Cara Mantovani.

There was a time when real estate entrepreneur Cara Mantovani felt more comfortable in front of the television camera than at the deal table.

The 27-year-old owner of Mantovani Real Estate, who has a passion for acting, studied broadcast journalism at the University of Miami even as she longed for a career in professional theater.

An internship at a Fox Network affiliate in Tallahassee, and work at the student-run UM television station, exposed her to the competitive nature of broadcast news. Soured by the experience, Mantovani took the Florida real estate exam even before completing her bachelor in communications. It seemed a natural path for her to take, and Mantovani later asked her father for a job at his real estate company. He said no.

"He felt that I would never make it in this world, unless I made it for myself," she says. Her father's denial led to a phone call to Alan Jacobson, owner of Wimbish-Riteway Realtors, who took her in as an apprentice to one of his top producers. Within a year Mantovani became one of the youngest recipients of the firm's Winner's Circle designation, awarded to its highest producers.

Mantovani ...