The path to VP isn't climbing the ladder.... It is...

I'll never forget the moment when I saw our family name flash across the end credits of one of the awards that gave women, people of color, a platform to tell their story. And that's when I realized we could really use entertainment to influence so many for good.

Hi, Bianca. Welcome to Driving Impact: The Top 5% Method. We're so— I'm so excited personally to have you here.

Me too. Thank you so much, Katheline Jean-Pierre. I am so excited to be here. Thank you for creating this platform.

100%. Listen, I know you very well. I feel your energies. But for our audience, tell me more about yourself.

Yes. Well, I am in the storytelling game and I've watched the game, I've played the game, and now I'm here to change the game. So I watched the game. My parents from their perspective. They're Filipino immigrants and they worked all kinds of odd jobs to keep their dream of journalism alive. My mom was a secretary and my dad worked night shifts, but they worked their way up to make history being the first Filipinos in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. And that's the group that puts on the Golden Globe Awards each year.

That's a big deal.

Yes. And at the time, I was a public school teacher. I was really trying to create change through the classroom and really see the classroom as a microcosm of the broader system. But at the same time, my students, they were essentially a work of science fiction. I couldn't find any stories that were by, for, and about them as people of color with disabilities coming from low-income backgrounds. I'll never forget the moment when I saw our family name flash across the end credits of one of the awards that gave women, people of color, a platform to tell their story. And that's when I realized we could really use entertainment to influence so many for good. So from watching the game, I got into the game. I worked at Lionsgate. Recently, as the VP of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, I work directly with our CEO and our C-suite team to lead innovation strategies, really thinking about how we could hire, promote, and recruit talent both in front of the camera, behind the camera, and in our corporate offices so that we could tell incredible stories. So I got to work on big franchises like John Wick and The Hunger Games. To really impactful TV shows like P-Valley and really understand how global stories are told and sold. And now I'm ready to change the game. So my goal is to be a magnet between the breakthrough AI storytelling tools and the entertainment industry's massive appetite for content. And my goal is to really transform how the entertainment industry gets Stories Told and Sold. So end goal is to keep scaling stories that the system systemically silences and to create the infrastructure where global voices like yours and mine generate genuine value. And that's where we become truly unstoppable. So excited to share more.

So I love your story of being a teacher, then becoming fast-tracked to VP at Lionsgate for diversity, which is a big, big deal. And then in LA, cuz that's where we met, we met in Los Angeles. And then now you're pivoting towards empowering silent voices, which it's true. You and I, I'm from, I'm French Canadian originally from Haitian origins. And I too made the jump to be able to tell different stories, but really to elevate, first amplify my voice and then invite guests of which voices could be amplified, all sorts of different guests. So I love your story. And the first question I have for you, Bianca, is because from public teacher to VP at Lionsgate, so how did you do it? What was your career accelerator?

Yeah, again, when you think of education and Hollywood, you don't think innovation, but I really wanted to, again, do the work, like solve problems that no one else really wants to touch on and to always center on diverse stories that need to be told. So I entered my career as a public school teacher because, uh, again, I really wanted to see how we could create change from the classroom. My background is in public health and in public health, you look at how you could make people healthier instead of like what makes people sick. And at the core of it, education really solves some of the systemic barriers. So as a public school teacher, I got really good at working with my students and the families and also went from teaching teachers from Malaysia to Mexico, Philippines, and Nepal, just continuing to work on how we could tell more of our stories and use that as our curriculum. And during the summer of 2020, during the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, corporate roles like mine opened up. So it was a clear way for me to now move into the entertainment industry and continue to go from teaching students to teaching studios.

That's a big shift.

Yeah.

What's— what's coming out? What are the commonalities and the differences between teaching students and teaching studios?

