00:00:06 Sana: Have you ever had a moment where your body was trying to tell you something and you explained it away, ignored it? Maybe, like I'm just tired. It's just stress. It's probably nothing. It will just, you know, take care of its own. And then the same signal shows up again in your skin, your sleep, your energy, your relationships, your work. And here's the uncomfortable truth. Most of us are trained to override our body. We push through. We self-correct with caffeine, productivity, motivation, quotes, or makeup. And we call it discipline. But what if the body isn't being dramatic? What if it's being accurate?

00:00:58 Sana: Today we are talking about why listening to your body never really fails you, and how going to the root of what's really happening can simplify everything from skincare to business decisions. Yep. And I'm especially excited listeners because my guest doesn't just talk about this. She has lifted, studied it, built a company around it, and made the signs feel human. Mikey Vega is a PhD biochemist, former biotech executive and now founder and CEO of Vgam Vgam. She is known for pioneering what she calls Skin Science three point oh, a paradigm that sees skin not just as a surface but as a living system shaped by hormones, stress, trauma, and lived experience. Her work has been featured in HuffPost, and CBC's Dragons Den. Yep. And behind all that credibility, there is a story personal crisis in her family and her own health that didn't break her, but they redirected her. So welcome to this plan, and I'm really, really excited for this conversation.

00:02:23 Mireille Vega: Wow. Sana, thank you so much. That was such a fabulous introduction. Thank you. I'm very happy to be here chatting with you.

00:02:33 Sana: Thank you. Thank you so much. And I think people call you Doctor Mimi. So I'm going to call you that. And let's begin with our conversation because, um, because for anyone listening, I think, uh, you know, let me clarify here, listeners, that this isn't just going to be just drink water or stay hydrated and meditate conversation. We'll be going deeper. and we will keep it real. So let's begin. And, uh, Doctor Mimi, before we start, um, this phrase, listen to your body. Um, maybe, you know, some people will call it intuition. Um, some people will say data and some will hear hype. So, I mean, what what exactly does it mean? Like you know what? What? Actually, we are listening here.

00:03:27 Mireille Vega: Wow. Okay, you're diving right there. Okay, great. Well, it's a great question, actually, for me, it really started with my skin. Um, and, and it's a journey, right to to listen to your body, to listen to your intuition, to listen to what your body is telling you is is a journey. Uh, you, uh, ignore it. Like you mentioned earlier, many times before, you actually learn to trust it. And, um, for me, I say it started with my skin because, um, well, I it's been a life journey. I've tried to connect my understanding of the world of health, of my body living in our environment, our evolving environment. So I've tried to connect. all these elements together for many, many years. It became clear in my twenties that I had this ability to connect elements that people didn't necessarily see as connected, uh, particularly in, uh, in science and in regards to the chemistry or the biochemistry of the body. What I mean by that is I, uh, was exposed to, um, oncology a lot like, yes, health scares in my family. Uh, my mother, my son, uh, my grandmother, like, multiple people, like, were, uh, were affected by different degrees. Um, and it I, I started to see trends. I actually had a career in oncology because of those. Right. I really wanted to understand and go deeper. And I always want to go to the root. Right? Okay. Is this a symptom or is this the root cause? How does it begin? Why does it evolve? And by understanding these aspects, well, then you can control what you can control. And you can prevent what is preventable. So that has been kind of a life journey. And it certainly started with my skin as a teenager and then evolved with oncology, uh, as a prevention measure. And then the more you dig and the more you make connections between organs, between, uh, your body and your environment, the more you realize that there are principles that apply to health, to longevity, to, uh, risk factors of developing a cancer or a cardiovascular disease or, you know, multiple, uh, Conditions that are all the same risk factors, and they relate to your lifestyle and to certain habits that we sometimes have, we think are beneficial or are not. And, you know, like or um, you know, stress levels, you know, like there's multiple factors that are all interconnected. And by understanding how to optimize your living, uh, and to listen to the signs that you may be disbalanced, then you can take action in a very like, simplified and empowered way, I would say.

00:06:54 Sana: Yeah. And one thing I highly appreciate here is Doctor Nini that, um, it's kind of a fuel. I think, you know, a purpose for you because here there's a personal, personal reason attached to this purpose, um, that curiosity to understand whether it's, uh, symptomatic or it's the root cause in there. Um, I think, uh, that that is something that, you know, kind of keeps it going on, like, it keeps the fire burning within you that you want to get to the the deepest of it. So that is something that I personally very much appreciate. Um, and of course, I mean, we will definitely explore more about this in the conversation, but one kind of question comes to my mind here, Doctor Mimi, that, you know, um, especially with patterns. Um, now, uh, as humans, we kind of when we are consciously seeing something, we try to find patterns out of that and we try to, um, make some conclusions out of it. Um, but then over time, like, especially for high performing people here, doctor Mimi, uh, what are two or three signals? Maybe more than that, which are highly misunderstood or or ignore until it becomes a bigger issue.

