We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christina Threloff a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Christina, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?
I don’t think it would be possible for me to rank all of the kindness I have received from others, though many of the acts of kindness bring me back to the beginning of our experience with COVID. Later 2020 and into 2021, we had learned more about COVID and the world was feeling less unsure, but I was hitting rock bottom with my personal mental health. I have always struggled with depression, but I was experiencing my deepest depression as an adult, and it was terrible timing. During this time, my husband gave me space, listened to me, and held me as I tried to survive my own demons – and he did it all with unconditional love and care. That was the kindest thing anyone could have done for me when I was experiencing such a low time in my life. That said, I gave myself rest, pursued treatments to help alleviate my depression, and reached out to a therapist who helped guide me to a better mental state and learn more about myself. I showed myself the most kindness that I could given the circumstance that I was in. I was deeply supported by others and I showed myself support, and I think that combination is key to managing any sort of mental illness.
I believe that when given this question, It is so important that we don’t ignore the kindness we give ourselves. If that doesn’t resonate, then perhaps it would be important to think about ways that you have given yourself kindness. Thinking even grander, after I left my family home to figure out life as an adult on my own, I subconsciously prioritized important things I’d like to achieve in this lifetime. Finding someone to spend my life with and build a family with was the most important thing to me and I found that person, my husband, in my early 20s. After starting a career I thought I’d stick with, but ended up not feeling like the right fit, I was in a scary place that I had not imagined I’d be. I thought I’d spend 30 years as a teacher and retire, my whole life in one career, but there I was as a 29 year old, resigned from the job I thought I’d have forever, with two young kids at home living my life as a stay at home mom. The amount of kindness that parents need to give themselves goes unnoticed – raising tiny humans is hard work! This time when I left my career and stayed home with my kids was pivotal. It was a decision my husband and I thought long and hard about. Part of that conversation involved starting My Lovely Muse. It was a hobby turned business at first, but has since evolved into much more of how I live my life, but that is another story! I had to give myself kindness to accept my new full time position as stay at home mom and part time position as owner of My Lovely Muse. Society tells us that we need to contribute financially to the household, raise the children, provide home cooked meals, keep the house tidy, keep up with the news, stay hydrated, take 10k steps per day, and the whole shebang, but that is not feasible. I reached another point in my life where I had to prioritize what I needed and wanted to take up my 24 hours of space each day. My husband and I worked together again to tackle household chores, feed the baby at night, try to get enough sleep, and not overdo it for either of us, him as the providing adult in the family going to work to financially support us and me raising the kids during the day and keeping my mental health in a good spot. It’s been 9 years since I left teaching and I am able to look back at all the moments that I was able to provide kindness for myself – kindness in the form of support that I have chosen the life I want to live, even if it is not the life that society tells me I need to live.
Christina, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Christina Threloff and I like to think of myself as a quirky, open-minded human with a fantastic imagination and love for all things eco-conscious. My Lovely Muse grew organically out of both personal transformation and a desire to live more intentionally.
Although I’ve always had roots in self-sufficiency—gardening, watching my mom and my grandmas and great grandma spend summers canning tomatoes that they grew—I didn’t consciously connect those actions with sustainability until I became pregnant with my first child 11 years ago. Wanting to reduce waste and live more naturally, I started using cloth diapers and then expanded to cloth baby wipes, reusable “paper” towels, cloth napkins, and even cloth toilet paper. That journey was the spark that transformed how I lived—and eventually, how I worked.
Before starting My Lovely Muse, I was a special education teacher in an urban school district. But after my second child was born and the cost of daycare outweighed my income, I made the difficult decision to leave my job. That’s when my husband and I decided I could start a business while staying home with our kids. And so, My Lovely Muse was born.
I officially launched the business in January 2017, just months after my son was born. It started as a handmade clothing shop—leggings were my primary product. By the end of that first year, I realized I wanted my business to reflect my values more deeply. I shifted focus to sustainable materials and packaging, and started offering products that help others reduce waste in their daily lives. That’s when everything began to click.
