Christina Trifero didn’t exactly plan her way to Serenbe, she followed a feeling she couldn’t ignore. After years working in the fast-paced startup worlds of San Francisco and New York, something started to shift. So she made a bold decision: she sold everything and went looking for a life that felt more aligned, more grounded, and more connected to herself.

That search led her to Serenbe, and after just one visit, she knew she had found it.

In this episode, we sit down with Christina to talk about that leap, from working with companies like Yelp and Asana to becoming an intuitive guide and psychic medium. She shares what it was like to trust her instincts, move through skepticism, and step fully into work that helps others reconnect with their own inner voice.

We also get into the balance between logic and intuition, the growing interest in mindfulness and energy, and how living in Serenbe has shaped her perspective in a real, everyday way.

And of course, we end on a note that feels very Serenbe, a live tarot reading that brings it all back to curiosity, reflection, and a little bit of wonder.

Show Notes

Spiritual Curiosity with Christina Trifero

Follow Christina on Instagram

Hills & Hamlets

Yelp

Asana

Intuition, Christina Trifero, Serenbe, Personal Transformation, Mindfulness, Spiritual Growth, Career Pivot, Psychic Medium, Intentional Living, Following Your Intuition

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 Serenbe, we often joke about raising “free-range kids”, but it speaks to something real: a childhood shaped by time outdoors, independence, and a close-knit community. When The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt was released last year, it prompted a national conversation around screen time and youth mental health. Many parents here in Serenbe started to take a more intentional look at how their children engage with technology.

What began as a series of conversations evolved into the Let Them Roam pledge, a shared commitment to delay smartphones until age 14 and social media until 16. Grounded in the idea that collective action makes individual choices more sustainable, the pledge reflects a growing desire to preserve space for a slower, more connected childhood.

In this episode, Monica and Garnie are joined by digital parenting expert Sarah Trombly and Serenbe parent Christen Hadfield. Together, they explore how the pledge came to life, the nuances of parenting in a digital age, and the importance of approaching it all with thoughtfulness and grace. It’s a conversation about balance, community, and the role the environment can play in shaping how kids grow up.

Show Notes

The Anxious Generation

Jonathan Haidt

Terra School

Snapchat

Digital Mom Media

Let Them Roam, Serenbe, Free-Range Kids, Intentional Parenting, Digital Parenting, Screen Time, Social Media, Youth Mental Health, The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt, Sarah Trombly, Digital Mom Media, Terra School, Community, Collective Action, Childhood Development, Parenting in the Digital Age, Family Values, Raising Kids Outdoors

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 2002, before Serenbe had a name or a plan, Tim and Lindsey Mosby came down for a weekend at Steve and Marie Nygren’s bed-and-breakfast and never quite left it behind. Living in Candler Park at the time, they were drawn to the slower pace, took a leap on eight acres at a blind auction, and became part of Serenbe in its earliest, most unformed days.

In this episode of Serenbe Stories, we sit down with Tim and Lindsey to reflect on those early years, Taco Tuesdays at the Daisy, art classes in a barn, and a community that felt as creative as it was connected. After years away in Austin and Amsterdam, they’ve returned full-time, offering a rare perspective on how much has changed and what’s remained the same.

Show Notes

• Ryan Gainey
• Low Road Studio
• Blue Eyed Daisy

Serenbe, Chattahoochee Hills, Intentional Living, Creative Community, Biophilic Living, Community Building, Atlanta to Countryside, Returning Home, Serenbe History

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.

Serenbe is often described as a place that feels different the moment you arrive.

Last spring, the community marked 20 years since its groundbreaking, when that first shovel hit the ground and vision started to become reality. We celebrated with a big resident party – and it felt exactly the way a Serenbe party should: outside in nature on our Grange Green, live music in the air, kids running around, and conversations happening everywhere you turn.

It was one of those beautiful afternoons that reminds you why Serenbe exists in the first place.

And while everyone was gathering, we set up our audio equipment and started asking residents a handful of questions about planting roots here. What we got in return wasn’t just a collection of questions and answers; it was a collection of stories as unique as the people who call this special place home.

Show Notes

• Serenbe Events Calendar
• Serenbe Real Estate
• Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where We Live with Radical Common Sense by Steve Nygren
• Start In Your Own Backyard Podcast
• Serenbe on Substack

Key words: nature, community, biophilia, biophilic design, community building, development, sustainable development, placemaking, architecture, lifestyle, wellness

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.

,Season 13 of Serenbe Stories premieres Monday, March 16th. Over and over again, we hear the same thing: there's just something different about Serenbe. Is it the thoughtfully designed streets, the miles of trails and protected forests, the fact that you can walk to dinner or to yoga or to the weekly farmer's market? Sure, those things are certainly part of the magic. But if we're being honest, what really makes Serenbe special is the people who choose to live and work here, investing their energy and creativity into the community.