It seems like a big shift, but it's all about taking on problems that people don't want to solve. So egos can be similar, like teaching juniors and seniors to egos in Hollywood. But, you know, it's all about looking for the biggest opportunities where the existing system dismisses or overlooks. So I'll never forget starting out at Lionsgate. We were faced with coming out of the pandemic and our peers have halted production. Revenue is dropping and other companies are starting to go through massive layoffs. So in this moment, do you choose profits, people, or productivity? And it's a false choice. You choose all three. That's how I led in the classroom and that's how I led at Lionsgate. So during that really key moment of change, I worked with our C-suite to make sure that we were maintaining operations without layoffs and we came out stronger. We did it through rapid reskilling, again, using my educator background to develop the training infrastructure so that employees could get more proficient in crisis management in just 8 weeks versus 6 months. We also— I also launched innovation labs with our employee-powered resource groups. So they became problem-solving groups and they came up with issues that were keeping the company leadership up at night, from everything from our policies to how we promoted films. And that, you know, when we couldn't work on productions, we put people to work on solutions. And then finally, executive alignment. So I reported monthly to our CEO to eliminate confusion and make sure that the work we were doing was going to translate back to our employees and our broader audience. And that's the same approach I did working in the classroom to make sure that there was alignment between our, our school leaders, our policymakers, and our parents and our students. And, you know, the takeaway is that we don't make money by getting rid of people. We make money by keeping people at the center and optimizing the broader environment to foster progress. Productivity.

And thank you so much for sharing your story. I think, um, I see a lot of different similarities. Like, I have a son who's in school— not senior, isn't— isn't kinder— yes, like, the work that our teachers are doing is incredible. And it's also a lot— it's a lot of pressure because every student has their own situation, every parent has their own ambitions, depending on which school you have. Sometimes they're government-funded, sometimes they're parent-funded. So, and I see the magic of They put together a very well-polished show knowing that there's been a lot of chaos, like you're dealing with the lives of all these people. So fast forward back to being VP at Lionsgate and coaching the CEOs in the studios. A lot of our audience is comprised of all sorts, like we have CEOs of startups, we also have corporate senior executives, corporate mid-level managers. And the question I know people are gonna ask is, but how? It's very nitty-gritty. Yeah, I understand the problem solving is how do you get from public teacher to people manager and then to VP at Lionsgate? Like, was there— I understand like what your superpower is, but was there a path, an accelerator, a tip that you can share?

Yeah, I really would encourage folks to really focusing on what are the problems that people don't want to solve. So To go from manager to VP in 4 years, I wasn't trying to climb the corporate ladder, but always looking for opportunities that people didn't really want to touch or saying yes to things that people think is risky, whether that's helping, you know, when we were exploring a new form of revenue with our free ad-supported TV, helping think through brand identity. Or to what I'm doing now, I'm advising a film fund that's bringing production to the whole continent of Africa. It's taking those risky bets, but those often become your signature achievements and also finding ways that, you know, you could bring in innovation to the company or to the team to do it and say like, hey, well, what if the answer to your, your biggest problems was in this room, and I could do that in half the time and help you beat your competitors. It's finding those ways to say yes to, again, those experimental projects. And then I also can't emphasize enough finding mentors who are going to sponsor you, not just advise. So I found mentors all across our organization who could give me the straight talk. They would be my champions who put my name in rooms that I couldn't access yet because mentorship without sponsorship is just another coffee conversation. I really leaned on advocates who are leading our film and TV and corporate teams to stake their reputation on mine as well.

No, I think that's brilliant because mentorship and sponsorship are two different things. Sponsorship really accelerates your career. So Bianca, let's say you were working at Lionsgate. How did you identify those mentor, but especially the sponsor relationships?

Yeah, so it comes through organic and just showing up as a full person too. Like, my superpower isn't being liked by everyone. It's just being my authentic self. That's how you and I connected too. I had done a lot of the self-work to know that, you know, my, my deep shame message is feeling like I'm never— I'm not good enough just by being me. And once I could really break that pattern by getting clear on my own boundaries out of my self-respect, I stopped performing worthiness and just started operating from wholeness. And that's when everything really started to change. Like, I, uh, always will, um, remember the first time I had to present to the CEO, uh, and feeling so nervous about showing up again and performing the role. But when I really, uh, focused back on what it meant to just operate from wholeness, to know I have the expertise and also know I've done my homework. I'm here to translate and share what I'm finding and then work in partnership with him and the broader team. That's when I went from just surviving the rooms to transforming them. And that's how I went from, again, speaking in the classroom to then going to Cannes and speaking on stage. It's finding that courage.

I saw the pictures. It looked amazing. Yes. It's so exciting. I definitely have more questions around that. So I love it, like, with how you stated, like, so from— you went from surviving a room to really owning the room, but also showcasing your authentic self. Because sometimes when you're going to present to the CEO, you're extremely rehearsed, and sometimes you can be wearing a mask. And I think the breakthrough you're telling the audience is basically you have a story to tell, like, stop surviving it, just show up.

Exactly.

