After graduating with her degree, McKenzie pursued journalism as a career. She worked at WYCB Radio, and was host of an R&B show. She later was promoted to Station Manager, which was a position few women held at the time. She continued in broadcasting for several years. She also wrote a column for the
Afro-American, entitled "The McKenzie Report." During the ten years she served in this role, she helped grow the church, and also expand its ministry in the community. She tied for first in the balloting, along with Rev.
Prathia Hall and Rev.
Carolyn Knight. In 2000, McKenzie made the decision to run for election to the position of bishop in her denomination. As a first time candidate, McKenzie had to explain to church leaders and members why she was qualified to be the first woman bishop. In an interview for a
Christian Post article in 2019, she noted that running for bishop meant '"[h]elping people to take a look at your ministerial track record in your pastorate. The kinds of things that you have done,' she explained. 'Being able to get that message out, being able to show people that it’s not just me being female, that I have had experiences, I'm qualified, and take a look at how God has blessed our ministry as an indication of what we can do in the future.'” There were 42 candidates for bishop in the election, two of whom were women. In addition to McKenzie, Rev.
Carolyn Tyler Guidry, the first woman to serve as presiding elder in the Fifth District of AME Church, also ran for election. (Guidry was later elected as the 122nd Bishop of the AME Church in 2004.) McKenzie received the second-highest number of votes when the General Council of the AME Church voted in July at the national convention in Cincinnati. In her acceptance speech, she is quoted as saying, "Because of God’s favor, the stained-glass ceiling has been pierced and broken.” In her first post as bishop, she was named to the 18th district, which has oversight for AME churches in Africa, mainly in
Botswana,
Lesotho,
Mozambique and
Swaziland. She later served as presiding prelate for the Thirteenth District AME, which covers
Tennessee and
Kentucky. While serving in this role, she was invited by
President Barack Obama to join the inaugural President's Advisory Council of the White House Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. In 2012, she moved to the Tenth Episcopal District in Texas, where she presided until her retirement in 2021 at the 51st General Conference in Orlando, FL. In 2005, she became the titular head of the
AME Church, again making history, this time as the first woman to lead the denomination. She was the host Bishop for the 2012 AME General Conference held in Nashville, TN. She has written several books on leadership for women in ministry, including
Not Without A Struggle, and
Strength in the Struggle. She is also the national chaplain of
Delta Sigma Theta sorority, Incorporated. In 2014, she was listed as one of 50 "Powerful Women Religious Figures Around The World" by the
Huffington Post. McKenzie was among a number of African American women from around the United States who endorsed
Hillary Rodham Clinton for President in 2016. == Personal life ==