We were lucky to catch up with Katheline Jean-Pierre recently and have shared our conversation below.
Katheline, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later
I wish I had started my business sooner. Back in 2018, my manager at Google Anders Mortensen during one of our career conversations told me what he saw as a strong career path for me. While I was obsessing about getting promoted every 2 years at Google to get to the top, he saw the power of the leadership program I had started in 2015 that had caught up like wildfire. This program was called the Google Women Coffee Club: what started as a pilot of 100 Google employees, skyrocketed to 15,000+ and is still going on today. He said: “You should leave Google, write a book about it, take over the biggest stages and launch the Coffee Club in the world.
I’ve launched this program now in the wild – opened it up to professionals serious about their career acceleration: people who want to get promoted, land a new role or launch a portfolio career (side business, fractional roles, become thought leaders and more).
My single-focus on one career path had me missing out on my life purpose and my unique gift in this world. Fast Forward to 2022 – I started working at Linkedin as a Managing Director for Financial services & venture verticals where I met and advised some of the world’s biggest brands CXOs – the CMO of Audi, the CEO of Volvo, the CMOs of Visa, Mastercard and Bank of America to help them grow their thought leadership on LinkedIn… That’s when I saw the light and realized I wanted to do this for myself and that the time is now. In March 2025, I made the jump – I went on full time on my side hustle and stepped up as the Founder and CEO of Driving Impact, a media venture that includes An Apple Top 200 ranked Business Podcast: Driving Impact: The Top 5% Method®, a Career Accelerator, and Linkedin Personal branding offerings. https://www.top5percentmethod.com/
While my podcast picked up to reach 6-digit monthly downloads once I left my corporate job, if I had followed Anders advice, I would likely already be a top podcaster in business with volume since 2020 is when most podcasts blew up and coaching programs as well. The universe was sending me nudges that I took time to get a read on.
I 100% wish I started sooner and made different decisions. Even 2022 was a good time to be an executive creator on Linkedin where growth was steep and Linkedin was a blue ocean.
Katheline, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
how you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc
“I was good at explaining API integrations with clients”
I originally thought I was oing to become a writer and a musician. I had two record deals offered back in 2003 – one for $150,000. I signed one but never released my music album. A student in political science and journalism, the path i had carved was the one of a journalist and media person. Then i fell into coding at the journalism lab where we had to create web pages leveraging CSS, HTML, Javascript. I became obsessed with that medium and dove in deep. Landed my first job at Quebecor Inc / Quebecor world inc a media company with a print component, then transferred to its digital arm the “google of quebec” called Canoe. From this point i started working at Yahoo as an editor then product manager handling Flickr’s suite of products. As I was technical with a strong skill for the spoken word, our sales director brought me to customer meetings where I explained and sold API integrations with Flickr. “You should be in sales” is what they said, “You’d be good at it”. Google approached me for a sales role, that adventure lasted 10.5 years in 2 different cities – Silicon Valley then Silicon Beach in LA before I joined Linkedin in 2022.
what type of products/services/creative works you provide
“A a program to launch your side business in 90 days or less, A career & leadership podcast to learn how to be a Top 5 percenter, a career accelerator to grow your soft skills and accelerate your career, and keynotes on how to build your brand with Linkedin”
I run an Apple Top 200 in Business podcast: “Driving Impact: The top 5% method with 6-digit monthly downloads
With the intensity of Tech layoffs and the disruption led by companies to integrate AI to automate easy to automate tasks, there is no moment like now to build your side hustle in 90 days
What problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others
customers were struggling with several key issues before trying the Top 5 Percent Method:
People feel stuck in their careers, it’s hard to get promoted, they have a Lack of Confidence and want to become Layoff proof by generating a 6-figure side business
1. Career Advancement: Many customers felt stuck in their careers and found it hard to achieve promotions or transitions into new roles. For instance, one reviewer mentioned that they received three promotions over five years with the help of the coaching, indicating that they previously struggled to advance.
2. Confidence and Self-Expression: Several highlight a lack of confidence, particularly in high-stakes situations. One customer described a moment of intimidation in an executive boardroom, suggesting that they found it difficult to assert themselves and communicate their value effectively before receiving mentorship.
3. Networking and Personal Branding: Customers expressed challenges in expanding their professional networks and building their personal brands. One reviewer noted that the coaching helped them grow their personal brand at Google, indicating that they previously struggled to establish a strong professional presence.