00:08:23 Mireille Vega: Okay, another fully charged question. Yeah. So you're absolutely right. Purpose has been a driver for me forever. I, I always ended up in work that was that needed to be very grounded, helpful and, um, understanding how the body works in a healthy way is my passion. You're absolutely right. And, uh, like I mentioned earlier, it started with the skin. I had issues with my skin as a teenager, tried everything and became a chemist because of it. And, uh, I was convinced, and I did my PhD to actually develop a line that would be coherent and make sense for the skin. And, um, I felt at that time something was missing. An element was missing, I couldn't understand. Uh, I didn't have much experience at the time, and I thought, okay, the big labs are gonna find it, you know, because I really trusted, uh, that that that, that space at the time, and, uh, and then went on to study more the root cause because at that point, you know, like, there's times in life where, you know, like, you, uh, you have opportunities and I, I could dive deep dive into the world of oncology. And because I was exposed to not just one type of cancer, but multiple one, and then I was put in charge of a whole portfolio. I saw these these, um, these patterns, like you mentioned, where, uh, you know, like you would feel, uh, that, um, they kind of related then you don't know exactly how and, you know, to come back to your question, you know, like those patterns, those signals, like, for sure, for sure. Stress is one for high performing, uh, individual. Stress is one we tend to ignore. Or we we actually drive on. Right? The adrenaline, the, uh, the fast pace. Yeah, I've learned that it catches up right. And, um, this I've learned more personally, first and scientifically. Uh, but for sure. Um, yes. This is something that we tend to ignore and it shows up very different ways. It, uh, shows up obviously in our body this we need to listen to how we feel. And being very self-aware for high performance, uh, high performers is very difficult because this is how we perform right at first, where we don't listen to these limits because we want to outgrow them. Right. Um, but by, uh, being like, going inwards and if, like in your body, you don't feel it as much, you know, like it's, it's maybe, you know, like to go beyond the breathing and the meditation is really doing scans of your own body and being more, you know, present to, to the moment and then, you know, like once, once you're able to stop and listen in and you start hearing a lot more, right? But if you are the type of person that don't hear too much what your body says, there's also, um, your skin. And that's why I say listen to your skin because your skin shows, uh, what one what it needs on a daily basis. But even further than that, uh, the symptoms, it shows the monthly breakout. They're relating to stress often, you know, like for women, while they're also related to a moment in the month where their hormones don't support. You know, like much stress, actually, but it is also related relating to cortisol because it does affect those hormones. So again, everything is connected. So I think um, main main signal, although it may be very light is the skin. We never thought that we could listen to our skin. We thought that, uh oh. If I'm breaking out, I need to put something, uh, you know, on the breakout, uh, or the eczema. If I'm flaring up, you know, like, I need to add an ingredient on the flare and, you know, like, this is what I need to do. But if you take a moment to stop and be in the moment, you know, and notice that, okay, this eczema actually flares up when x, y and Z, right? There are patterns that come up and flares and stress again is uh, is very, uh, related. But there's also multiple types of stress on a body. Right. Digestion is also another type right of of symptoms or sign that you can listen to. Uh, that can lead to, uh, to more aligned, uh, living.

00:13:39 Sana: Absolutely. All of them. All of them are so much, so much important to first of all, begin with, um, because, you know, a lot of thoughts come into my mind and, um, I have been very open about, um, especially, as you mentioned, about eczema, um, uh, psoriasis, um, autoimmune or chronic? Uh, that's what we kind of call it. And, uh, I have personally noticed that, uh, the, not the symptoms, but the kind of signals when it flares up. There are certain specific periods. It's not always every day, but very certain specific periods or time frames either I'm super, super stressed. Um, or it's because of maybe sometimes I don't know, but with the environment as well, maybe the water that I'm using or I'm consuming, uh, sometimes it can also connect with food that I'm eating, but it's mostly because of, you know, when I'm super stressed or when I'm having very less hours of sleep, then also it flares up. That is something that I have very consciously kind of, you know, I've come to know about it, that it's not always that, you know, it's trying to, um, kind of defeat you in any sense. But there are reasons why your eczema or psoriasis is flaring up. And then, of course, when it comes to specifically women, I can actually vouch for that Doctor Mimi that, um, And those imbalances. Sometimes that can occur. There are definitely reasons behind it. Uh, so especially for high performing individuals, I think that, uh, that stigma, you know, that if you pause or you take rest or you do not do anything, then I mean, their entire, uh, sense of worth and, uh, success is attached with the fact that taking rest is a kind of a crime that they are doing. They're hurting their own worth, their own identity in there.

