What does it mean to live truly on your own terms—especially in a world that rewards conformity and punishes vulnerability? In this episode, astrologer, life coach, and activist Tracey L. Rogers joins me for a deep, empowering conversation on shedding societal scripts, reclaiming your imagination, and choosing authenticity—even when it’s scary.
We explore:
Why unlearning is as important as learning
Tracey’s nonlinear journey from international development to astrology
The myth of meritocracy and the pressure to perform
How to recognize when you’re operating from fear vs. truth
The power of imagination, rest, and pleasure in building a liberated life
What the current astrological transits can teach us about collective transformation
Whether you're stuck in a system that doesn't serve you, dreaming of a big pivot, or navigating the liminal space in between, this episode is a gentle but powerful reminder: you have permission to live your truth—boldly, unapologetically, and now.
🪞 Your next step? Follow what lifts the hairs on your arms and sets your heart on fire.
🌱 Tracey’s mantra: Chop wood, carry water—and let that be enough.
Audacity & Authenticity
Astrology, Activism, and Purpose with Tracy L. Rogers
In this episode, I get to sit down with someone who has been a mentor, astrologer, guide, and coach for me personally: Tracy L. Rogers.
This conversation is all about authenticity, unlearning, and audacity — and how astrology, activism, and everyday life choices all intersect.
Meet Tracy L. Rogers
Tracy L. Rogers is:
A professional astrologer
A certified life coach
An NAACP award-winning activist
She’s been consulting clients in the Philadelphia region, nationally, and abroad for over a decade.
Some of her background:
Comes from a lineage of astrologers on her father’s side
Has been studying the stars since childhood
Weaves astrology + life coaching for a holistic approach to empowered living
Her activism is deeply informed by how planetary alignments above reflect our collective experiences below
Her work has been featured in:
Print and online outlets like Institute for Policy Studies Other Worlds Editorial, Rebel Society, WikiExperts, and more
TV segments on CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning Washington, Good Day Philadelphia
She was named 2021 Best Astrologer for Beginners by Philadelphia Style Magazine
When I read her bio, she laughs a little and admits: only recently has she started to really let it land that she has, in fact, done some things with her life.
“Oh damn, she is talking about me” — Letting Yourself Be Seen
We start with what it feels like to hear your own accomplishments said out loud.
Tracy shares:
It’s still a journey to fully embody and accept her success.
Being seen requires vulnerability, which has been challenging.
There’s a constant tension between:
“Stay humble, stay modest, don’t be too full of yourself”
And the truth that women — especially women of color — are socialized not to be confident or empowered.
Her current chapter?
A lot of unlearning:
Unlearning the conditioning that says “don’t brag, don’t shine.”
Reprogramming how she celebrates herself and her work.
Building the courage to take on more leadership roles and be visible in new spaces.
Media That Helped Her Unlearn
When I ask about media that shaped and supported that unlearning, she lights up.
📚 Books that reprogrammed her mind
A non-exhaustive list:
The Four Agreements – Don Miguel Ruiz
Anything by Brené Brown
Anything by Yung Pueblo
Marianne Williamson
Iyanla Vanzant
Napoleon Hill
Joe Dispenza
bell hooks
Malcolm X
These books have:
Helped her retrain her thinking
Offered language for self-worth, boundaries, and courage
Supported the ongoing process of unlearning and reprogramming
🎬 Movies & musicals that feed her imagination
Tracy also talks about how important it is to feed her inner child and imagination:
She has a very wild imagination and loves films that tap into that:
Twilight
Musicals like Wicked, The Greatest Showman
Big, whimsical productions that transport her
Movies are a portal back to:
The little girl who loved to get lost in stories
Play, silliness, and imaginative worlds
It makes her a bit sad how little time she has for that now — but she’s more intentional about it because she knows:
Those experiences connect her to her true self and support her well-being.
The Lineage: Astrologers, Ephemerides, and a Father Who Can Read the Sky
Astrology runs in her family.
Her father’s side includes astrologers and tarot readers.
As a kid, she loved Greek and Roman myths — stories that underpin a lot of astrological symbolism.
At family reunions, cousins would pull out ephemerides and talk charts.
One of my favorite moments she shares:
Recently, she was outside with her dad, looking at the sky.
She noticed the Moon with a bright “star” near it and casually thought, “That looks like a planet.”
Without missing a beat, her dad said:
“Yeah, that’s Venus in Aquarius.”
She checked her app and ephemeris later — he was exactly right.
Even with his current memory loss, his ability to look up and know the sky is still there. That’s lineage.
And alongside astrology, her parents quietly did something else incredibly important: they consistently indulged and encouraged her creativity.
Like the time she made a little camp newsletter as a kid, asked her mom to print a few copies, and her mom came back with 100 copies on different colored paper. No fanfare. Just full, colorful support.
From Politics to the Stars (and the Mic)
Professionally, Tracy did not plan to be “Tracy the Astrologer.”
Her earlier path:
Undergraduate degree in Political Science
Master’s degree in Education and Human Development, focused on international development
Planned to work in international politics and education
Astrology was always a curiosity, not a career goal.
What changed:
In her early 30s, while three years into a job she loved, she started a blog writing about astrology “on the side” while figuring out her life.
Friends loved it and kept asking for more.
Those friends eventually started asking, “Do you give readings?”
She started saying yes, one reading at a time.
Her “big break” moment:
A friend invited her as a plus-one to a movie screening hosted by radio personality Russ Parr.
She walked up to him and said:
“If you ever need an astrologer for your show, let me know.”
