Driven: Unscripted Success

In this episode of Driven: Unscripted Success, hosts Mike Mannino Sr. and Nareman Hamdan sit down with Dr. Paola Ballester, a board-certified pediatrician and co-founder of EasyPA. With over a decade of clinical leadership experience and a strong background in healthcare operations, Dr. Ballester is on a mission to solve one of the biggest frustrations in modern healthcare: prior authorizations.
Dr. Ballester explains how EasyPA is transforming the archaic prior auth and appeals process using AI and automation. She dives into the burnout physicians face when dealing with insurance companies, the hidden inefficiencies that delay care for patients, and how EasyPA centralizes and simplifies the entire system—ultimately recovering lost revenue and improving access to care.
Listeners will also get a behind-the-scenes look into Dr. Ballester’s non-traditional path into medicine, her leadership philosophy, and how she juggles life as a physician, entrepreneur, and single mom.
 
 
-------------------------------------------------------- Be a Guest: Are you a successful Naples-area business owner, entrepreneur, or professional with insights to share? Apply to be a guest at Driven: Unscripted Success and share your expertise with a wide audience eager to learn about you.

What happens when a cardiologist and a frustrated dad teams up with tech experts and a pediatrician friend to fix a broken part of healthcare? You get Blueberry Pediatrics—a revolutionary telehealth solution putting pediatric care in your pocket.
In this episode, Dr. Jonathan Kahan joins Mike Mannino to share how his personal parenting struggles led to founding a tech-driven healthcare company that offers unlimited pediatric care for families at a fraction of traditional costs. From his medical training in Israel and New York to navigating the startup world without a business background, Jonathan opens up about the challenges and breakthroughs that shaped his mission.
 
-------------------------------------------------------- Be a Guest: Are you a successful Naples-area business owner, entrepreneur, or professional with insights to share? Apply to be a guest at Driven: Unscripted Success and share your expertise with a wide audience eager to learn about you.

In this episode of Driven: Unscripted Success, hosts Mike Mannino Sr. and Nareman Hamdan sit down with tech consultant and former Google engineer, Javier Cortavitarte. From humble beginnings in Caracas, Venezuela to Silicon Valley boardrooms, Javier shares how he navigated his path to success through curiosity, community, and calculated risks.
Javier dives into how his early fascination with technology and communication systems led to opportunities at Google, and later into the world of startups and consulting. He talks about the tough decision to leave the comfort of corporate life and place a bet on his own abilities—and why it paid off.
 
-------------------------------------------------------- Be a Guest: Are you a successful Naples-area business owner, entrepreneur, or professional with insights to share? Apply to be a guest at Driven: Unscripted Success and share your expertise with a wide audience eager to learn about you.

In this inspiring episode, Mike sits down with Nick Abbott, a driven nursing student turned medical product entrepreneur, to unpack how an everyday problem in dermatology sparked a business idea that became the Cut to Fit Bandage. With no formal business background, Nick shares his story of launching a medical product from scratch—from testing fabrics in dermatology clinics to navigating the hurdles of Amazon sales, branding, and product packaging.
Nick opens up about the challenges of competing with legacy brands like Band-Aid, and how he and his partner, Dr. Spencer Bezalel, leveraged their frontline experience in skin cancer surgeries to create a simple, customizable solution for wound care. Learn how Nick taught himself logistics, pricing, and marketing using books and YouTube—and how he’s turning risk into reward while growing a company from the ground up.
 
-------------------------------------------------------- Be a Guest: Are you a successful Naples-area business owner, entrepreneur, or professional with insights to share? Apply to be a guest at Driven: Unscripted Success and share your expertise with a wide audience eager to learn about you.

In this inspiring episode of Driven: Unscripted Success, hosts Mike Mannino Sr. and Nareman Hamdan talk with Cat Holt—former head of marketing strategy at Progressive and now founder of her own marketing firm.
Cat takes us on her journey from the corporate world to entrepreneurship, sharing how her background in psychology, advertising, and art helped shape her path. She dives into how AI is changing the marketing game, why multidisciplinary fluency is a must-have skill, and why “working in your talents” beats trying to be good at everything.
 
