Smart Mouth Podcast | Brand Strategy, Marketing & Entrepreneurship · Sasha Fedunchak | Brand Strategist & Business Growth Advisor

Unlocking Your True Self with Human Design Ft. Mikaela MacLean, the Auric Esthetician

·53 min·4 clips

Mikayla McLean explains why her depression is actually her greatest gift in human design.

This episode of the Smart Mouth Podcast features host Sasha Fadunchak and guest Mikayla McLean, an "auric esthetician" who integrates spiritual practices into beauty and wellness. Mikayla McLean combines over 20 years of experience in medical aesthetics with practices like human design, astrology, and Reiki through her venture, the Energetic RX. She describes human design as a synthesis of astrology, the I Ching, Kabbalah, the Hindu chakra system, and quantum mechanics, creating a personal "lab results from the universe." McLean shares her personal journey from a childhood dream of becoming a doctor to a serious ballet career, which ended after a ruptured Achilles tendon. She later discovered esthetics as a way to merge her interests in healing, beauty, and perfectionism. Her introduction to human design about a decade ago provided a framework that explained her lifelong struggles with depression and obsessive tendencies. She explains that in human design, traits like perfectionism or judgment can be reframed as gifts, such as having an editorial eye like Anna Wintour. The guest details how she gradually integrated human design into her medical aesthetics practice, moving from being "in the closet" about her spiritual interests to fully combining them in her work. An invitation to speak at the Aesthetic Next conference, which she initially thought was spam, marked a turning point in her public visibility. McLean's "Energetic DNA" product is a comprehensive PDF guide and resource designed to help individuals understand their human design blueprint without needing a one-on-one session. One key insight is that human design helps individuals stop judging themselves and start viewing perceived flaws as unique strengths to be amplified. McLean uses her own "conscious sun" placement, the 36.4, to illustrate how her experiences with depression enable her to help others. She emphasizes that human design reveals how personal traits, such as a need for creative expression or tactile experiences, are integral to one's energy and purpose. The system is described not as predictive but as a roadmap for living authentically and making decisions aligned with one's innate authority. McLean notes that understanding one's design can end the "mental gymnastics" of trying to conform to external standards, freeing up time and mental energy. She suggests this self-knowledge is particularly valuable for entrepreneurs in branding, as it allows them to market authentically instead of following generic formulas. The conversation is deeply personal, educational, and exploratory, with both host and guest sharing their own experiences and revelations. The tone is conversational, enthusiastic, and supportive, blending personal storytelling with explanatory teaching. Listeners interested in spirituality, self-acceptance, and unconventional approaches to personal development or business branding would find this episode compelling. Those skeptical of metaphysical systems or seeking strictly evidence-based content might choose to skip it.

As heard by us

A human design conversation that reframes self-critique as part of visibility.

The conversation links beauty to branding and visibility, asking how the traits people try to hide can become part of a stronger public presence. Sasha Fadunchak speaks with Mikayla McLean, the auric esthetician and founder of Energetic RX, who also hosts Beauty by Design.

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If you want human design tied to brand growth, start here.

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