about mckenna

McKenna Kelley is an East Village, New York City born and based writer, founder, and creative, with a background spanning performing arts, advocacy, and public speaking. She holds a BFA in Musical Theater from the University of the Arts.

Since 2018, she has published personal essays exploring mental health, emotions, identity, and society; work that aims to help people feel less alone. Her writing has appeared in communities centered on intersectional feminism, including LAPP the Brand, Harness Magazine, Grazia UK, Fembot Magazine, and The Gurls Talk Blog. She later became a staff writer for GROWN Magazine and a freelance contributor for SWAAY Media.

In 2021, she self-published 5,7,5: Fifty-Seven Haikus for the Soul, a collection on love, loss, abuse, and adulthood for Barnes & Noble. 

McKenna’s commitment to mental health advocacy and social impact led her to become a Gurls Talk Ambassador in 2021. She was later selected as a Z Zurich Foundation Scholar for the One Young World global leadership summit in Belfast, where she became a lifetime ambassador for One Young World. 

In 2025, she founded Basic Art Girl, a community supporting women and girls in the arts navigating uncertainty through storytelling, resources, and guidance; while advocating for universal access to the arts and arts education.

In January 2026, McKenna launched All My Lovers, her first personal blog. With humor and introspection, she explores the messy, magnetic, beautifully complicated parts of love, sex, desire, human connection, and the world around her.

She is currently working on her debut novel, slated for release in late 2027.

Photography : Kevin Farley

Edits : Amelie Trimpl