Welcome to my faerie ring! Before we go any further, I must remind you to turn your coat inside out, keep a few rowan berries in your pocket, and never, EVER give strangers your true name.
Ready? Good! Let’s get to know each other.
My name is McKenzie, and I’m an aspiring author and marketing professional passionate about gardening, tea, books, and faerie lore. My grandma Mary, who moved to the US from County Mayo, Ireland, when she was 18, passed down a bit of her spookiness to me, so at least I can claim I came by it honestly. I was raised and still make my home among the haunted hills and forests of north-central Kentucky, where I’m usually foraging for wild plants or buying Halloween decor (again).
I’m a graduate of Taylor University’s Professional Writing and Theatre programs, and while there, I spent two semesters in Ireland studying Irish history, mythology, and current affairs. I returned to Dublin for my marketing internship with the Independent Theatre Workshop, where I first discovered my love for social media and sales writing. From there, I spent a bit of time as the proprietor of a haunted toy shop, wrote a few novels behind the desk of an eclectic antique store, learned to make about 600 coffee drinks (I don’t drink coffee), and then finally launched into a career in social media management and marketing.
Between 2020 and 2022, I was the co-owner of an author consulting brand called The Write Stage. Throughout the life of that company, we guided authors on the road to publication through story coaching and social media branding help, as well as with query letter edits, beta reads, and so much more. From there, I spent three years as the Content Creation Specialist at the Child Care Success Company, where I was trained in sales writing best practices and truly built my business writing and proofreading muscles.
My career has been a wonderful place for me to learn and grow as I continue toward my dream of writing published novels!
A little on awards and recognition: In 2018, I won second place from the Institute for Theatre Journalism and Critique at the Kennedy Center for American College Theatre Region 3 Festival. My novels have placed twice in the Writer of the Year Awards—most recently as finalists in 2020—and in 2019, I was awarded second place for YA fiction in the Almost an Author awards.
When I’m not writing or working on projects, I spend most of my time watering my garden, experimenting with little-known tea flavors (some of them grown and mixed myself!), and haunting Renaissance fairs or Louisiville’s Shakespeare in the Park all summer long.