Instead of brushing her off, he actually followed up.
That led to radio segments and more visibility.
The throughline: none of this was meticulously planned. She followed genuine interest, took bold small risks, and kept saying yes to aligned invitations.
Self-Worth, Money, and “The People I’m Meant to Help Will Find Me”
Like many of us, pricing her work was a whole journey.
She shares:
When she first set her rates, a mentor told her bluntly:
“I think you need to work on your self-worth and self-esteem issues.”
That was… confronting. But true.
The same mentor also said something that stuck:
“The people you’re meant to help will come to you.”
That’s become an anchor:
She’s not trying to be Chani Nicholas or replicate anyone else’s career.
Her work has its own unique stamp, tone, and medicine.
The right people — the ones who resonate with how she does astrology + coaching — will find her.
That’s the invitation she extends to other entrepreneurs and creatives too:
You can have perfect marketing and strategy, but what really matters is your authentic approach.
That’s what draws the right people to you.
Authenticity, Labels, and the Practice of Discernment
We dive deep into authenticity — and whether it even exists as a tidy concept.
She shares a story from an early American Black women writers group she’s part of, where two elders said:
“There’s really no such thing as authenticity.”
Their reasoning:
From the moment you’re born, you’re assigned labels: gender, race, class, role, expectations.
Every year, more labels pile on.
To be truly authentic would require unlearning all of that, which is lifelong work.
So how do we navigate that?
Tracy talks about discernment as a daily practice:
She references an old article called “Six Ways to Know a False Inner Guide.”
One key sign that she returns to often:
If I’m trying to talk myself into or out of something —
if I’m arguing with myself, rationalizing, making a case —
that’s usually not my authentic self.
That’s fear, ego, or conditioning.
Discernment becomes:
Catching those inner debates
Noticing when you’re betraying yourself to fit a label or script
Creating enough pause to ask: “Is this really me?”
We live in a world that benefits when we betray ourselves. So this is not a light, cute practice — it’s countercultural.
DEI, Collective Upheaval, and the Sky as a Map
We also talk about her DEI work.
Tracy “moonlights” as a DEI consultant, but keeps that side of her work intentionally quieter.
Because of ongoing political attacks on DEI, the emotional labor is heavy, and the space is hostile in many places.
We connect this to:
The myth of meritocracy
How people of color face bias even at the résumé-name level
The dissonance between what’s “sold” (security, equality, work hard = reward) and how systems actually operate
From an astrological perspective, she shares:
The current political chaos and upheaval absolutely mirrors major astrological transits she’s been tracking for years.
She knew something like this was coming — not the exact form, but the themes.
We’re at a pivotal collective turning point.
Her approach now:
“I got caught in the frenzy at first.
Lately, I’ve been able to surrender more, because I understand there’s a bigger story unfolding.”
She holds two truths:
As a human, she will absolutely try to mitigate risk and harm.
As a spiritual practitioner, she knows there’s only so much she can control — and her work is to stay present, authentic, and in service.
Chop Wood, Carry Water: How to Live Now
One of my favorite reframes she shares is:
“Chop wood, carry water.”
Not as apathy, but as presence.
In practice, that means:
Sticking to your practices — spiritual, creative, somatic
Staying awake and engaged, not numb
Letting divine instruction or inner knowing emerge from that grounded place
Because:
There is no script for what we’re going through collectively.
The old templates and rulebooks are crumbling.
We cannot control or rush this process.
So our work becomes:
Chop wood, carry water.
Be of service in the way we’re called.
Listen for what’s uniquely ours to do.
A Permission Slip to Break the Rules
We talk about how this moment is weirdly liberating:
Institutions and powerful actors are already breaking rules openly.
If they’re willing to throw out the old scripts for their own purposes…
…what does it look like for us to throw out the scripts that are suffocating us?
Tracy names this as the one thing that gives her hope:
People are realizing they don’t have to follow every old rule.
That opens up possibility for more folks to break rules that keep them small
— in service of living more authentically.
It won’t always look pretty. But it’s necessary.
For Anyone in the In-Between
If you’re:
In a 9–5 that doesn’t feel right
Trying to start or grow a business
Or just feeling like you’re in a weird, unnamed in-between space
Tracy offers this:
Come back to what sets your heart on fire.
The small and big things that light you up
It can be as simple as making coffee or going to the gym
Or as big as launching a business or creative project
Notice what restores you.
The activities that bring back energy, passion, and excitement
Let that feeling inform your next moves
Then… do it.
At some point, after all the discernment and feeling and listening:
“Just do it. Whatever is on your heart, just go for it.”
We can’t wait for permission from the systems we’re trying to outgrow.
We give it to ourselves — and to each other.
If this episode stirred something in you:
What label are you currently unlearning?
Where are you talking yourself into or out of something instead of trusting your truth?
And what’s one small “chop wood, carry water” action you can take this week from a place of authenticity?
You have permission to be audacious.
You have permission to be honest.
You have permission to make a path that actually feels like yours. 💫
Learn more about Tracey:
Websites: traceylrogers.com + babyastrologybooks.com + Tracey L. Rogers
Instagram: @trae2u + @baby_astrology_and_books
Tracey L. Rogers is a professional Astrologer, certified Life Coach, and NAACP-award winning Activist who has been consulting clients throughout the Philadelphia region, nationally, and abroad for over a decade. Coming from a lineage of Astrologers on her father’s side, she has been studying the stars since she was a child with extensive knowledge of Western astrological thought and traditions.