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What if you could text your child’s pediatrician directly, skip the waiting room, and even get a home visit when needed?
In this episode of Driven: Unscripted Success, Michael Mannino and Nareman Hamdan sit down with Dr. Michael Perisa, a pediatrician who's flipping the traditional healthcare model on its head. Michael shares his journey from pursuing pediatric oncology at St. Jude's to launching a patient-first, membership-based pediatric care system in Northeast Ohio.
Learn how Zest Pediatric Network provides 24/7 direct access to pediatricians, eliminates unnecessary insurance barriers, and brings care into the home—all for a flat monthly fee. Michael opens up about the broken system of traditional care, the burnout it causes, and how his new model empowers both families and doctors.
If you’re a parent, healthcare professional, or someone interested in how innovation can truly change lives, this episode is a must-listen.
 
-------------------------------------------------------- Be a Guest: Are you a successful Naples-area business owner, entrepreneur, or professional with insights to share? Apply to be a guest at Driven: Unscripted Success and share your expertise with a wide audience eager to learn about you.

In this episode, Mike Mannino sits down with financial planning expert and entrepreneur Steven Huskey, CFP®, CExP™, for a high-energy conversation about growing businesses, building legacies, and making the most of your time. From helping dentists and business owners plan their exits, to raising kids, playing guitar at church, and leading a tight-knit team — Steven shares the tools, mindset, and hard-earned lessons that shape his approach to both life and work.
Steven opens up about how he built Huskey Financial and Blue Water Dental Advisors, why identifying your ideal client is key, and how EOS and BHAGs help fuel his team’s performance. He breaks down the importance of focusing on the 20% that creates 80% of the results — both in business and at home.
 
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From a small village in Cameroon to leading a thriving real estate investment firm in the U.S., Leslie Awasom's journey is nothing short of remarkable.
In this episode, Leslie shares how he transitioned from a high-earning nurse anesthetist to co-founding Exsi Capital Investments, a private equity platform helping medical professionals generate passive income through multifamily real estate. He opens up about what inspired his pivot, how he chased knowledge, and why he believes in the American Dream more than ever.
 
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At just 16 years old, Aleksandar Jovicic turned a love for lowriders into his first business selling car parts online. From being a refugee to founding Executive Digital, a powerhouse digital marketing firm, Aleksandar’s journey is filled with resilience, hustle, and innovation.
In this high-energy episode, Aleksandar shares how his street smarts shaped his early business thinking, how he built a company with a team-first culture, and why he believes every employee should be a thought leader. He also opens up about the absence of mentors in his journey — and how he’s now paying it forward for the next generation.
From building internal startups to receiving a lifetime achievement award from Harvard, Aleksandar reveals how real success comes from grit, mentorship, and experience.
 
-------------------------------------------------------- Be a Guest: Are you a successful Naples-area business owner, entrepreneur, or professional with insights to share? Apply to be a guest at Driven: Unscripted Success and share your expertise with a wide audience eager to learn about you.

In this inspiring episode of Driven: Unscripted Success, hosts Mike Mannino Sr. and Nareman Hamdan sit down with JoJo Kalita—Vice President of Partnerships at ACTO and a passionate advocate for emotional intelligence in the workplace.
JoJo shares her professional journey from studying English and psychology to thriving in the tech-enabled healthcare sector. She discusses the vital role emotional intelligence plays in both personal and professional relationships, and how self-awareness, pausing, and intentional communication can transform interactions.
From practical tips like reading body language and managing feedback, to dealing with the ethical challenges of AI in healthcare, JoJo brings both warmth and wisdom to the conversation. She even shares a few laughs about her love for her pit bull and how remembering pet names can make a lasting impression.
 
-------------------------------------------------------- Be a Guest: Are you a successful Naples-area business owner, entrepreneur, or professional with insights to share? Apply to be a guest at Driven: Unscripted Success and share your expertise with a wide audience eager to learn about you.