This month, we’re talking to a guest who’s built not one but two businesses before turning 25 and figured out how to make them work together. Mary Esposito is the founder of Purple Pear, a crochet brand she started as a teenager, and the creator of Money with Mary, a personal finance platform built around bringing more young women into investing and money conversations.

This month’s theme is back to school, so we flipped the script and put a high schooler in the guest chair. Jack Adkins just wrapped up his summer internship at TradeWinds, and before that, he was figuring out money the same way most students do: mostly on his own.

Tim shares his path from junior advisor working under his father and mentor to founder of his own firm, the slow burn of frustrations that led him to leave a major wirehouse, the risk he and his wife Kate took on together, and the “build the plane as you’re flying it” mentality that got TradeWinds off the ground.

From Moneyball-obsessed finance student to NC State’s Assistant General Manager, Patrick Stacy’s path into college basketball is anything but traditional. In this episode of Beyond the Balance, host Ralston Turner sits down with Patrick, a 40 Under 40 honoree in college basketball, to trace the journey from building baseball models in his Loyola dorm room to running roster analytics for the Wolfpack.

What does it take to walk away from a CEO title and leap into something entirely different? In this episode of Beyond the Balance, host Mike Manganillo sits down with Abha Bowers: 20-year marketing veteran, former CEO of Walk West, certified nutrition coach and personal trainer, and now Head of Strategic Partnerships at CED (Council for Entrepreneurial Development) in the Triangle.

Tim Humphrey went from 200 rejection letters and a $13.50/hr IBM co-op to Chief Analytics Officer and then walked away from it all to become a Provost at Wake Tech. In this episode, the NC State alum and 30-year tech veteran joins host Ralston Turner to talk leadership through crisis, the real relationship between data and human intuition, and what it feels like to finally trade a career for a calling.

In this episode of Beyond the Balance, host Ralston sits down with Marc Campbell, a former UNC Tar Heel and national champion, professional player overseas, longtime NBA shooting coach, and now a rising Raleigh real estate agent for a candid conversation about identity, reinvention, and the kind of balance that only shows up after you get your priorities straight.

In this episode of Beyond the Balance, Mike Manganillo sits down with Larry Long Jr., a global keynote speaker, author of Jolt, and former University of Maryland baseball player to explore what real growth looks like beyond titles and numbers. Larry shares his path from athletics to sales, the mindset shift that came after getting let go in 2021, and how coaching, mentorship, and intentional relationships helped him bet on himself. They discuss integration over balance, relationship-driven sales, and why caring more, listening better, and doing the little things consistently can create lasting impact.

In this episode of Beyond the Balance, host Mike Manganillo talks with Shannon Thomas, co-founder of ⁠Fratelli’s Delicatessen⁠ in Apex, North Carolina, about what it really takes to start a business while maintaining a full-time corporate career. Shannon shares her journey from international finance and Wall Street to IT tech sales at Red Hat and Pure Storage—all while launching a family-owned deli rooted in community, tradition, and great food. We explore the realities of small business financing, overcoming COVID-era setbacks, adapting quickly after opening day, and why listening to your customers is one of the most important skills an entrepreneur can develop.