What happens when you're standing on a stage, saying something true about yourself, and someone in the audience is trying to make you disappear?

This week, Micki sits down with Venessa Rodriguez — clinically trained holistic healer, certified nutrition specialist, herbalist, astrology practitioner, and Akashic channel — for one of those conversations that makes you want to press pause and just sit in it for a while.

But this episode isn't about Venessa's credentials. It's about teenage Venessa — the girl who stood on a stage in front of her entire high school and kept speaking, even as someone tried to shut her down. The girl who didn't know how to voice what she was carrying inside, but knew she was meant for something she couldn't name yet.

Together, Micki and Venessa explore:

• What it actually takes to find your voice when you've been interrupted, dismissed, or made to feel like what you have to say doesn't matter
• Why the things that wound us in our teen years often become the very gifts we offer the world as adults
• How the body, mind, and soul are always in conversation with each other — and how to start listening
• Intuition in young people — what it looks like, why it gets suppressed, and why it'salways been real
• The herbs and nutrients that can genuinely support a teenager's nervous system, sleep, and resilience (reishi, nervines, magnesium, protein, and hydration — practical and specific)
• What it means to be her becoming — and why full self-acceptance might be the most courageous act any of us has ever does

Venessa also shares the moment — nearly 20 years later — when she finally found out the story she'd made personal was never about her at all. And what happened when she stopped performing goodness and started becoming herself.

This episode is for the young person who wonders if what they're carrying right now will ever make sense. It will. And it's for the adults who remember being that teenager — and who are still, in their own way, becoming.

"You are not going to believe what you're going to find out."

Connect with Venessa Rodriguez: Website: wildlyrooted.com Instagram: @wildlyrooted Podcast: Feed Your Wild (since 2018)

Connect with Micki + The Elemental Teen: Website: theelementalteen.com Instagram: @theelementalteen Community: Join us on Skool

The Who Are You? Podcast is a space for young people — and the humans who love them — to explore identity, purpose, and what it means to come home to yourself.

She looks like she has it all together.

She's 19, studying aerospace engineering at one of the most demanding aeronautical universities, and she carries herself with a quiet grace that makes people feel at ease before she's even said a word.

But beneath that? A girl who has spent years studying harder than anyone knew, smiling through the overload, and privately wondering whether who she is could ever be enough — without the proof of what she's done.

In this episode, Micki sits down with Alana, 19 for a full elemental blueprint reading. What unfolds is an honest conversation about achievement, identity, and self-worth.

"I'm trying my best to impress a younger version of me."

What comes up in this conversation:

• What it feels like to be the high achiever who never feels high enough
• Why the smartest, most capable people are often the last to ask for help
• The one word that kept surfacing across Alana's entire elemental blueprint
• What Virgo precision, Libra grace, and a North Node in Pisces look like in a real human life
• The question Micki asks every guest — and the answer that will stay with you

📸 Find Alana on Instagram — @stormi_bugz

About The Elemental Teen The Elemental Teen is a space for teenagers and young adults to explore the deeper question of who they really are. Through the language of the four elements — fire, earth, air and water — we explore identity, self-understanding, and what it means to trust yourself in a world that is constantly telling you who to be. No overwhelm. No pressure. Just you, learning how you actually work.

Ready to go deeper? Book a Blueprint Reading — a 60-minute 1:1 session where we use your birth chart and the four elements to help you understand exactly how you're wired. It's the most direct path to that "oh, that's me" moment. 🔮 Book your Blueprint Reading — https://www.theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading

Links Mentioned in This Episode

🌐 Website — www.theelementalteen.com

🔮 Book a Blueprint Reading — https://www.theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading

💻 Join the Elemental Teen Community on Skool — https://www.skool.com/the-elemental-teen-4668/about

📸 Instagram — @the_elemental_teen

🌙 Find your free birth chart — https://www.astro.com/horoscope

A Note From Micki The Elemental Teen is an educational and self-discovery space. The content shared in this podcast is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support, therapy, or medical advice. If you or a teenager you know is struggling, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional or contact a crisis support line in your area. If you're in the US, you can reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You are not alone. 🤍

Enjoyed this episode? If something in this episode opened something up for you — share it with someone who needs it. And if you feel called to, leave a review. It helps more young people find this space. 🤍

If you are in crisis, dial 988 (US) or search for your local crisis line.