Today, My Lovely Muse specializes in reusable, sustainable housewares like cloth napkins (our best-seller), cocktail napkins, beeswax wraps, sandwich and snack bags, utensil holders, and DIY kits. I also offer private sewing lessons, monthly mending circles (free to the community!), a variety of creative workshops, and sell my wares at local markets. Workshops I’ve led include kombucha brewing, canning, beeswax wrap making, papermaking and educational eco-chats on a variety of green-living topics.
What sets My Lovely Muse apart is that it’s a genuine extension of how I live and what I care about. I’m not just selling products—I’m building community, sparking conversations, and helping people make sustainable changes that feel approachable and joyful. Living a more eco-conscious life does not happen overnight. It is perpetually imperfect and must be taken one small step at a time.
I’m proud of what I’ve created, not just because it’s a business, but because it’s deeply meaningful. It has allowed me to combine creativity, teaching, and connection in a way that supports both my family and the planet. This isn’t where I imagined my career going, but it’s exactly where I’m supposed to be—and I couldn’t be more grateful.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
The story I’m thinking about might be a combination of resilience and kindness. A tremendously resilient time for many people (among other adjectives) was the start of COVID. We all experienced a rollercoaster of emotions that year and the years following, though it’s only in hindsight that we can add resilience to that list. When we were told that we needed to lockdown, some of the first emotions felt were adrenaline and fear – not only related to health, but also to how my business would hold up following a worldwide pandemic. There was about a week that I spent gathering myself and situating my kids, but pretty soon after I connected with the sewing community to start mass producing fabric face masks. We starting pooling our supplies together, seeing who had extra and making a no-contact pickup to collect what we need to continue our in-home operations. I had to pivot a bit – instead of selling eco-conscious housewares on my website, I was selling cloth masks for $10 each and even had a tab to accept financial donations so I could keep up with my material needs to make as many masks as possible in order to donate to healthcare workers, grocery store employees, and anyone else on the frontline or with a job that couldn’t just be done remotely. I am thankful for the many monetary donations that I received from followers and friends. I even had one donation and card left for me from someone I had never met before who lived on my street and saw the free masks I had sitting out on my front porch for neighbors to take. Within a couple months, I had made and donated or sold over 2,000 masks. Watching a community come together to help each other and receiving countless letters and notes of appreciation was one of the most beautiful things I have experienced, and being an active part of that helped diminish the fear and give me fuel to continue to feel hopeful about my business and so much more. The way that I was able to temporarily pivot within my business to fulfill a need for the community was a beautiful part of my journey as a business owner. With the help of my community of loyal followers and customers, my business was able to thrive, not only financially, but also as a community of like-minded people coming together to help each other.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson that I quickly unlearned when I started my business was when I transitioned from making handmade clothing items to offering eco-conscious housewares made by me with intention. I have always been a steward of the earth, but that didn’t always translate into the clothes I wore. I also have never been especially fashionable or even interested in fashion, but it was garment construction and that problem solving process that interested me. I started My Lovely Muse selling handmade clothing and the more time I spent working on and in my business, the more I learned about myself, and making clothing, especially from polyester and other synthetic fibers didn’t feel aligned with the way I was living my life outside of my business. While I still make clothing (usually only for myself or loved ones), I now use natural and ethically manufactured fibers from curated sources. The amount of money that it would cost for someone to order a custom item of clothing with my current standards just is not my current target group, aside from the fact that I don’t get excited by fashion. Being a steward of the earth by connecting with like-minded people, learning more information, and sharing my knowledge is what fuels me and gives me the energy and deep sense of passion to continue to work on and in my business. Naturally, I was able to align my business with my own values early on, and I’m thankful for that. I thought that making and selling clothing is what the people wanted and therefore would bring in the money, but it turns out that is not what was most important to me. A balance is needed – the ability to have adequate financial exchange to be able to continue the business along with a passion that is not easily diminished. They say money cannot buy happiness. Well, it probably can, but not long lasting, and long lasting joy is imperative to my successful business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mylovelymuse.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/mylovelymuse
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/mylovelymuseshop
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/mylovelymuse
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCcQWAEcNomDUgceZmR_P9GA
Image Credits
Polly Esther Creative/Angie Miller