4. Mindset and Strategy: There was a clear struggle with mindset, as indicated by the emphasis on the importance of mindset as a strategy. Customers seemed to lack a clear approach or framework for achieving their goals, which the program helped to provide.
5. Navigating Gender Dynamics: One review specifically mentioned overcoming gender-related challenges in a male-dominated environment, suggesting that customers were struggling with how to navigate these dynamics effectively before the program.
What we provide:
1. Empowerment and Confidence: we help people gain confidence, own their power, and navigate challenging situations effectively.
2. Career Advancement: we share the method to foster career growth, including promotions and successful transitions to new roles, as a direct result of the coaching and mentorship received.
3. Personalized Support: we provide a tailored approach to coaching, where the candidates’ individual strengths and growth areas are recognized and addressed.
4. Inspiring and Engaging Workshops: we provide captivating and transformative workshops, providing practical insights that resonate with diverse audiences.
5. Networking and Community Building: we help individuals expand their networks and connect with others, fostering a sense of community and support.
6. Actionable Strategies: we provide practical and actionable strategies provided, which have led to tangible results in their professional lives.
7. Positive Mindset: The importance of mindset as a strategy is critical, as the program encourages a positive and proactive approach to challenges.
What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc.
Overcoming my own story of inadequacy when I moved from Montreal to Silicon Valley, I created a transformation program that I applied to myself. What happened next is that women leveraged it en masse, globally in APAC, the US, and EMEA with chapters across business units (Google Play, YouTube, Google Cloud, Google Search, Google Customer Solutions, and many more).
My story: As a French Canadian woman from Black+Descent, I initially struggled to own my power in Silicon Valley. I gave myself aggressive stretch goals every 90 days. This transformative learning leadership program helped me reach quantum leaps of performance in my career and in my life and helped me land 15+ awards at Google including the Outstanding manager award granted to only 1% of Googlers
Biography:
Tech Operator and Independent Board Member, she helps companies Grow Revenue & Drive Impact. She is currently a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Driving Impact, after spending 3 years as a Managing Director, Enterprise Solutions at LinkedIn and 10 years as a Head of Sales at Google in California driving billion dollar portfolio sales.
As a Chief Revenue Officer, I grow revenue
and drive business impact
“I have worked in Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach to grow companies from a Product, Sales, Marketing & GTM angles driving growth, revenue, sales and profit while creating memorable brands”.
Her Path to Podcast Host, CEO and CRO
Katheline Jean-Pierre is an award-winning Fortune 100 technology executive with proven expertise in driving revenue through sales, marketing, operations, and product management.
A transformative leader in the tech ecosystem with 15+ awards in Fortune 100 companies and a decade spent as a Google executive, Katheline hosts the influential podcast “Driving Impact: The Top 5% Method®,” ranked in Apple’s Top 200 Podcasts in the Business Category since March 2025! Her 6-figure download podcast has 6-figure monthly downloads with 95% of its audience in the United States.
She stepped into 2025 as the CEO and Chief Revenue Officer of Driving Impact her media venture that includes the Podcast, a Career Accelerator, and Personal branding offerings.
Driving Billion Dollar Revenue Growth
Throughout her two-decade career as a Revenue Driving Executive – as a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) in Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach, she has demonstrated exceptional skill in scaling high-growth portfolios to $1B across prestigious organizations including Google, LinkedIn, Deloitte, and Yahoo. A transformative leader in the tech ecosystem, Katheline hosts the influential podcast “Driving Impact,” available on all major podcasting platforms, where she shares insights from her extensive experience building and expanding technology businesses as well as the stories of her Elite Top 5% guests. Her podcast as been ranked in Apple’s Top 200 Business podcasts globally for Leadership and careerwith 85,000+ monthly downloads in 2025.
15+ Sales Awards at Google, Deloitte, Flickr and Yahoo
As an Award-Winning Fortune 100 executive, Katheline defies traditional corporate narratives, using her platform not just to drive business metrics, but to spark profound human potential conversation. Her journey is a tapestry of silent meditation retreats, electrifying global stages, and intimate coaching spaces where she helps women leaders transmute their deepest wounds into their most powerful wisdom across 5 continents.
Apple Top 200 Business Podcast
Katheline is not just a podcaster—she’s a living, breathing portal of transformation, dancing between the seen and unseen realms of human potential. With the heart of an alchemist and the precision of a Silicon Valley strategist, she weaves together the mystical and the methodical, turning personal awakening into a global movement.