There are things you carry that no one can see. The weight of performing, achieving, holding it all together — while something much heavier lives underneath.

This episode goes there.

Fire, earth, air, and water each have an extreme edge — a place where their natural force becomes overwhelming and sometimes terrifying. And when you're carrying more than any one person should carry alone, you can feel every single one of them.

In this episode:

• What each element looks like at its most extreme edge
• Why loneliness isn't always about being unloved — it's about the gap between the love given and the love that can be received
• How each element gives and needs love differently
• Why life moves in cycles — and why that matters more than you know

For the young person who looks fine from the outside. For the parent who senses something is wrong. For anyone who has wondered if it will always feel this hard.

It won't. You are not alone.

🎁 Free Guide → theelementalteen.com/podcast

About The Elemental Teen A space for teens and young adults to explore who they really are. Through the four elements — fire, earth, air and water — we explore identity, self-understanding, and what it means to trust yourself. No overwhelm. No pressure. Just you, learning how you actually work.

Ready to go deeper? Book a Blueprint Reading — 60 minutes using your birth chart and the four elements to understand exactly how you're wired.

🔮 theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading

Links 🌐 theelementalteen.com 🔮 theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading 💻 skool.com/the-elemental-teen-4668/about 📸 @the_elemental_teen 🌙 astro.com/horoscope

A Note From Micki This content is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support. If you or a teen you know is struggling, please reach out to a qualified professional. US: Call or text 988. You are not alone. 🤍

If this episode moved something in you, please share it. Send it to a parent, a teacher, a young person you love. This is the conversation that changes things. 🤍

She was driven and sensitive. Two things that felt like they were at constant war with each other.

Before Girlvana, the book deal, the retreats — Ally Maz was just a girl who felt everything deeply and had nowhere to put it. Her journey into wellness began at 20, navigating the end of a dance career, a hidden eating disorder, and severe asthma.

In this episode of Once Upon a Teen, Micki sits down with Ally to go back. To the teenager who wore fake eyelashes to competitions, pushed through exhaustion she couldn't name, and learned far too late that her sensitivity was never a weakness — but her greatest gift.

At 24, Ally founded Girlvana Yoga to support the wellbeing of teen girls. She later signed with Penguin Random House and launched her first book, Girlvana.

This conversation isn't about the accolades. It's about what it cost to get there. And what became possible when she finally stopped performing and started listening.

And of course — the question Micki asks every guest: Who are you, right now?

About Ally Maz:

Ally Maz is a yoga teacher, breathwork facilitator, youth mentor, and published author. At 24, she founded Girlvana Yoga, supporting teen girls through retreats, classes and workshops. Her teachings are found in yoga studios, classrooms, and community programs worldwide. Ladyvana Retreats is her space for women to reconnect through yoga, meditation, breathwork and journaling.

🌐 alexmazerolle.com 📸 @allymaz

About The Elemental Teen A space for teens and young adults to explore who they really are. Through the four elements — fire, earth, air and water — we explore identity, self-understanding, and what it means to trust yourself. No overwhelm. No pressure. Just you, learning how you actually work.

Ready to go deeper? Book a Blueprint Reading — 60 minutes using your birth chart and the four elements to understand exactly how you're wired. 🔮 theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading

Links 🌐 theelementalteen.com 🔮 theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading 💻 skool.com/the-elemental-teen-4668/about 📸 @the_elemental_teen 🌙 astro.com/horoscope

A Note From Micki This content is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support. If you or a teen you know is struggling, please reach out to a qualified professional. US: Call or text 988. You are not alone. 🤍

Enjoyed this episode? Share it with someone who needs it. Leave a review — it helps more young people find this space. 🤍

What if someone could look at the exact moment you were born and show you — not who you're supposed to become, but who you already are?

That's what an Elemental Blueprint reading is. And in this episode, you get to witness one happening in real time.

Aine is eighteen, about to leave everything familiar and step into the next chapter of her life. She sits down with Micki not entirely sure what to expect — and what unfolds is a conversation about depth, identity, emotional intensity, impossible self-standards, and what it actually means to be exactly who you are at the exact moment life is asking you to change.