People are afraid to show up authentically, especially in the corporate world. Or sometimes they have PTSD, or somebody said somehow at some moment in time, something bad about them. And then they're like, okay, I need to really be polished and sound like a robot, but robots are not liked. So yeah, it's true. You gotta stand out in a certain way with the right insight, but especially taking the insight make a compelling story, because when the C-level leaves the room, what they're going to think about is the story that you've told. And if you haven't told a story, then they're not going to think about you. And so any other tips to own the room as a Filipino woman, a self-made woman who's been able to navigate these rooms with, with confidence but also authenticity?

Yes. No, I appreciate it, Katheline Jean-Pierre. You named it. It's people just want to see you and I have built a whole ritual and I stay grounded through systemic gratitude and perspective rituals. So every night I review 3 things. One, what I accomplished and helped someone else win. Two, what I appreciate about myself. And then three, what I'm grateful for. And that keeps me connected to the impact rather than the activity. It reminds me that the best career moves are the ones that I create value for myself and others. And that's how I really earned this sabbatical over the past 6 months, just staying in that gratitude, focusing on how I could fill my cup back up and then follow what's next. So again, as people are faced with all the different challenges in the corporate environment, we need to stay grounded and connected to ourselves so that we're not just floating around, but we're moving with purpose.

Thank you so much for sharing your ritual, because when I meet you, I always feel that you're extremely grounded, and even you have vibes.

Thank you.

But you gotta nurture the vibe. So that's the first ritual. Ritual that— and then you, you mentioned also a second ritual, and I'm super curious now. You have another ritual to help you stay grounded and tap into your authentic self, not the mask that we wear when we go at work in these big companies.

Yeah, and I have to credit my exec coach, Kibi Anderson, for giving me this. She has the micro action, like, cycle of success. So to always go from take the action, do the thing that feels scary, and then to share it with others. So that's like the most important step. It's to say, hey, I wrote this like first part of the script, or hey, I put this deck together for the board. Here's the first draft. And then to share it with someone so that you're sharing what you're learning and those like micro actions of of, uh, taking the step, sharing it, getting insight, lead up to the broader macro goal. And doing that helps keep my momentum going. And I know it gets me out of the perfectionism when I know, hey, I just need to share this with someone. So I've loved being able to text more friends or say, hey, can I hop on a call? Or just call people and say, I just did this thing, I just want to tell you about it. And 9 times out of 10, people are so excited that I've reached out, or they learn something, I gain something from it. So to stay grounded and connect to our true self, we really need to move out of our personal— don't stop at personal enlightenment, always work towards collective identity building.

That's amazing. So it's giving back as well. That's what I'm hearing, giving back to others, contributing to us others, because you're not just, you're not on an island, so it's important to contribute and give back to the collective. I love this so much. I want to hear— so you talk a lot about it, but I want to hear what are your radical career tips that have helped you build yourself as this spiritual powerhouse? That's how I'm going to call you. It's not just like powerhouse, but it's like You're a powerhouse, but you also tapped into your authenticity and your spirituality. And then you're in the world of storytelling, in the world of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The radical career tips— I can't emphasize enough understanding the playbook so you can rewrite the rules. I went to Cannes because I wanted to understand the sheer inertia that we were up against, and I left Understanding what's accelerating. And that's those two things, global storytelling and really harnessing the power of AI to democratize more storytelling tools. And working again in education in a traditional classroom model to understand the rules helped me rewrite the rules. That's what brought me to working with teachers in the Philippines, Nepal, Malaysia, and Mexico to think about special education through a lens of disability justice. And then I did the same thing teaching studios at Lionsgate, understanding traditional power, how to speak Hollywood so that now while I'm bilingual, I speak studio and startup, helping not just be a bridge, but be a translator, be a sorcerer so that I can attract the opportunities, the right partnerships, and the people who are going to help more creatives get their stories told and sold. So I'm excited for people to really understand the playbook and allow that to rewrite the rules. Otherwise, people will get hurt. If we're not clear on what the rules are and what the rules we want to imagine next. So it's a way to be both pragmatic and radical at the same time.

