Podcast Summary: The Top 5% Method® — "The path to VP isn't climbing the ladder... It is..."

Host: Katheline Jean-Pierre
Guest: Bianca Nepales
Date: December 12, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode of The Top 5% Method® (Driving Impact), Katheline Jean-Pierre sits down with Bianca Nepales, former VP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Lionsgate, to discuss unconventional paths to executive leadership—specifically, why the journey to VP is about more than just “climbing the ladder.” The conversation delves into lessons from education and entertainment, strategies for accelerating one's career, mental and spiritual resilience, and the art of championing unheard voices while staying grounded in authenticity.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Bianca’s Unconventional Path: From Classroom to C-Suite

• Background:
  Bianca shares her journey, highlighting her Filipino immigrant roots and her parents’ pioneering achievements in Hollywood journalism. She began as a public school teacher, intent on uplifting marginalized students.

  • Quote: “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.” (01:00, Bianca)

• Pivot to Entertainment:
  Witnessing the power of storytelling to influence and empower, she transitioned into Hollywood, ultimately fast-tracking from educator to VP at Lionsgate.

  • “I worked directly with our CEO and our C Suite team to lead innovation strategies... to tell incredible stories.” (02:19, Bianca)

2. Transferring Skills Across Worlds

• Teaching vs. Hollywood:
  Solving problems people avoid is a throughline in Bianca’s work; both classrooms and studios have similar interpersonal dynamics.

  • Quote: “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.” (06:20, Bianca)

• Crisis Management:
  Leveraged educator training during pandemic-era industry uncertainty, rolling out rapid reskilling programs and innovation labs in record time.

  • “We did it through rapid reskilling... so that employees could get more proficient in crisis management in just eight weeks versus six months.” (07:33, Bianca)

3. Accelerators for Career Growth

• Signature Achievements Over Ladder-Climbing:
  Bianca never aimed simply to move up; she looked for problems no one wanted to solve, took calculated risks on challenging initiatives, and built a track record of innovation.

  • “To go from manager to VP in four years, I wasn't trying to climb the corporate ladder, but always looking for opportunities that people didn't really want to touch.” (10:01, Bianca)

• Mentorship vs. Sponsorship:
  Meaningful advancement came from proactive mentors who advocated for her, not just offered advice.

  • Quote: “Mentorship without sponsorship is just another coffee conversation.” (11:38, Bianca)

4. Authenticity and Owning the Room

• Radical Self-Acceptance:
  Key to Bianca’s transformation was moving from “performing worthiness” to “operating from wholeness.” This authenticity fueled her confidence in high-stakes environments.

  • “My superpower isn't being liked by everyone. It's just being my authentic self.... I stopped performing worthiness and just started operating from wholeness.” (12:24, Bianca)

• Mindset Shifts:
  The breakthrough comes from focusing on substance rather than performance—being present, telling compelling stories, and communicating genuine value.

  • Quote: “That's when I went from just surviving the rooms to transforming them.” (13:32, Bianca)

5. Daily Rituals for Grounding and Growth

• Gratitude & Perspective Rituals:
  Bianca reviews, nightly:

  1. what she accomplished to help someone else;
  2. what she appreciates about herself;
  3. what she’s grateful for.
  • “It reminds me that the best career moves are the ones that I create value for myself and others.” (15:33, Bianca)

• Micro-Actions & Collective Identity:
  Incorporates a “cycle of success” (thank you, coach Kibi Anderson): take small, often scary actions, share them for feedback, and build incremental momentum.

  • “Doing that helps keep my momentum going. And I know it gets me out of the perfectionism.” (17:36, Bianca)

6. Radical Career Tips

• Understand and Reimagine the Playbook:
  Master the rules to effectively break and reconstruct them to foster true innovation.
  • “Understand the playbook so you can rewrite the rules.... It's a way to be both pragmatic and radical at the same time.” (19:16, Bianca)

7. Inner Work and Spiritual Grounding

• Healing the Inner Child:
  Bianca dedicates a “creative hour” daily, treating it as seriously as a board meeting—to ideate, to “meet with her ancestors,” and honor her creative spirit.
  • Quote: “That one hour daily is for pure creative thinking. There's no emails, no calls, just my ancestors' wildest dream ideation.” (22:40, Bianca)
  • “Creativity is a discipline. It's not an accident.... I can truly embody my spiritual powerhouse self.” (23:15, Bianca)

8. Systemic, Scalable, Soulful Storytelling

• AI and the Future:
  Bianca’s new frontier is merging breakthrough AI tools with the creative industry to democratize and scale stories from underrepresented voices.
  • “My goal is to be a magnet between the breakthrough AI storytelling tools and the entertainment industry's massive appetite for content.” (02:53, Bianca)
  • “That's where storytelling becomes unstoppable, when it's systemic, scalable, and it has soul in its strategy.” (27:44, Bianca)

Notable Quotes & Highlights

• On Opportunity:
  “Always looking for opportunities that people didn't really want to touch.” (10:03, Bianca)

• On Authenticity:
  “My superpower isn't being liked by everyone. It's just being my authentic self.” (12:24, Bianca)

• On Mentorship:
  “Mentorship without sponsorship is just another coffee conversation.” (11:38, Bianca)

• On Rituals:
  “I have built a whole ritual and I stay grounded through systemic gratitude and perspective rituals.” (15:11, Bianca)

• On Creativity:
  “Creativity is a discipline. It's not an accident. People can really grow their creativity muscles, but we need to honor and respect it.” (23:15, Bianca)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00-01:20 — Bianca’s family legacy and early influence
• 01:27-03:45 — From teaching to Lionsgate and driving DEI
• 04:33-06:00 — The shift from education to entertainment
• 06:13-08:42 — Crisis management: leadership during the pandemic
• 09:54-11:54 — Career acceleration: high-impact projects and sponsorship
• 12:10-14:17 — Authenticity, shedding “the mask”, and owning your value
• 15:11-16:26 — Daily gratitude and grounding rituals
• 17:00-18:32 — Micro-actions and building collective identity
• 19:13-21:03 — Radical career tips: mastering and rewriting the playbook
• 22:03-24:55 — Healing, creativity, and ancestral connection

Final Thoughts & Where to Follow Bianca

Bianca encourages listeners to embrace authenticity, seek out unsolved problems, prioritize creativity as a discipline, and find sponsors as much as mentors. She's now focusing on AI-driven storytelling and is open to connecting with others ready to amplify diverse narratives.

Follow Bianca Nepales:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram

Parting Words:
“I'm looking for folks who are wanting to lead the creative revolution in tech and storytelling... that's where storytelling becomes unstoppable, when it's systemic, scalable, and it has soul in its strategy.” (27:22, Bianca)

This episode offers powerful, actionable insights for anyone seeking to reshape their career path, lead with impact, and transform their industries from the inside out.