Through the language of fire, water, air and earth, Micki maps Aine's unique elemental pattern — and in the process, gives words to things Aine has always felt, but never quite been able to name.

This one is for every teen who has ever been told they're too much. Too sensitive. Too deep. Too complicated.

You're not too much. That's just your design.

Find your own Elemental Blueprint at the link in the show notes. 🌿

About The Elemental Teen The Elemental Teen is a space for teenagers and young adults to explore the deeper question of who they really are. Through the language of the four elements — fire, earth, air and water — we explore identity, self-understanding, and what it means to trust yourself in a world that is constantly telling you who to be. No overwhelm. No pressure. Just you, learning how you actually work.

Ready to go deeper? Book a Blueprint Reading — a 60-minute 1:1 session where we use your birth chart and the four elements to help you understand exactly how you're wired. It's the most direct path to that "Oh, that's me" moment. 🔮 Book your Blueprint Reading — https://www.theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading

Links Mentioned in This Episode

🌐 Website — www.theelementalteen.com

🔮 Book a Blueprint Reading — https://www.theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading

💻 Join the Elemental Teen Community on Skool — https://www.skool.com/the-elemental-teen-4668/about

📸 Instagram — @the_elemental_teen

🌙 Find your free birth chart — https://www.astro.com/horoscope

A Note From Micki The Elemental Teen is an educational and self-discovery space. The content shared in this podcast is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support, therapy, or medical advice. If you or a teenager you know is struggling, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional or contact a crisis support line in your area. If you're in the US, you can reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You are not alone. 🤍

Enjoyed this episode? If something in this episode opened something up for you — share it with someone who needs it. And if you feel called to please leave a review. It helps more young people find this space. 🤍

This one started on a yoga mat.

I wanted to dedicate my practice to a friend going through something hard — something with a lot of anger. And somewhere between the sun salutations and the warriors, my mind went down a rabbit hole that took me from her relationship, to every relationship, to every conflict, the news, the wars, and eventually — uncomfortably — back to myself.

I have an Aries Moon. I've carried anger through my parents' divorce, through losing my brother, through twenty years with my partner whom I love deeply and still manage to get mad at. I don't want to be an angry person. But why do I keep going there?

The answer that came to me on the mat was simple.

I don't understand.

That's where anger lives. Not in the other person. In the gap between what happened and why we can't make sense of it.

In this episode: — Anger is information, not a character flaw — What anger is pointing to underneath the flame — How anger moves differently depending on your elemental nature — The one thing that might start to break the loop

🌙 Free Moon Sign Portrait — theelementalteen.com/podcast

Anger is information. You deserve to be fluent in your own language.

About The Elemental Teen A space for teens and young adults to explore who they really are. Through the four elements — fire, earth, air and water — we explore identity, self-understanding, and what it means to trust yourself. No overwhelm. No pressure. Just you, learning how you actually work.

Ready to go deeper? Book a Blueprint Reading — 60 minutes using your birth chart and the four elements to understand exactly how you're wired. 🔮 theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading

Links 🌐 theelementalteen.com 🔮 theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading 💻 skool.com/the-elemental-teen-4668/about 📸 @the_elemental_teen 🌙 astro.com/horoscope

A Note From Micki This content is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support. If you or a teen you know is struggling, please reach out to a qualified professional. US: Call or text 988. You are not alone. 🤍

Enjoyed this episode? Share it with someone who needs it. Leave a review — it helps more young people find this space. 🤍

Some people find the stars. Others are found by them.

Yael is an astrologer, a teacher, and the creator of the Planetary Balance Method (TM) — a framework for balancing the five planetary energies that shape every human life. But before all of that, she was a teenager carrying things no teenager should have to carry alone. A brother with leukemia. A mother who died at 44. A father with a secret. And underneath all of it — a girl who desperately longed to be loved, and had no idea how to let it in.

In this episode, Yael takes us back. To the body image that haunted her despite how she looked on the outside. To the boy she pushed away on the beach. To the running — both in her waking life and in her dreams — and what finally happened when she turned around and faced what was chasing her.

This is a conversation about emotions, repression, the water element, why talking about your emotions is only half the work — and what it means to actually feel them in your body, what spirituality can get wrong, and why the most radical thing a teenager can do is stop trying to fix what they feel — and start listening to it instead.

