Serenbe Stories

Get ready, we’re coming back — Season 12 of Serenbe Stories premieres Monday, March 10th.

This season, we’re exploring what makes Serenbe truly extraordinary: the people. What is it really like to live here? What sets Serenbe apart from ordinary developments? From passionate residents and  business owners to groundbreaking artists and changemakers, we’re taking you behind the scenes to share their inspiring stories.

Catch up on the first 11 seasons wherever you get your podcasts, and join us on Monday, March 10th for a brand-new season packed with stories of creativity, community, and impact. Subscribe and follow now so you never miss an episode! And thanks for listening to Serenbe Stories! 

The new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering. 

Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!

Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

In 2019 Mehrnush Saadat was waiting to see a physician to treat a herniated disk and back pain, when her friends suggested she explore CBD and THC pain relief options. Though initially a bit skeptical, she was blown away by the results – and her sober(ish) journey began. With regular movement, reduced alcohol intake, and a little push from her new pain remedies, Mehrnush felt the stress from her busy law practice melt away – and in 2023, she opened Soberish, Atlanta’s only non-alcoholic bottle shop and cannabis boutique. 

The concept proved wildly popular and now, just over a year later, she’s opened a second location right here in Serenbe. Mehrnush’s vision of a holistic approach to wellness aligns perfectly with Serenbe’s approach to healthy living and we couldn't be more thrilled to welcome her to the community. 

Hear about Mehrnush’s impressive background as a real estate attorney, her entrepreneurial spirit, and why functional, holistic wellness is the furthest thing from boring. 

Notes:

• Soberish Atlanta
• Non-Alcoholic Bottle Shop Opening New Storefront 
• Serenbe
• Serenbe Events
• The Sober Social Atlanta

The new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering. 

Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!

Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

When health and wellbeing is built into the very fabric of a community, traditional development gets turned on its head – and as it turns out, living somewhere that makes you feel good is in high demand. Wellness real estate is the fastest growing sector of the 6 trilliondollar wellness industry.

This week on Serenbe Stories, we’re thrilled to share a recent interview from the Global Wellness Conversations podcast featuring Serenbe founder Steve Nygren – referred to here as the “godfather of wellness real estate” – alongside Chuck Heath, the founder of Ameyalli in Deer Valley Colorado, and wellness icon Deepak Chopra. Hear from Steve as he discusses his journey as a trailblazer in the field of wellness real estate, changing the rules in order to succeed, and why he believes real global change will start at the local level. 

We were honored to be a part of this inspiring conversation about the future of living.

Notes:

• Global Wellness Institute
• Global Wellness Summit
• Serenbe
• Ameyalli 
• Deepak Chopra

The new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering. 

Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!

Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

After years of commuting between major cities - London to New York, New York to Atlanta, Atlanta to Los Angeles - Natalie McGrath & Simon Hawkins finally decided to plant roots down South. In 2020 – a year that changed everything for so many people – they visited Serenbe for the first time and fell in love with the English countryside feel. Six months later, as their friends started leaving the city, they made an intuitive decision to buy the 2020 Serenbe Showhouse. 

Even though Natalie & Simon are a bit more settled now, they still travel on a weekly basis - for work and for play.  As Natalie’s role as Chief Marketing Officer at Rent the Runway and Simon’s as Vice President of the Americas at Virgin Atlantic take them all over the world, Serenbe has become a precious place for them to come together and relax during the weekend. 

In this episode of Serenbe Stories, Natalie & Simon discuss their journey to rural Georgia, their exciting and busy careers, and how they unwind here in Serenbe.

Show Notes

• Serenbe Events
• Rent the Runway 
• Virgin Atlantic 
• The New Rustic: 2020 Serenbe Showhouse (Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles)
• Serenbe Yoga
• Austin’s Cocktailery & Kitchen
• Minro Studio
• Spa at Serenbe 

The new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering. 

Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!

Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

Tony Cuviello and April LaCerra were living in Colorado and seriously considering a move to Asheville, when April’s interest in regenerative farming led her to Serenbe. Serenbe’s emphasis on biophilia and wellness immediately resonated with April – and with Tony on board, they packed up their car and moved here without ever having visited. 

Now, April & Tony are the owners and operators of Allchemy: A Biophilic Farmacy. Located in the heart of the Mado neighborhood, Allchemy is a health, home, & wellness retail space that redefines the traditional pharmacy experience by carrying products that meet a rigorous set of health and environmental standards. April and Tony are all about the incremental changes we can make to start living healthier, more biophilic lives and their storefront is such an amazing resource for doing just that. 

In this episode, Steve and Monica chat with April and Tony about living in harmony with nature, taking the guesswork out of clean products, and how even subtle changes can have a big impact. 

Show Notes

• Allchemy Website
• Allchemy Instagram
• Regenerative Organic Agriculture (Rodale)
• 2025 Biophilic Leadership Summit
• Hope Rises On Its Current: Defining Biophilia with Liz Calabrese (Serenbe Stories)
• Jackfir Clean Natural Skincare
• Yuka
• EWG Healthy Living

The new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering. 

Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!

Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

Austin’s Cocktailery + Kitchen is the latest addition to Serenbe’s lively culinary scene, offering refined cuisine and expertly crafted drinks with a special focus on hard-to-find spirits and – in true Serenbe fashion – locally sourced botanicals. With a dining room reminiscent of 1920s European cocktail lounges, walking into Austin’s is like stepping into another world – and that’s why today, we’re so excited to be speaking with the talented design duo behind these dramatic and beautiful interiors. 

Amanda Dashwood and Jillian Rooker are the creative force behind Rook & Dash, an Atlanta-based full-service design firm that they founded together in 2022. Amanda and Jillian believe that in addition to being functional, design should engage the senses and inspire the viewer, which is exactly what they’ve achieved here in Serenbe. In this episode of Serenbe Stories, Garnie and I get an inside look at the Austin’s design process, from a fruitful visioning session with Steve to the unconventional leather top bar, textural plaster walls, and all the details in between. 

The new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering. 

Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!

Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

Dr. Pamela Robinson is an academic and playwright whose work investigates best practices in sustainable agribusiness  – and crucially, her research centers the lived experiences of farmers, producers, and other actors across the value chain. She earned her PhD from Case Western University in 2024 and now, she’s turning her award winning dissertation into a play. 

Serenbe first came into Dr. Robinson’s orbit a few years ago when she was working with local communities and she has returned many times in the years since, both as a visitor and as an attendee at the Biophilic Leadership Summit. For a few weeks this past Summer, Dr. Robinson worked on her play while in residency at the Art Farm and her ties to the community grew even deeper. 

In this conversation, Steve and Monica chat with Dr. Robinson about the intersection of nature and the arts, how creativity lifts academic work, and why Serenbe just might be one of the best places to close your eyes and listen to the birds.

Notes

• Serenbe
• Biophilic Leadership Summit
• The Art Farm at Serenbe
• What is Appreciative Inquiry?
• Rodale Institute
• Soil Health
• The Biomimicry institute
• Birds Georgia
• PhD Student Pamela Robinson Presents at 3-Minute Thesis Competition
• The Juilliard School

The new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering. 

Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!

Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

Jeny Mathis hardly needs an introduction to Serenbe residents – but for everyone else, her impact on the community can’t be overstated. Jeny teaches yoga, facilitates labyrinth walks, tutors students at the Terra School, organizes the community for causes dear to her heart, and so much more.

Jeny’s Serenbe Story began with a family Thanksgiving trip in 2013. Although she was initially a bit nervous about whether or not our internet reception would pick up the all-important holiday football games, she quickly fell in love with the community’s emphasis on unstructured time in nature. Famously, at the end of that trip, she walked into the Real Estate office and burst into tears before she could even get a word out. 

We interviewed Jeny’s husband Gil on Season 9 of Serenbe Stories and heard all about the personal transformation he experienced after discovering this community. Now, it’s Jeny’s turn. 

Show Notes

• Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv
• Changing Careers & Changing Your Life with Serenbe CFO Gil Mathis (Serenbe Stories)
• Art That Opens Hearts & Minds with Gail O’Neil and Curtis Patterson (Serenbe Stories)
• Embracing Small Town Living & Telling Your Own Stories with Amy Mass (Serenbe Stories)
• Serenbe Yoga
• The Class 
• EarthCraft-certified Organic Life House teaches Atlanta agrihood residents about healthy living (Inhabit)
• Art Farm at Serenbe
• Serenbe Events Calendar

The new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering. 

Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!

Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

Abi Shinstine’s introduction to Serenbe began as many Serenbe Stories do: a google search for “cool places near me.” Since that fateful search in 2017, Abi has become Serenbe’s jack of all trades: she has worked as a server, bartender, and manager at The Hill, office manager at Serenbe Real Estate, and finally, in her current role as our first-ever Chief of Hospitality. It’s a big job, overseeing all aspects of Serenbe guest-facing businesses from restaurants to farm tours to getaways at the Inn. 

In this episode of Serenbe Stories, HR Director Stephanie Coyne sits down with Abi to get an inside look at all things hospitality, Abi’s deep love of travel and restaurants - spoiler alert, she’s been all over the world,  and we take a peek into Serenbe’s elusive department of mysteries. 

Show Notes

• The Inn at Serenbe
• The Farmhouse
• The Hill
• Austin’s Cocktailery & Kitchen
• Halsa 
• Serenbe Real Estate
• Serenbe Events Calendar
• Formula1 Racing

The new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering. 

Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!

Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

Matt & Pascale Buckingham have lived all over the world - from major European cities to the suburbs of Atlanta. But when they discovered Serenbe, they found something that they later realized they had been searching for all along: a tight-knit village on the edge of nature. Since moving, Matt & Pascale have become staples of the community, volunteering on the trails and even managing one of Serenbe’s newest and most popular spots, Nigel’s Frozen Bananas. 

In this episode of Serenbe Stories, Garnie and Monica chat with Matt & Pascale about what brought them from England and Switzerland to rural Georgia, how tough times teach you what’s most important in life, and the beauty of both community and solitude. 

Show Notes

• Serenbe Events
• Nigel’s Frozen Bananas
• ReadyHer Self Defense
• Focal Point
• Serenbe Business Directory

The new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering. 

Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!

Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren.