Marlena Serviss

Marlena Serviss has a diverse professional background. Marlena began their career in 2009 as an Executive Designer/Office Assistant with the International Peace and Conflict Resolution program at American University. In this role, they designed promotional material, managed outreach to alumni, and performed general office duties. Marlena also served as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the American Literary Magazine, where they balanced and implemented a budget and hired editors. In 2013, they were an Editorial Intern with the Travel Books Division at National Geographic, where they proofread, copyedited, and wrote assignments for three editors. Marlena also researched and fact checked content for upcoming books and book proposals. In 2014, they were an Administrative and Editorial Assistant with the same division, where they wrote content, researched, fact checked, and answered editor queries for travel books and guidebooks. Marlena also composed book briefs for approved and proposed titles. In 2015, Marlena was a Contracts Administrator and Contracts Associate with Lerner Publishing Group, where they drafted, negotiated, and tracked subsidiary rights agreements, agented and unagented author, illustrator and photographer agreements, and foreign acquisition agreements. Marlena also fostered and maintained author and agent relationships. Additionally, they were a Freelance Researcher and Writer, where they researched and fact checked content for four travel books and travel guides for National Geographic, assisted two local authors with transcribing and summarizing interviews, and copyedited, answered queries, and created a resource section for an author's manuscript. In 2018, Marlena was an Editorial and Web Publishing Intern with the Chicago Review, where they copyedited, fact-checked, and proofed the journal's print and web content, managed subscription and the subscriptions database, and assisted in creating the social media, marketing and advertisement campaign for upcoming issues. In 2019, they were an Academic Support Administrator with the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago, where they answered questions from prospective and current graduate and undergraduate students, updated and maintained graduate student records and files, and managed course proposals and scheduling for all Art History classes. In 2021, Marlena began their current role as Renewal Specialist Team Lead at Submittable, where they renew on average 25 accounts per month while maintaining and accurately forecasting a 82%-95% gross renewal rate, leads and supports a team of two Renewal Specialists, partners with Sales Enablement to successfully hire, onboard, and train new Renewal Specialists, and holds biweekly 1:1s with each individual Renewal Specialist. Marlena previously held the role of Account Manager at Submittable, where they renewed 25-40 contracts per month, designed demo websites for potential partners and their individual use cases, and developed and maintained product knowledge.

Marlena Serviss received their Masters in Humanities from the University of Chicago in 2019. Prior to that, they obtained their Bachelor's Degree in Anthropology from American University between 2009 and 2013.