Today we’d like to introduce you to Sandi Serling.
Hi Sandi, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, a girl who loved climbing trees, watching animals, and spending as much time outside as I possibly could. I was extraordinarily shy. I remember sitting on a bench outside on my first day of kindergarten, crying, terrified of the unknown, wondering if anyone would even remember to come pick me up. Fear and anxiety were my constant companions, though I couldn’t have named them then.
I had a deeply loving family, and yet something inside me always felt unsettled. I would hear adults say things and sense, on some level, that they weren’t telling me the whole truth. But I was a child, so I told myself I was wrong and they were right. I felt everything deeply, and nothing unsettled me more than not knowing what was coming next. That uncertainty was my constant companion.
For a painfully shy girl from Bethesda, I made a surprising choice. I went 3,000 miles away to the University of Oregon. I fell completely in love with Oregon and ended up getting a master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology, with a focus in folklore and dance ethnology. Story has always enthralled me. The traditions we carry from one generation to the next. The invisible thread connecting all of us.
I moved to Portland, got a job at KGW TV working in production, and met my husband Paul Zimmerman at an athletic facility in the city. We built a home in Lake Oswego, raised two wonderful children, and I built a life that I genuinely loved. I left KGW and started my own public relations and media company, Serling & Associates, which I ran for over 30 years. I worked in the entertainment industry, flying to Los Angeles and New York, on TV sets, in meetings with reporters, and then back home to my beautiful Oregon life. I loved my clients. I loved the work. And I really love Oregon.
And then after three decades, something told me it was time for a change.
My extraordinary parents had moved from Bethesda to Lake Oswego and lived just a few blocks away. They were the most remarkable grandparents to our children. To me they were the world’s greatest! When they passed away, four months apart, my life shifted in a way I hadn’t anticipated. I couldn’t quite picture who I was without them in it.
That grief sent me into a deep dive into neuroscience. How the brain works. How I could start feeling better. I ended up doing a trade with a neuroscientist. I handled his PR, and he taught me about my own brain. That exchange changed everything. I enrolled in a program called Brainwave Optimization and was told that my anxiety registered as one of the highest they had ever seen. That actually didn’t surprise me. What did surprise me was learning that it didn’t have to stay that way. I learned about neuroplasticity. I learned specific exercises to help rewire my brain. My anxiety decreased by about 90%. To me, that felt like a miracle.
Something else happened as the anxiety quieted. My intuitive abilities started expanding in ways I hadn’t expected. And I thought, I cannot be the only person living with this kind of fear and not knowing there’s another way.
So I created a conference called ACTIVATING HAPPY. I brought in neuroscientists, researchers, energy workers, intuitives, and mindfulness experts. My goal was to open up curiosity about our innate intuitive abilities by grounding everything firmly in science. The conference was held in Lake Oswego. I had no idea what I was doing, and somehow it came together beautifully. We had a sold-out crowd.
I didn’t fully realize it at the time, but a seed had been planted. Everything I have lived, the shy girl on the bench, the anthropologist fascinated by story, the publicist, the grieving daughter, the woman who finally learned how her own brain worked, it’s all been leading somewhere. I feel like I’m finally living my purpose. And I’m just getting started.
About three years ago, I was hiking in the magical Santa Rosa Mountains of Rancho Mirage when I heard a voice whispering to me. “You’re going to do a podcast and it’s going to be called FEAR UNZIPPED. You’re going to help yourself and others loosen their grip on fear by being a bridge between neuroscience and metaphysics.”
I instantly said out loud, to the ethers, “No I’m not.” And then I heard it again. “Yes you are.”
The whole idea seemed unfathomable. I had never thought about doing a podcast, had absolutely no idea how to do one, and thought the entire concept was absurd. Except for the neuroscience and metaphysics part. That part I loved. A bridge bringing those two worlds together. That made sense to me.
As I kept hiking, on a trail where I had been completely alone, a woman appeared around a corner wearing a t-shirt that said FEAR LESS. I was speechless. I stopped her, took a photo and told her about the message I had just received from the ethers. She must have thought I was out of my mind. I told her that t-shirt was a sign. I am a huge believer in signs guiding us every single day. She loved the idea of the podcast and started sharing a fear she had worked through and successfully transmuted. A total stranger and I had one of the deepest conversations I can remember. Right there on the trail.
The signs kept coming. I call them breadcrumbs. One day I said out loud to the ethers, “If you really think I should be doing this podcast, I want to find an orange feather today.” I knew that was a highly unlikely ask. A black crow feather, sure. But an orange feather? About fifteen minutes later I was walking in my backyard and there, at my feet, was a Northern Flicker orange tail feather. I started shaking my head. I said out loud, “Well. I think I’m going to be doing a podcast.”
That sign was followed by several others, and then I knew I had to do it. I also knew that if I didn’t, someone else would. Don’t ask me how I knew that. I just did.
The pieces began falling into place in ways I still can’t fully explain. I worked with an online company to create the logo and went through about fifty options. None of them resonated. Then I reached out to a colleague from my TV days and from Activating Happy, Kelly Griffin, an outstanding videographer, creative and close friend. I call him a renaissance man because he can genuinely do anything. I told him about my logo dilemma and within three days he had created the Fear Unzipped logo. I hired a trademark attorney and we were on our way.
