Interview Archives: Christy Dawn Baskauskas

Issue No. 6 | November 2023 — Gratitude

This interview was originally published in our monthly print newspaper The Retreat—Issue No. 6 themed Gratitude. To read it in its intended analog form, go here.

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It’s May 2021, and I’m sweating despite usually running cold. I’m a writing intern at a nonprofit focused on global agricultural change, and it’s pitch day. Although we’re all on Zoom, the fear is palpable. Most pitches get shut down with no room for rebuttal—and I’m next.

By this point, I’ve interviewed an Oklahoma rancher and even a brilliant mycologist, but no one’s work, lifestyle, or wardrobe has inspired me quite like Christy Dawn Baskauskas’s.

That day, I pitched Christy Dawn’s Farm-to-Closet Project in the selfish hope of landing an interview with Christy herself. While the CD team was on board for an interview, it ultimately made more sense to speak with their Director of Regenerative Practices instead. At first, I thought: They must be the first clothing brand with a Director of Regenerative Practices. And second: It’s probably for the best that I don’t get to interview Christy. Because yes, while I’d love to get nerdy—I’d much rather ask her other questions (most of which you’ll read below).

Funny how life works: one day you’re scribbling down dream interviewees, and the next you’re happy dancing, shouting thank you to the Universe because #1 on your list said yes. Both moments happening while you’re wearing your CD Emma dress.

Christy needs no introduction, but I’ll tell you this: the mother, creator, and earth-worshiper is here to experience it all—the good, the growth, the ebbs, and the flows—and she’s not shying away from the hard emotions. She marvels at the mundane and swoons over the small stuff. She sees the sacred in our planet and knows what a blessing it is to be alive.

She makes everyone feel seen and important, and she shares others' work with selfless joy. And of course, she creates beauty that fosters deep healing—all while rocking timeless classics. God really did us a favor letting her come back for another earthly soirée. We’re eternally grateful to have you as our November muse, Christy. Thank you for this interview—it should be required reading.

Hi Christy! We’re so grateful to have you as our November muse. What’s your sun, moon, & rising? Human design?

Sun: Aquarius

Moon: Pisces

Rising: Leo

Human Design: Manifesting Generator

This issue’s theme is attitude of gratitude—an attitude that is clearly woven through every area of your life. What are you most grateful for right now in this season of life?

Right now I’m grateful for my deepening connection to the Divine Mother. Two years ago I lost my birth mother to pancreatic cancer. It was the most profound loss I have ever experienced. And simultaneously it felt like an initiation of sorts. Through the contraction of loss there has been a major expansion of my connection with the divine and the present moment has never been more clear. The connection between grief and gratitude is something I didn’t understand. They seem at such odds and yet, it is through the broken heart that I cracked wide open to so much love. For so long, I had worshiped the seasons of growth and expansion, celebrating the victories and abundance. And I shunned the ebbing of the flow, the seasons of loss, as if they were something to avoid. But life has a curious (and sometimes painful) way of inviting us into widening the embrace. As much as I wanted to pretend that life was all rainbows and butterflies, and constant growth and expansion, walking my mother home asked me to embrace the contractions, the death, and the dark. For how could I truly dance with life if I only allowed half of it in. I’ve learned that there is no light without dark, no birth without death, and no grief without gratitude. And death inevitably leads to rebirth.

With my birth mother no longer here, I have found solace in the Divine Mother. I’m learning to trust that I am always held by a loving force that has actually been here the whole time. It's a blossoming relationship, scary at times because it requires deep faith (and where there is faith, there is doubt), but one for which I am eternally grateful.

Favorite gratitude practices:

One of my daily practices right now is chanting sacred sounds. About 15 years ago I started going to Kirtan with Govind Das (here in Santa Monica), which is a call and response style of chanting where we repeat sacred sounds as a means of connecting with the divine. Last year for my birthday, my husband gave me a harmonium and I started a daily practice of chanting. I know two songs, but heyyy who’s counting ;)

What does a day in the life look like for you?

Wake up with my family. We all share a bed, which I love cause they're the first things I see when I wake up. Make chai, breakfast and pack lunches, while the boys run up to