Charles City native settling into NYC

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Going from fields of corn to the Big Apple, Charles City native Mariah McKenzie is enjoying big city life as she starts her design career in New York City.

McKenzie, daughter of Brad and Angel McKenzie, initially made her trek to New York in 2019 after graduating from Charles City High School. Attending the Fashion Institute of Technology, her big move was cut short when the COVID-19 pandemic sent her packing from her dorms and back to Iowa for a year and a half.

“It was really interesting,” said McKenzie. “I had to quickly find a storage unit.”

Completing her associates degree online, McKenzie returned to New York in 2021 for her junior year and, last May, graduated with a bachelors degree in textile surface design.

“After graduation, I was doing a lot of job searching,” she said.

McKenzie’s efforts quickly paid off and she was offered a job at Jaftex Corp., a major fabric supplier for the quilting industry.

As a junior stylist, McKenzie spends her day creating repeatable patterns and writing blurbs for website descriptions.

“I’m working on putting artwork on print patterns to be used on quilting fabrics,” said McKenzie. “Our company does a lot of licensed art work. We purchase a lot of work from artists and we take their little drawings and stuff and make it work into a pattern.”

A typical work day for McKenzie begins with a morning commute, where it takes 40 minutes to traverse the six miles between her office and the Brooklyn apartment where she resides. Coming from an area where such distances are generally covered by car in a fraction of the time, the change in travel habits takes some getting used to, but does have its advantages.

Public transit means McKenzie can spend the bulk of her commuting time reading or eating breakfast, rather than worrying about the road. Though living in the most densely populated city in the country does mean her train rides do get fairly cramped.

“The morning commute feels like being in a herd of cattle,” said McKenzie. “By the time we get to Union Square, where I transfer, the train is fully packed.”

While McKenzie does sometimes miss having a car, the system of trains and buses can get a person a surprising distance at a reasonable cost.

“It’s crazy affordable to get around the East Coast if you want,” said McKenzie.

“Affordability” is not often a word associated with New York City, but McKenzie says that while some things, like rent prices, are well beyond what anybody in Floyd County would be accustomed to, there are other advantages to city life. From Broadway performances in the park to free public movie showings, McKenzie says there is plenty to do in the city without having to spend a lot of money. Sometimes the non-stop string of promotional events even include giveaways.

“I’ve gotten so many random freebies going to these pop-ups,” she said.

And while cramped subways and tiny kitchens may push people more toward eating out than making big grocery store trips, McKenzie says that even that isn’t as hard on the pocket book as it might seem.

“There’s a lot of really good cheap eats that people don’t realize,” said McKenzie. “Ninety-nine cent pizza is really good.”

Needing to remember that anything she buys from the grocery store needs to be carried home, the grocery trip becomes part of the workout routine. Fortunately, whether it’s produce from a corner bodega or a sit-down restaurant, there is no shortage of choices when it comes to finding something to eat.

“The one thing that I think is the best thing about New York City is how many restaurants there are,” said McKenzie. “There are a million choices.”

One thing that McKenzie does miss about Iowa is the greenery and wildlife. New York City is called “the concrete jungle” for a reason, with little room for trees and yards.

“You don’t really see grass that much,” said McKenzie. “Everything is just cement.”

To get her greenery fix, McKenzie likes to frequent the north side of Central Park or visit the botanical garden in the Bronx.

“It’s worth the commute up there. It’s beautiful,” said McKenzie. “It’s kind of nice to see a space where there are not buildings.”

Overall though, McKenzie said she is happy adjusting to big city life, noting that while there are plenty of big changes it’s not entirely unfamiliar.

“One thing that people don’t realize if they’re just visiting New York is that certain areas of New York are a lot busier than other sections,” said McKenzie. “Where I live in Brooklyn, it’s very mellow. It’s just a normal neighborhood.”