad, Lyla Andrick ’24 (CAHNR) was on a certain path to becoming a large-animal vet. Horse crazy since she was a kid, Andrick helped cover the cost of competing in the show ring by starting an illustration business at age 13, for which she’d draw custom cartoons of horses so that their owners could reproduce them on novelty merchandise.
Andrick was always crafty that way. She learned to sew when she was five, and as a teen she turned her favorite doodle, a dinosaur, into stickers she could sell to raise money for charities. In the summer of 2020, she was home in Rhinebeck, New York, stuck in the COVID lockdown, waiting to start her first year at UConn. For kicks, she hand-sewed a dinosaur plush and posted a picture of it online. The response was immediate: Where can I get one?
The zero waste Kona Dinosaur, made in collaboration with fellow alum Zac Will.
At UConn, Andrick kept two sidelines going to help pay for school. She worked with horses as a vet assistant and hand-sewed dinosaurs that she sold either direct to customers or at toy stores in Connecticut and the Hudson Valley. She created an individualized major in entrepreneurship and animal science technology, but on her many rounds with vets, she saw firsthand how incredibly difficult veterinary work could be — physically, of course, but most of all, emotionally. “I have the greatest respect for all of my veterinary friends,” says Andrick, “but I started to realize it wasn’t the right fit for me. I don’t think I have the emotional constitution for it.”
Happy brothers with Happy Dinosaurs in Stonington Borough, Connecticut.
Today Andrick is the founder and CEO of Happy Dinosaur, a specialty toy business. The Happy Dinosaur brand focuses on five plush characters, all with irresistibly squishy noses and soft scales but distinctly different personalities, each attuned to the emotional experiences of early childhood. “Every generation has its dinosaur. There was ‘Jurassic Park,’ ‘Barney,’ ‘The Land Before Time,’” explains Andrick. “Dinosaurs are the closest real thing we have to fantasy. We have just enough answers about them, but they’re still mysterious.” They keep kids’ imaginations roaring.
UConn’s School of Business has been instrumental in helping Andrick develop skills as an entrepreneur. “I’ve participated in almost every program UConn has — anything that could possibly support a consumer product brand.” She did the Werth Innovators Program as an undergrad and the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI) Summer Fellowship Accelerator after graduation. She was then selected to pitch in the Wolff New Venture Competition in Hartford, where she won a $5,000 Community Impact Award.
Andrick used her prize money to head to San Antonio, Texas, for her first ASTRA (American Specialty Toy Retailing Association) conference. There she got to meet some of her toy heroes, participate in another accelerator, and continue to introduce Happy Dinosaur to potential buyers and partners.
We caught up with her in June on her first day back. Big (and extra-small) plans are underway for the brand, so we decided to start our conversation there.
By Alexandra Kennedy
FIVE things Happy Dinosaur has in the works:
1 We’re going to launch mini dinosaurs for all five characters in time for the holiday season. Like everyone in the toy industry, I’m working around tariffs, and minis offer a more accessible price point for my younger buyers. I tested a sample sale on minis, and they sold out in less than a month.
2 I’m writing and illustrating a picture book series, with one title for each character: Happy Dinosaur, Clever Dinosaur, Chill Dinosaur, Loyal Dinosaur, and Social Dinosaur.
3 A children’s animated television series is in development.
4 Happy Dinosaur is doing a zero-waste collaboration with the Kona Brand, founded by Zac Will ’23 (BUS). He’s a CCEI Summer Fellowship alum, too. My dinosaurs are made from his
5 A dino purse! (Everyone’s been asking for it.)
FOUR lessons in starting a business that you had to learn the hard way:
1 Unconscious incompetence, aka “you don’t know what you don’t know.”
2 You don’t have to bust down every door. Use your networking skills so that other people will open doors for you.
3 My first pitch at the CCEI Summer Fellowship will haunt me forever, but I got great coaching and was able to give a far superior pitch at the Wolff New Venture Competition. I’m a flash-card girl now!
4 Managing startup finances is very different from managing personal finances.
THREE things your toy business colleagues would be surprised to learn:
1 For my senior capstone project, I developed an equine simulator for theriogenology diagnostics and advanced assisted artificial insemination, also known as an artificial horse butt. It was modeled after a real UConn mare named Glowing Ember.
2 I’m a sailing history buff. On family vacations to Mystic, Connecticut, I fell in love with maritime archaeology and marine economics. One of my favorite figures was Captain Kidd, the pirate hunter turned pirate. He hid treasure on Gardiner’s Island, not far from Avery Point.
3 I once got bucked off a horse riding through [actor] Paul Rudd’s farm, and the horse ran back to the barn. Luckily, Mr. Rudd wasn’t home to see me.
TWO people who helped you get here:
1 While I was at Rhinebeck High School, I was always doodling dinosaurs on everything. When my economics teacher, Daniel Lavazzo, noticed, he encouraged me to move from 2D to 3D. He saw the storyteller in me.
2 Professor David Noble, then at UConn’s School of Business, was like a wizard. He always anticipated the next step before I did. He told me to move from a small-batch toy creator to a full-time toy startup, then introduced me to the people who are now helping me take the business to the next level.
ONE dinosaur you are most like:
1 I’m very chatty, so I’m Social Dinosaur.
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