This one is for every teen who has ever felt deeply alone in a full room. For every person who learned to survive instead of feel. And for anyone who has ever wondered if the stars might have something to say about who they really are.

Find Yael and the Planetary Balance Method (TM) in the show notes. 🌿

About Yael Yael is a certified astrologer, teacher at the Applied Astrology School, and creator of the Planetary Balance Method (TM).

🌐 www.yaelastrology.com 📸 @yael.astrology 🎵 @yael.astrology on TikTok

About The Elemental Teen The Elemental Teen is a space for young people to explore the deeper question of who they really are. Through the language of the four elements we explore identity, self-understanding, and what it means to trust yourself in a world that is constantly telling you who to be.

Book a Blueprint Reading to help you understand how you're wired.

🔮 Book a Reading — https://www.theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading

Links Mentioned in This Episode

🌐 Website — www.theelementalteen.com

🔮 Book a Blueprint Reading — https://www.theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading

💻 Elemental Teen Community — https://www.skool.com/the-elemental-teen-4668/about

📸 Instagram — @the_elemental_teen

🌙 Find your birth chart — https://www.astro.com/horoscope

A Note The Elemental Teen is an educational & self-discovery space. The content shared in this podcast is intended for informational & inspirational purposes only & is not a substitute for professional mental health support, therapy, or medical advice. If you or a teenager you know is struggling, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional or contact a crisis support line in your area. If you're in the US, you can reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. 🤍

Enjoyed this episode? If something in this episode touched you — share it with someone who needs it. And please leave a review. It helps more young people find us. 🤍

What does it look like to move across the country at eighteen to pursue something you love — something that isn't always celebrated, isn't always understood, and doesn't come with a guaranteed path?

In this episode, I sit down with OB — a young dancer, creator, and deeply thoughtful human being — to talk about identity, culture, belonging, and what it means to feel more sure of yourself as you grow.

We explore how OB navigates being a young Asian woman in the ballet world, what her Elemental Signature reveals about where she is right now, and how surrounding yourself with emotionally mature people changes everything.

And at the end — OB answers the question I ask every guest on this podcast.

Her answer will stay with you. 🤍

In this episode:

• Growing up between cultures and finding your own identity within both
• What it feels like to move toward the unknown with more confidence than fear
• Why being different isn't something to hide — it's something to stand in
• OB’s elemental season right now and why it makes complete sense
• The single spark that changes everything

📸 Find OB on Instagram — @butterfly.ballerina

About The Elemental Teen The Elemental Teen is a space for teenagers and young adults to explore the deeper question of who they really are. Through the language of the four elements — fire, earth, air and water — we explore identity, self-understanding, and what it means to trust yourself in a world that is constantly telling you who to be. No overwhelm. No pressure. Just you, learning how you actually work.

Ready to go deeper? Book a Blueprint Reading — a 60-minute 1:1 session where we use your birth chart and the four elements to help you understand exactly how you're wired. It's the most direct path to that "oh, that's me" moment. 🔮 Book your Blueprint Reading — https://www.theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading

Links Mentioned in This Episode

🌐 Website — www.theelementalteen.com

🔮 Book a Blueprint Reading — https://www.theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading

💻 Join the Elemental Teen Community on Skool — https://www.skool.com/the-elemental-teen-4668/about

📸 Instagram — @the_elemental_teen

🌙 Find your free birth chart — https://www.astro.com/horoscope

A Note From Micki The Elemental Teen is an educational and self-discovery space. The content shared in this podcast is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support, therapy, or medical advice. If you or a teenager you know is struggling, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional or contact a crisis support line in your area. If you're in the US, you can reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You are not alone. 🤍

Enjoyed this episode? If something in this episode opened something up for you — share it with someone who needs it. And if you feel called to, leave a review. It helps more young people find this space. 🤍

What if there was a language for who you are — one that didn't put you in a box, didn't ask you to perform, and didn't require you to have it all figured out?

That's what your Elemental Signature is.

In this first solocast, Micki introduces one of the core tools of The Elemental Teen — the Elemental Signature. Three simple pieces of your birth chart — your Sun, your Moon, and your Rising sign — read through the language of the four elements. Fire, Water, Air, and Earth.