Catch up on the first 12 seasons of Serenbe Stories wherever you get your podcasts. And mark your calendars to join us Monday, March 16th for a brand new season filled with more stories of creativity, connection, and impact. Subscribe and follow so you never miss an episode.

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 this final episode of the Start In Your Own Backyard mini-series, Steve Nygren reflects on the journey of building Serenbe. What started out as an unlikely idea, sparked in a moment of fear and panic is now a living, breathing community where nature and people are woven back together.

You’ll hear from neighbors like Gil Mathis, who traded a corporate finance career for a more authentic life rooted in connection, and Gigi Wilborne, an artist and entrepreneur who has poured her creativity into nearly every corner of Serenbe. You’ll also meet Price Bell, whose visits to Serenbe inspired him to spark change in his own hometown.

Together, their stories remind us that change doesn’t always start with grand plans. Instead, it begins in backyards, on front porches, and in everyday choices that ripple outward to transform lives.

As we close this series, we return to the bigger lesson running beneath it all: you don’t need to wait for permission to imagine a better way of living. Wherever you are, the spark of possibility is already in your hands. Sometimes all it takes is the courage to begin.

Show Notes

• Pre-Order Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Steve Nygren
• Start In Your Own Backyard Substack
• Learn more about Serenbe
• Serenbe Stories Podcast
  
  

Keywords: Serenbe, community building, placemaking, biophilic design, sustainable living, connection to nature, intentional communities, local food, community gardens, shared meals, walkability, small sparks of change, starting in your own backyard, radical common sense, meaningful change, authentic living, neighborhood design, creativity, wellness, joy, beauty, possibility, better way of 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.

A lot of what we’ve been exploring on this podcast comes back to an idea known as placemaking: the art of designing spaces that feel meaningful, welcoming, and rooted in community. At its core, it’s about creating places where people truly want to gather and belong.

At Serenbe, that spirit comes alive every day. Visitors might arrive for goat yoga or a stroll through the nature trails and end up moving. A coffee-and-ceramics studio, dreamed up and run by neighbors, has become a beloved local hangout. And community traditions like Porchfest transform front porches into concert stages and art galleries, turning ordinary moments into something magical. These experiences are joyful on the surface, but they also weave the deeper social and cultural fabric that makes a community thrive.

In this episode, Steve Nygren explores how visitors bring fresh energy and perspective, how local businesses reflect and shape a community’s values, and why even the simplest neighborhood gatherings can spark lasting connections.

Whether you’re dreaming of creating something new in your own town or simply curious about how thriving communities take shape, this episode offers inspiration and practical ideas for inviting people in and building places that feel like home.

Show Notes

• Pre-Order Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Steve Nygren
• Start In Your Own Backyard Substack
• Learn more about Serenbe
• Serenbe Stories Podcast
• Minro Studio
• Porchfest at Serenbe
• Serenbe Real Estate

Keywords: placemaking, community, hospitality, belonging, Serenbe, Steve Nygren, intentional living, visitors, local businesses, Porchfest, goat yoga, nature trails, meaningful design, walkable communities, neighborhood traditions, connection, joy, events, potlucks, concerts, bake sales, sustainability, thriving communities, home, invitation, culture

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.

Food, shelter, walkable streets, even access to nature are all vital ingredients for a thriving community. But on their own, they aren’t quite enough. To truly flourish, people also need beauty, inspiration, and creativity woven into daily life. That’s where the arts come in.

In this episode of Start In Your Own Backyard, Steve Nygren explores why music, theater, sculpture, literature, and public art are so vitally important. You’ll hear insights from Dr. Anjan Chatterjee, director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics, on how our brains respond to beauty, as well as stories from artists themselves who have seen firsthand how art can knit people together and shape a place’s identity.

We’ll also share how Serenbe pioneered a permanent funding model for the arts by dedicating 1% of real estate sales to its nonprofit Art Farm, ensuring that creativity remains central to community life for generations to come.

Whether it’s a sculpture tucked along a forest trail, neighbors gathering for a midsummer play in the woods, or children inspired by visiting artists, this episode reveals how the arts sustain not just culture, but the human spirit itself.

Show Notes

• Pre-Order Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Steve Nygren
• Start In Your Own Backyard Substack
• Learn more about Serenbe
• Serenbe Stories Podcast
• The Art Farm at Serenbe
• The Aesthetic Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art by Dr. Anjan Chatterjee
• Serenbe community celebrates Curtis Patterson’s striking new sculpture by Gail O’Neill (ArtsATL)
• Naturally Fragile & Durable with Rachel Garceau (Serenbe Stories)
• Morgan Boszilkov Studio

Keywords: art in community, arts funding, Serenbe, Start In Your Own Backyard podcast, Steve Nygren, Art Farm, public art, creativity, culture, biophilic community, artist residencies, sculptures, theater in nature, concerts by the pond, transfer fee model, community building, creative placemaking, arts and wellbeing, art and neuroscience, Curtis Patterson, community design, sustainable community, supporting artists

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.