Mackenzie’s jars of shells

The word ‘click’ has carried weight for centuries. It echoed through English since the 1600s – the sharp sound of a latch catching or a clock’s steady mechanical pulse. By the mid-20th century, it had moved inward, becoming shorthand for the moment two people connect, or the instant a scattered idea finally fits. It was a word of alignment and sudden clarity.

Then the world found other uses for it. First came the clicker – the remote control that taught us to snap past one thing after another in a restless search for something better. Then came the internet. Today we click hundreds of times a day and mostly feel nothing. We click to scroll, to buy, to dismiss, to close. The word has been so bleached by repetition it should have lost its meaning by now. But we keep using it – because we’re still searching for that click.

For Mackenzie Sturgill, the click came in January.

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Mackenzie, 24, grew up in Greenville before moving to Charleston to work as a NICU nurse. She’d wanted to live near the coast for years – and as it turns out, Charleston would become central to her new jewelry business, Coastal Connie’s. But the foundation was laid long before this move, by the woman the business is named after – Grandma Connie.

Connie designed jewelry before Mackenzie was born, and her tiniest pieces were made for her granddaughter. When Mackenzie was in elementary school, Connie started teaching her to bead. She didn’t live nearby, but she’d bring her beading supplies whenever she came to visit. Mackenzie fell in love with it immediately – the patterns, the styles, the act of creating something with her hands. By high school, she was hooked enough to go out and buy tools to start making pieces on her own.

Last summer, Mackenzie started wearing thicker beaded jewelry that felt bold and unique. During a car ride with her sisters, the conversation turned to how few places were known for making that kind of statement piece. Mackenzie’s sister, Madyson, suggested Connie’s for the name. The name stuck, but the business hadn’t started yet. That came a few months later, in January, when a friend visited Charleston and a casual jewelry-making outing led to a necklace with a seashell. What followed was a wave of compliments – enough to make Mackenzie rethink what had always been a hobby. “It made me realize I wanted to take my passion for jewelry-making more seriously,” she said.

Jewelry-making became the thread for another passion of Mackenzie’s – shells. “Anyone who knows me knows I’m obsessed with collecting shells,” she shares, “so it only felt natural to incorporate them into the pieces.” She has jars and jars of shells, gathered from different beaches throughout the years.

Mackenzie hopes to grow Coastal Connie’s into a recognizable name through local markets and pop-ups. But her bigger dream is a storefront – a place where locals and visitors can walk in and make their own pieces. She pictures strands of beads and jars filled with local shells, and people assembling something meaningful with their hands. “I tend to dream big and hold high expectations for myself,” she admits. It’s not hard to see where that vision comes from.

Fast Facts
Business: Coastal Connie’s.
Favorite food: Mexican, specifically fajitas.
Favorite movies: Parent Trap and Pretty Woman.
Favorite artist: The Backseat Lovers.
Favorite motto: “Do your best, let God do the rest.”
Favorite spots around town: Millers all day for breakfast, babas for coffee, Circe’s Grotto for lunch or Heavy’s barburger.