Her podcast—”Driving Impact”—has resonated so deeply that it has climbed into the top 10% globally, becoming beacon signal for those hungry for authentic personal growth, hacking, career development, mindset shifts and leadership advice from the Top 1%ers. Drawing from ancestral wisdom and cutting-edge consciousness technologies like NLP that she has studied in San Francisco, Katheline doesn’t just speak about transformation—she embodies it.
Her story gained national recognition when she was featured in the CBC / Radio-Canada TV Series “Les Ambassadrices,” celebrating Quebec women who courageously pursue their dreams beyond traditional boundaries. With academic credentials including a bachelor’s in political science from the University of Montreal, a Master’s in e-commerce from HEC Montreal, and additional certificates from Wharton and Harvard, Katheline represents a rare blend of intellectual rigor and spiritual depth.
Music flows through her as another language of healing, composing sonic landscapes that bridge the quantum field of potential with tangible human experience. Now calling Los Angeles home, where she lives with her family, she continues to guide individuals towards their most radiant, powerful and highest selves.
In a world often fragmented and disconnected, Katheline stands as a bridge—connecting individuals to their most radiant, Highest Selves, and the Higher Self collective as we enter our next paradigm shift: the Great Awakening era in which she enters under her pen names.
Her 20-year career driving revenue with AI-Driven sales
As a global senior Advertising Sales & Marketing executive, Advisor and board member, Katheline Jean-Pierre guides companies with proven strategies to drive sustainable growth and scale businesses across verticals in B2B and B2C for organizations from startup through Fortune 500 including Alphabet/Google and Linkedin (owned by Microsoft). Her vast experience leading billion-dollar portfolios, launching products in global markets and guiding commercialization using new business models elevates companies looking to scale, enter new markets or leverage innovation for growth. Katheline brings to boards the insights needed to succeed in an ever-changing landscape by providing solid governance and expertise in emerging technologies, sales, blockchain, retail, marketing and product management.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Overcoming my own story of inadequacy when I moved from Montreal to Silicon Valley, I created a transformation program that I applied to myself. What happened next is that women leveraged it en masse, globally in APAC, the US, and EMEA with chapters across business units (Google Play, YouTube, Google Cloud, Google Search, Google Customer Solutions, and many more).
My story: As a French Canadian woman from Black+Descent, I initially struggled to own my power in Silicon Valley. I gave myself aggressive stretch goals every 90 days. This transformative learning leadership program helped me reach quantum leaps of performance in my career and in my life and helped me land 15+ awards at Google including the Outstanding manager award granted to only 1% of Googlers.
More on this:
In 2022, I was interviewed by a reporter who asked me: What is your story?
We talk a lot about feelings of inadequacy and “Imposter Phenomenon” and as I reflected on my journey, I told her about how I experienced crippling imposter syndrome back in 2014.
I survived this dark period of my life and took it upon myself to invest in helping others. I created a leadership program for women and minorities called the Coffee Club.
Our goal was to impact 1000 women at Google.
In 6 years, 1484 Google women went through our leadership program!
In 10 years, it scaled to 15,000 participants and beyond.
Some of them moved across the world, got promoted, and led a team.
And that’s an even more important part of my story.
I took a very hard period of my life, turned it into something powerful.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I 2x-ed my Linkedin Growth in 2 months, went from less. than 10,000 followers to 22,000 swiftly.
1) Overcoming the fear of posting led by our need to “perform for an invisible audience”. 99% of Linkedin members are lurkers. Let them lurk
2) Educate others on important things they should know that is not available knowledge -Being more vulnerable on what i share that can help tother feel seen
3) Build a community not a followership – have skin in the game, care about your audience and answer their questions
social media is a two way street keep it this way
4) it was an extreme bootcamp, i posted every day for 5 months in a row now. If I don’t have a post, my brain automatically wakes me up to craft one at 5am!!!
5) Build with a tribe – i got started while working at Linkedin and a small group of 3-4 ppl would support each other and review each other’s posts. My coworker helped me find the right gear to record videos and coached me on my delivery. That got me started, and even more… fired up!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.top5percentmethod.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathelinejeanpierre/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathelinejeanpierre/
- Twitter: https://x.com/Driving_Impact
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrivingImpactPodcast
Image Credits
Driving impact llc