Tony Mantor: Why Not Me ?
BONUS EPISODE: Mike Ghesser: A Father's Mission to Transform the World for Neurodiverse Individuals
14 Feb 2025
Send us a text Imagine meeting a neurologist who changes not only your perspective but the entire trajectory of your family's journey. That's precisely what happened to Mike Ghesser, co-founder of CleanLogic, when his daughter Rosie was diagnosed with a neurodiverse condition at just three months old. In this heartfelt episode, we explore how that pivotal moment led Mike and his wife to become devoted, therapy-focused parents, ultimately inspiring the creation of CleanLogic—a company that champions inclusivity by offering meaningful employment opportunities to individuals with disabilities. Our conversation continues with a deep dive into the world of inclusive education. Mike shares his family's experiences moving from Los Angeles to Philadelphia to find the best resources for Rosie, highlighting the power of an educational environment where students with disabilities learn alongside their neurotypical peers. Through these stories, we emphasize the importance of focusing on abilities rather than differences and the broader societal changes needed to foster true inclusivity and accessibility in everyday life. Finally, we explore how Mike's personal journey has translated into groundbreaking employment initiatives at CleanLogic. Driven by a partnership with Isaac Shapiro and inspired by Rosie's progress, Mike discusses how the company has adapted roles to leverage the unique skills of individuals with disabilities. From sewing to manufacturing, we showcase the potential unlocked when people are given the right opportunities and support. This episode is a powerful testament to the transformative impact of shared experiences and the stories that inspire us to believe in our capacity to change the world, one inclusive action at a time. https://tonymantor.com https://Facebook.com/tonymantor https://instagram.com/tonymantor https://twitter.com/tonymantor https://youtube.com/tonymantormusic intro/outro music bed written by T. Wild Why Not Me the World music published by Mantor Music (BMI)
Full Episode
Welcome to Why Not Me? The World Podcast, hosted by Tony Mantor. Broadcasting from Music City, USA, Nashville, Tennessee. Join us as our guests tell us their stories. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry. Real-life people who will inspire... and show that you are not alone in this world.
Hopefully, you gain more awareness, acceptance, and a better understanding for autism around the world. Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Why Not Me? The World. Today, we have the pleasure of hosting Mike Gesser, co-founder of Clean Logic.
Driven by his daughter Rosie's neurodiverse experience, Clean Logic has developed a commitment providing inclusive opportunities for individuals with disabilities. His story is captivating and I'm delighted to have him on the show. Thanks for coming on. Sure. What started your journey of helping autistic people and special needs?
Sure. Interesting story. So I have three daughters. My oldest, Rosemary, she's 11 years old. When she was born at about three months old, we discovered that she was disabled. She is physically disabled and intellectually disabled and neurodiverse. And me being a first-time parent at the time, I had no idea what that meant. My wife was very quick to recognize missed milestones or things like that.
She had an indication and I was just like, I didn't know anything. But she started to point it out and I said, okay, well, whatever, she'll be fine. The older she got, the more we kind of started to see things, the more I realized that, okay, well, there are some differences. There was an incident that happened when she was three months old. I was at work one day and my wife called me frantically
I answered the phone and she's like, Rosie's having, her name is Rosie. She's Rosie's having a seizure. And I'm like, well, call 911. So I called 911. I said, I'll be home soon. When I got home, she was getting into an ambulance on the way to the hospital. Fortunately, we lived close to the hospital. We lived in Los Angeles at the time in West Hollywood.
There's a hospital called Cedars-Sinai, not too far away. When I got home, she was being put into the ambulance and fire department was there. And they're like, follow us to the hospital. When we got there and they ran a bunch of tests, it wasn't a seizure. Fortunately, it was a rare neurological disorder.
What was interesting about that experience for us, we were there for a few days, is there was a doctor, a very well-known child neurologist, that we finally got to see. Her name is Dr. Naparko. She came into our room and examined our daughter. And she said something that I'll never forget that really kind of shaped who I am, what I do, why I do the things that I do today.
And she said, she looked at my wife and she said, listen, she goes, you're not going to be a soccer mom. You're going to be a therapy mom. And she did it in, she was matter of fact. And it was rough to hear at the time, but she was right. She was 100% right.
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