About

Hi, I’m Kenzi! Before you read any further, grab a cup of tea or a glass of wine and light a candle that reminds you of your favorite book. Let’s get to know each other!

I’m an aspiring author and social media manager with a passion for magic realism and mythology. A graduate of Taylor University’s professional writing and theatre programs, I spent a long time trying to decide wanted to do (you know, to make money) while I tried to get a book published. I interned for a literary agency for a while, worked as an author consultant, and freelanced. I even worked in a haunted toy store!

In early 2020, I founded the Write Stage with my friend Ronnell. The Write Stage was meant to guide 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! Check it out here

But overtime, I realized it was best for me to work in a different industry than publishing, so that I wouldn’t get burned out when I had time to work on my own writing. I now work as a full-time content creation specialist for the Child Care Success Company (a job I love, mostly social media and copywriting) and am querying my first novel, a historic magic realism YA set during the Golden Age of Piracy. You can learn more about that on the projects tab! There are vampiric mermaids, cursed treasures, and cut-throat found family by the boat–or pirate ship–load. Everything a good story needs, right?

Here we begin the boring section about awards and recognition. You’ve been forewarned! In 2018 I won second place in 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 a finalist in 2020–and in 2019 I was awarded second place for YA fiction in the Almost an Author awards.

Despite the fact that I’m now querying a pirate novel, I’d say the biggest inspiration on my writing has been the time I spent living in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland, a short train ride south of Dublin. I studied Irish history and mythology in a village called Greystones, right on the Irish Sea, for two semesters in college and then returned during the summer of 2017 for a marketing internship at the Independent Theatre Workshop. My family is heavily Irish (my grandma actually emigrated from County Mayo in the 50’s), and living there for a time fulfilled a life-long dream as well as filling my head with Celtic stories and legends. Someday I’ll be back! 

When I’m not writing or working on projects, I spend most of my time watering my fairy garden, attending garden design classes, experimenting with little-known tea flavors (some of them grown and mixed myself!), and haunting renaissance fairs all summer long. 

Leave a Reply