00:15:47 Mireille Vega: Yes. Oh, this is a full, um. First of all, I think, uh, you are a very, very intuitive and, uh, conscious person. You, uh, you've connected many elements that, for me, took many years to connect, at least scientifically. Uh, and, uh, you're right on. So, um, for the first, uh, section of your your, uh, comment relating flares. And there might be, you know, like some, uh, light I can shed on, you know, like these intuition that you had. Um, yes. There are a connection with many of these elements. So on you talked about flares of psoriasis, uh, and eczema. These are two, two completely different, uh, mechanisms. Uh, psoriasis, like you mentioned, is an autoimmune disorders. It affects, uh, your system. It's, uh, inflammation in the gut that are very it is very, very connected to this. But this inflammation actually increases or flares up with stress. Absolutely right. It does affect stress. Uh, increases your cortisol. Chronic stress Particularly, uh, a normal amount of stress is actually is actually healthy. But it's when it's not managed, it becomes chronic. Uh, then what the cortisol does is actually decreases the amount of your other hormones that are supposed to be supporting your other systems. Right. So normal that stress affects everything and, uh, particularly your skin, because the skin is very much connected to your hormonal. For women particularly. Right. Uh, your skin, like, we talk about, uh, skin types. I don't believe in skin types. I think these are. This is the biggest myth the industry has invented. There is one skin type is. It's the one human skin. That's it. And this one? Human skin. sometimes needs more oils because it produces more salts, or sometimes it needs more salts because it produces too much oils, and the skin has a tendency to produce more oils when we're stressed because of hormonal level or when we haven't slept enough. Right? So these are connected because the lack of sleep also creates a burden on the body? Yes, on the management of stress, but also on the repair systems. Right. So it is all interconnected. And so when you see flares on your skin, whether it's eczema, which is by the way, I didn't cover this, but the eczema is very, very much relating to the health of your skin microbiota, which is different than your gut microbiota. They talk to one another, but it's very different. So a skin microbiota will be, uh, you know, supported with, uh, you know, like, healthy ingredients that will feed your ecosystem on topically, on your skin. Right? Your local immune system. But it is affected by stress, too. So these, uh, these microorganisms, your hormones, your metabolism, they all influence what your skin produces and what it needs on a daily basis. So it changes all the time. So to learn to listen to your skin is actually also a way to learn to listen to your body internally. Yeah. And, um. Yeah. And you also addressed identity. This is another, another topic which. Yeah, maybe take another, uh, you know, try at it uh, later on if you want.

00:20:07 Speaker 3: Like. Yeah, absolutely. I think this is just the beginning here.

00:20:10 Sana: Listeners to this, to this conversation. And, of course, uh, doctor Mimi, I'm very I, I mean, unfortunately, in the interest of time, we couldn't. I wish we could have gone on and on, because this is such a such a vital discussion specifically on this plan. And I hope that, you know, listeners, uh, don't take it as just, you know, a medical or, uh, more of a health episode. But this is equally important for all of our leaders, entrepreneurs and high performing individuals, because, after all, we are all humans. So definitely so, Doctor Mimi, before we wrap up, um, if our listeners, they would like to further explore if they would like to connect with you, if they would like to share something with you, how they can do that?

00:20:57 Mireille Vega: Absolutely. Well, there's, uh, two main ways. If it's, uh, for a personal direct contact, I'm on LinkedIn. Um, evidently. Uh, but there's also we have a newsletter where we expand, you know? Yes, we talk about the skin, but we talk about the seven, you know, connections of wellness, of health. And, uh, we also go into the, um, the more, uh, business or personal, like listening to your skin, your gut, and, you know, like, for your next decision, for your move, for your, you know, like, this is the type of, of, uh, decision that we, we take all of us on a daily basis. So we have information on that if you want to, to, you know, get on to our newsletter. You get more info.

00:21:46 Speaker 3: Absolutely.

00:21:47 Sana: And, uh, listeners, to make it easier for all of you, I have all the links and details mentioned in the show notes, so find them attached along with this episode on whichever platform you are listening to your podcast right now. And, um, uh, thank you so much, Doctor Mimi, because I'm, I'm hopeful that this conversation gave, all of us some language for something that we may have been feeling, but we couldn't quite explain. Uh, so. So thank you so much for bringing this up. I think this is the beginning. You brought science, you brought humanity. And, uh, what I am realizing is here that our skin, it isn't just a surface. Our stress isn't just life and our bodies. It isn't interrupting our success. It's just trying to protect it. So thank you so much.

00:22:42 Mireille Vega: Absolutely. It's our biggest organ, our biggest protector. It's a double armor. Um, yeah. More more on that. You know, in the next phase, perhaps when my book is out.

00:22:55 Sana: Lovely, lovely. And, uh, thank you to all, all of your listeners for tuning in. And, um, do follow this plan for more such conversations. Until next time, I'm your host, Sana. And this is. And I'll catch you in the next episode. Thank you.