Mackenzie Rae

Article from the Greensboro News & Record
Sunday, March 14, 2010
by Kathy Johnson, Contributing Writer

Passion for accessories turns into business

Growing up in High Point, Tonya Turney loved making gifts for her friends and family. She had a passion for creative art and enjoyed making earrings, bracelets and necklaces.

Turney decided to start her own business after her youngest child, Mackenzie Rae, started kindergarten.

She founded her company — Mackenzie Rae, after her 5-year-old daughter — in 2009.

Two friends — Cindy Earnhardt and Sally Eller — agreed to serve as advisers. They had daily contact with other women and served as her “ears.”

For more than a year, she built up her stock to be sure she had enough merchandise to meet the needs of her customers.

“Tonya is very efficient in running the business,” said Judy Driver of Burlington. She met Turney at Badin Lake and has been purchasing pieces ever since for herself and family members. She said is it attractive but reasonably priced.

“I can call her and tell her I need jewelry for a family member,” she said.

Driver tells Turney what colors her family member likes, and “Tonya picks it out for me and mails it directly to my relative.”

Turney likes to use natural materials such as shells, coconut wood, glass, wooden beads and leather cording. Her jewelry is made of hypoallergenic nickel and lead-free metals.

She draws many of the designs and takes them to suppliers who help put them together. Mackenzie Rae identifies the finest accessory pieces from around the world, according to its Web site. Items are created by international designers and handcrafted by local artisans in their own countries.

Right now, Turney is working on her spring designs. She expects orange and bright, big styles be popular this spring.

Turney sells her accessories through a party-structured company like the Southern Living and Pampered Chef parties.

She has three consultants — Judith A. Becker-Frazier and Jessica Caudle in Thomasville and Kyrsten Smith in Utah.

Becker-Frazier works parties and is pursuing more retail stores to stock the line of accessories.

Mackenzie Rae jewelry is sold at Dragonflies Inc. — at 5870 Samet Drive in the Palladium Shopping Center off Wendover Avenue — and at Carolina Beach.

Caudle, who taught Turney’s children in preschool, works through the jewelry parties.