Career
She went to Christchurch to train as a teacher, and taught at small rural schools until 1898. She moved to Dunedin, and worked as a journalist for the Otago Witness. In 1906, she was lady editor of the Canterbury Times.
Her papers are held by the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand.
The Jessie Mackay Memorial Award for Verse is given by the Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists association New Zealand.