And you want to choose the game that you want to play because you talked about like, you understand, you need to understand the playbook, but you have to understand the game to be able to win the game. I would just add that you want to choose which game you want to play in because not all terrains are terrains that you might want to foray into. And I think that's the power of choosing where you want to play. And once you choose, like, let's say I can accept a job opportunity, I need to understand the rule, I need to master the rules, but I also have to choose that this is what I have accepted in terms of opportunities. Do you have— because I want to make sure that we, we wrap up with like even more tips from you because you're very fluid, very creative, and very wise. So Bianca, do you have any tips for people who want to reinvent their career, but really healing the inner child? Because we talked a little bit about how you healed yourself, but how do people heal themselves? Any tips or tricks?

I love this. So how to heal the inner child?

Yeah, and the wounds that we carry, because we all carry wounds that sometimes keep us from the light. The light comes out But sometimes it doesn't because we have this inner child that's wounded that we put first and foremost in the worst times. In the best times, I think we're like, I am the light. I am. And the worst times you're like in the dark place. Like you talked about not feeling good enough, right? So how do you have any tips for people who wanna learn or maybe you are new in the journey or wanna learn how to heal?

Yes, yes, yes, yes. I have a creative hour that I guard each morning like it's a board meeting. And that 1 hour daily is for pure creative thinking. There's no emails, no calls, just my ancestors' wildest dream ideation. It's my board meeting with my ancestors, and we sit and we just write, or I create. I use the different technologies to imagine stories that are in my head. Or even just to go out and walk and be inspired by what I'm seeing in my neighborhood in the day to day. And those are where my biggest breakthroughs come during those protected thinking sessions, not during back-to-back meetings. It's also, you know, creativity is a discipline. It's not an accident. People can really grow their creativity muscles, but we need to honor and respect it. So I've found that has been the most healing because in those spaces I can truly embody my, uh, my— what did you say— spiritual powerhouse self. And sometimes she needs to have a very honest board meeting with my emotional self, which sometimes regresses to a teenager, or my intellectual self, which sometimes is so harsh and mean and critical, or sometimes my body, which just wants to stress eat and binge eat and make everything go away. But when I can protect and guard that creative hour each day, it grounds me, it fills me back up. And it's that, again, I know there's no fear because I'm in my most optimal path that my ancestors have laid before me. So I'm grateful for you to also encourage more people to tell their story, because I think that's where, again, creativity flows through, is by listening and sharing each other's stories.

100%. And I can relate. I don't know how I was very close to my ancestors when I was a musician, when I was 17 years old. And then it took me going back to Africa in 2024. I gave a conference.

Yeah.

In Congo-Brazzaville. And I went to go get a painting in front of the place where we're staying. So I go in the art gallery and then I look at something, a painting I liked. And then I was feeling some eyes in the back. I felt like it was something, someone looking at me. And I turned around and I was like, why do I feel some presence? And then I saw this massive tiger. Yeah, massive tiger. And I was like, no, I didn't come here to get a tiger. Especially, you know, Tiger and Tinder, everybody like back in the day. I don't know, it was back in 2014 when I was dating in San Francisco before I got married. Everybody, the men had tigers in their pictures and there was a meeting and whatnot. Anywho, I said the tigers, I didn't come here to get a tiger. And then I just felt the energy and the presence and I became obsessed. I was like, okay, turn around, look at him. And I was like, I don't know, I just had, it was like a portal to my, I think it's my grandfather or one of my ancestors, many of my ancestors. And since that day I've been having this tiger in my bedroom, right? And before, in my bedroom, I had Magritte. Yes, I like Magritte. It's very abstract and dreamy. You have a rock that's floating, surrealist. And, and then there's a mix of Magritte and, and this African tiger was like looking at me every day, giving me the reality check. So then that really, some presence has created that I've created myself also some ancestral rituals where, like, yesterday was September 9th, 2025. 999. 999. So normally I would energize my crystals, pull a card. So there's all these different things you can do and just to be present to what you're creating next, especially when the energy is strong. Anywho, it was not about me. I just wanted to hear what are your rituals, and thank you so much. So where can people find you in your journey of storytelling? Any parting words for us?

I mean, they can find me. I'm looking for folks who are wanting to lead the creative revolution in tech and storytelling. So excited to keep scaling stories that the system has systemically silenced and exploring opportunities right now with AI-native startups that want to get more stories told and sold. So folks can follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, but I'm not stopping. And I'm glad we're not either, because I know that that's where storytelling becomes unstoppable—when it's systemic, scalable, and it has soul in its strategy.

100%. So you can follow Bianca Nepales on all the social media platforms, and we're excited to follow you on your journey into AI-powered digital storytelling for diverse voices. So 100%. So thank you so much for coming to the pod.