Mackenzie graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University with a B.M. in oboe performance and an honors B.A. in linguistics and German. Thereafter, she moved to Munich, Germany, where she completed a M.A. with the highest marks in Deutsch als Fremdsprache (German Applied Linguistics) at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität. Mackenzie’s current position is a Dual Title Ph.D. candidate in Germanic Linguistics and Language Science at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research investigates the nature of long-term language loss—whether it is due to losing the language itself or the pathway to it.

Mackenzie is the creator and host of The Book Album podcast, which brings high-caliber literary analysis of classic works to the general public. She is also an active member of the Stolpersteine Initiative in Munich, where she supports education and production efforts for plaques memorializing the victims of Nazi persecution. Lastly, Mackenzie is a Chicago Chapter member of the Circumnavigator Club Foundation, an exclusive network of world travelers founded in 1902. She joined after her first circumnavigation in 2022, during which she crossed all world meridians on a single trip. Her travelogue includes twenty-five countries over five continents. Her essay Schwierigkeit(en) was accepted for publication from Isarufer Verlag in 2024; her first academic article is under review at Language Learning. She is currently seeking representation for her third book, My Places Past: A Travel Memoir.