Together, they form a picture of how your energy actually works. Not who you should be. Not who everyone expects you to be. Who you already are.

Micki walks through her own Elemental Signature as an example — and invites you to discover yours.

Because the moment you stop resisting yourself and start understanding yourself, everything gets a little clearer.

Find your Elemental Signature and join the Elemental Teen community at the link in the show notes.

Who are you? The elements might already know. 🌿

About The Elemental Teen The Elemental Teen is a space for teenagers and young adults to explore the deeper question of who they really are. Through the language of the four elements — fire, earth, air and water — we explore identity, self-understanding, and what it means to trust yourself in a world that is constantly telling you who to be. No overwhelm. No pressure. Just you, learning how you actually work.

Ready to go deeper? Book a Blueprint Reading — a 60-minute 1:1 session where we use your birth chart and the four elements to help you understand exactly how you're wired. It's the most direct path to that "oh, that's me" moment. 🔮 Book your Blueprint Reading — https://www.theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading

Links Mentioned in This Episode

🌐 Website — www.theelementalteen.com

🔮 Book a Blueprint Reading — https://www.theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading

💻 Join the Elemental Teen Community on Skool — https://www.skool.com/the-elemental-teen-4668/about

📸 Instagram — @the_elemental_teen

🌙 Find your free birth chart — https://www.astro.com/horoscope

A Note From Micki The Elemental Teen is an educational and self-discovery space. The content shared in this podcast is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support, therapy, or medical advice. If you or a teenager you know is struggling, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional or contact a crisis support line in your area. If you're in the US, you can reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You are not alone. 🤍

Enjoyed this episode? If something in this episode opened something up for you — share it with someone who needs it. And if you feel called to, leave a review. It helps more young people find this space. 🤍

Enjoyed this episode?

If something in this episode opened something up for you — share it with someone who needs it. And if you feel called to, leave a review. It helps more young people find this space. 🤍

She was "Emma, the ballet dancer". That was her whole identity — until her body said no. Twice.

Two torn ACLs. A spot at Boston Ballet's professional program. Her chance as a real ballerina lost in a single audition moment. Recovery alone at boarding school. And somewhere in all of that — the quiet, unexpected discovery of who she actually is beyond the thing that defined her.

In this honest and luminous conversation, Emma opens up about performing "I'm fine" for the world while falling apart behind closed doors, the loneliness of watching others do the thing you love, and how sitting still long enough finally taught her to listen to her own body for the first time.

She's not searching for the final answer of who she is. She just wants to keep searching.

For every teen who has poured everything into one identity and is quietly wondering — is this really all I am?

Spoiler: You are already who you're meant to be. 🤍

About The Elemental Teen The Elemental Teen is a space for teenagers and young adults to explore the deeper question of who they really are. Through the language of the four elements — fire, earth, air and water — we explore identity, self-understanding, and what it means to trust yourself in a world that is constantly telling you who to be. No overwhelm. No pressure. Just you, learning how you actually work.

Ready to go deeper? Book a Blueprint Reading — a 60-minute 1:1 session where we use your birth chart and the four elements to help you understand exactly how you're wired. It's the most direct path to that "oh, that's me" moment. 🔮 Book your Blueprint Reading — https://www.theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading

Links Mentioned in This Episode

🌐 Website — www.theelementalteen.com

🔮 Book a Blueprint Reading — https://www.theelementalteen.com/the-blueprint-reading

💻 Join the Elemental Teen Community on Skool — https://www.skool.com/the-elemental-teen-4668/about

📸 Instagram — @the_elemental_teen

🌙 Find your free birth chart — https://www.astro.com/horoscope

A Note From Micki The Elemental Teen is an educational and self-discovery space. The content shared in this podcast is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support, therapy, or medical advice. If you or a teenager you know is struggling, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional or contact a crisis support line in your area. If you're in the US, you can reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You are not alone. 🤍

Enjoyed this episode? If something in this episode opened something up for you — share it with someone who needs it. And if you feel called to, leave a review. It helps more young people find this space. 🤍

Enjoyed this episode?

If something in this episode opened something up for you — share it with someone who needs it. And if you feel called to, leave a review. It helps more young people find this space. 🤍