Extraordinary people kept showing up. A production company. A social media manager. A YouTube expert. I feel they were guided to me. I have no other explanation. And if the ethers had told me upfront just how complicated producing a podcast actually is, with all the moving parts and the technology and the logistics, I probably would have talked myself out of it. I’m so glad I didn’t know.
I made a list of my dream guests, the people who would be my absolute first choices. And almost all of them said yes before I even had an audience. Another miracle.
Fear Unzipped® launched on December 4, 2024, and I have learned more since that day than I could have ever imagined. I have had the privilege of sitting with some of the most remarkable thought leaders in their fields. Several now I call dear friends. My guests have enriched my life beyond anything I expected. And the messages from listeners have moved me deeply. One person told me that a particular episode saved their life. I cannot think of anything more meaningful than that.
And it all started from a whisper.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth? No. And I think that’s what makes it all the more rewarding.
There were several moments before Fear Unzipped® even launched where I found myself sitting at my desk with my head in my hands saying, “I can’t do this,” and “What was I thinking?” Every time I solved something, something else appeared that needed to be figured out. There were so many moving parts that I genuinely could not see how it was all going to come together. The technology alone was enough to make me question everything.
And yet, something kept driving me forward. There was a knowing inside me that this was something I had to do. It felt like a hand on my back, gently pushing me forward, even on the days I wanted to turn around.
I also had the full support of my husband and my kids. That support meant everything to me then and it still does today. When people believe in what you’re doing even before the world does, that’s a gift you don’t take for granted.
More recently I ran into sound issues during a few of my recordings. Kelly Griffin came in and saved the day…and the sound. That’s the thing about having the right people around you. The problems don’t disappear, but you don’t have to solve them alone.
I know there will be more challenges stepping into my path. That’s just part of it. What I’ve learned is to take a breath or two or three, to remind myself that it is not going to be the end of the world, and that somehow, with my extraordinary team, my friends, my family, and a deep belief that what I’m doing matters, I will get to the other side of it.
The breadcrumbs always lead somewhere.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I have always been curiosity driven. And I have always had a high intuition, though for most of my life I didn’t fully recognize it for what it was. I seemed to naturally understand what people were feeling beneath the surface. What I eventually learned was that my high anxiety was largely due to picking up on other people’s energy. It wasn’t even mine. Once I understood that, I was able to create boundaries that kept me from soaking in the energies around me. That was its own kind of liberation.
I believe everyone comes into this world with their own unique gifts. What I specialize in is helping people loosen their grip on fear. For a long time, neuroscience and metaphysics lived in completely separate worlds. That is changing. Scientists are now exploring intuition, visualization, and manifestation in ways that would have seemed unlikely even a decade ago. I love sitting right at that intersection.
I am not a neuroscientist, and I am the first to say so. I am someone who has spent years studying how the brain works, learning from the experts who are, and I have so much more to learn. But what I can do is translate what I’ve discovered into something anyone can use and share. This doesn’t come from a textbook. It comes from my life. The anxiety, the grief, the transformation. I’ve lived all of it, and that’s what I bring to every conversation on Fear Unzipped®.
I am proud of seeking help when both of my parents passed away, and of doing the deep work to shift a lifetime of anxiety and fear. Not to bury it. To actually transmute it. That process showed me that it is possible, and that knowing is what drives everything I do now.
The people I most want to reach are those who suffer with fear and anxiety and don’t yet know there is help and a safe space waiting for them. I also want to reach the people who sense there is more to this world but don’t know how to tap into it, or who try and don’t feel successful. And those who are afraid to show up as their fully authentic selves. I have been every single one of those people.
I spent decades loving being behind the camera while my clients stood in front of it. I liked being hidden. The idea of putting myself out into the world felt terrifying. And I only wanted to do this podcast if I could do it authentically, vulnerably, as someone who is learning right alongside everyone else. I call myself a work in progress. Becoming the face of Fear Unzipped® meant facing one of my deepest fears. I now think that was entirely by design. The ethers knew I couldn’t live my purpose while staying hidden.
One of the brain’s greatest fears is the unknown, so we have a tendency to play it safe and stay with what we already know. But the magic happens in the unknown. That’s where the real growth lives. It’s like a baby bird launching out of the nest for the very first time, suddenly discovering just how extraordinary their wings really are. The soaring, the freedom, the joy between the trees. That’s where the magic is. Right there in the unknown.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Lake Oswego has a quaintness to it that I absolutely love. It’s a beautiful town that feels like a real community. I love shopping at Zupan’s Market and New Seasons, walking to coffee and restaurants, and just being out among people who are biking, running, and living their lives outside. There’s an energy here that feels alive and healthy and I never take that for granted.
The parks are wonderful. My husband and I love hiking in Tryon Creek State Park, which is just minutes away and absolutely beautiful. And the hanging flower baskets in the spring and summer make the whole town feel like it’s celebrating. When the cherry blossoms come out I find myself stopping mid-stride just to take them in. And the leaves changing in the fall? Gorgeous doesn’t quite cover it.
As for what I like least, I’m coming up empty. I know that might sound like a non-answer but after all these years Lake Oswego still feels like exactly the right place to be. I feel lucky every single day to call it home.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://fearunzipped.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fearunzipped/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Fear-Unzipped-61565896484203/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandi-serling-1804aab/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ4zV66u-mIKE0Wm_eosv9Q
