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Meet Our
Founders

Dr. Columbus & Danette Batiste

The Co-Founders of Healthy Heart Nation bring their collective talents and passions together to benefit the African American community on disparities and how to overcome them.

These Co-Founders understood that to service their community it would take a team of enthusiastic experts in the areas of business, education, health, and justice with a focus on community initiatives to make impacts for positive and sustainable change. Through their collective networks, the Healthy Heart Nation team utilizes professionals to educate and inform their community through publications, campaigns, documentaries, lectures, social media, workshops, and community outreach.

Danette Batiste

CEO/Executive Director

Danette Batiste is CEO / Executive Director at Healthy Heart Nation, a nonprofit organization that aims to reduce disparities in the Black community. She has over 25 years of experience in the IT sector, where she has held various C-suite positions and led initiatives to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) across the industry.

Danette has developed and implemented effective strategies to embed DE&I into the culture, operations, and sales of IT companies. She has also supported and empowered employees and customers through her leadership of various employee resource groups, and her facilitation of training on unconscious bias and cultural competence. In addition, she has leveraged her skills in process improvement, CRM, and new business development to optimize the performance and profitability of IT projects and contracts. She is enthusiastic about community organizing and advocacy and uses her IT leadership and DE&I expertise to drive social impact and business growth through Healthy Heart Nation.

Danette previously served as Vice President of Operations for CC-OPS (a small, minority, and women-owned business located in Culver City, CA) for 17 years. Batiste was responsible for a team of more than three hundred employees and subcontractors in forty states.

Dr. Columbus Batiste

Dr. Columbus D. Batiste is an Interventional Cardiologist who previously served as an Assistant Clinical Professor and the Regional Chief of Cardiology for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group.

In 2010, Dr. Batiste changed his approach to chronic disease management, focusing on long-term solutions involving nutrition, stress reduction, and exercise rather than relying solely on prescriptions and procedures.

In 2016, he collaborated with Samsung Technologies to develop a virtual cardiac rehabilitation program that has successfully treated tens of thousands of patients.

Dr. Batiste’s commitment to community health led to the establishment of the non-profit organization Healthy Heart Nation, dedicated to addressing social determinants of health. He is also an advocate for whole food plant-based nutrition and has lectured internationally. In 2024, he published his first book, “Selfish: A Cure for a Stressed Heart.”