Editorial Freelancers Association
Behind the Scenes at the EFA
So much goes into the running of an organization like the EFA—the day-to-day tasks, the overarching vision, all the things that must be planned and executed and kept track of—much of it behind the scenes. We’ve interviewed some of the folks who make it happen around here. Read on to learn a little bit more about them.
Kerri Strauss
Interim Executive Director
Kerri is serving as the interim executive director of the Editorial Freelancers Association. Kerri has her master’s degree in social work and has served in the AmeriCorps program. Kerri enjoys working with nonprofits as a strategic leader and believes in strong community partnerships. She brings over twenty years of nonprofit leadership experience, is a graduate of the Third Sector Company Cohort #14 as a certified interim executive and has an extensive background in community impact work and capacity building. Kerri is thoroughly enjoying her role as the interim executive director of the Editorial Freelancers Association.
“EFA is an impressive organization filled with many thoughtful, welcoming, and inspiring people. I continue to be impressed by all staff and Board members by their hard work and dedication to the organization. I’m excited for the future of the EFA as I see many opportunities for growth in membership and education as well as overall organizational restructuring and streamlining through governance work and strategic planning.”
Vina Orden
Director of Strategic Initiatives and Communications
How did you come to be with the EFA?
I joined the EFA in 2019 after over a decade fundraising for cultural institutions, most recently as director of major gifts, legacy giving, and special events at New York Public Radio (WNYC and WQXR). Fundraising ceased being a fulfilling career, so I took a year off to travel, learn to surf, and contemplate what was next (a “midlife reset,” as my surfing instructor and de facto life coach called it). Blogging about my “leap year” reminded me of how much I enjoyed writing, so I began freelancing as a writer and as an editor at the literary magazine Slant’d. I was fortunate to secure a part-time events and communications position at the EFA, which allowed me to keep doing what I loved and ensured that I paid my bills too!
Read more about Vina Orden
What do you find fulfilling about working with this organization?
In all the years I’ve worked at nonprofits, I’ve never encountered more passionate and involved Board members and volunteers than at the EFA. It’s been a privilege to utilize and hone a range of skills—from writing to graphic design (it’s a little-known fact that I’m an MFA dropout!) to social media marketing to event planning to project management—in helping volunteers actualize their vision. For instance, I got to work with former Board members from the 1990s and other longstanding volunteers, including the late former EFA co-executive Ruth Mullen, on a documentary on the history of the EFA for the organization’s fiftieth anniversary.
Not only are our Board members passionate, they’re compassionate as well. I’m grateful to current co-executives Katy Grenfell and Cody Sisco for introducing benefits such as an HRA and a 401K and supporting growth opportunities for staff. Personally, I’m deeply appreciative of the Board’s support since my breast cancer diagnosis in September 2022, allowing me to work from home and giving me the flexibility to rearrange my schedule to accommodate weekly chemotherapy treatments.
What excites you about the future of the EFA?
Having participated in the Strategic Plan task force two years ago, I’m excited to help lead its implementation in my newly created position as director of strategic initiatives and communications. The EFA isn’t the same organization it was fifty years ago—we now have over 3,200 members, and the staff has doubled in size in the past year. This exponential growth necessitates a reevaluation of our governance model, our technology and tools, and our outreach, particularly to members of groups that have historically been marginalized or underrepresented in the editing and publishing industries. With a carefully considered strategic plan and a multi-talented Board and staff collaborating on organizational priorities and initiatives, the EFA is poised for meaningful transformations in the years ahead. It’s been an honor serving both as a custodian of the EFA’s institutional history and as a change agent, helping to ensure the organization’s viability into the future.
What else would you like EFA members to know about you?
For the past two years, I’ve been working on a YA time-slip novel, which draws on my experiences as an immigrant in my teens and on my avid interest in the histories of New York City and the Philippines. I’m looking forward to workshopping the novel as a YA Fiction Fellow at the 2024 Roots. Wounds. Words. Winter Writer’s Retreat in January (and eventually taking Lou Piccolo’s Editing Young Adult Fiction self-paced course through the EFA’s Education Program)!
Asher Rose Fox
Director of Education
How did you come to be with the EFA?
I joined the EFA many years ago when I was a freelance editor. I loved the community and found a number of jobs through the Job List. After a while of working as a staff editor, I decided to return to freelancing and rejoined. A few weeks later, the posting for EFA education coordinator came through, and I leapt on it.
Read more about Asher Rose Fox
What do you find fulfilling about working with this organization?
As a former member, I know what a difference the EFA can make to an editor’s career at any stage. It means a great deal to me to help support my fellow editors in developing their skills and learning how to better run their businesses. And everyone on the staff is wonderful to work with—we’re a great team.
What excites you about the future of the EFA?
I’m very excited to be building out the Education Program. Right now we’re actively soliciting academic editing courses and other classes for nonfiction editors, to complement our robust offerings for fiction editors. My hope is to have something for every editor: novice or experienced, working with fiction or nonfiction, comfortable with running a business or trying to get one off the ground. That includes recruiting diverse instructors who reflect our diverse membership and can collaborate on a truly well-rounded Education Program.
What else would you like EFA members to know about you?
My own background includes both fiction and nonfiction editing. I was a staff editor at Publishers Weekly for twelve years, primarily editing book reviews for romance and SF/F, and have written and edited for a number of periodicals in medicine, science, and technology. I’ve also worked with small presses, large publishers, and indie authors on an eclectic variety of books that include supernatural thrillers, coloring books for children, compilations of vintage magazine articles, and cookbooks. I’ve touched every part of the editorial process from developmental editing to proofreading, and have run my own freelancing business for two decades. But I know there’s still so much more to the freelance editing world than the parts I’ve seen, and my favorite thing about this job is how much I learn from our webinars and courses. There’s always room to grow.
Mia Lipsit
Marketing and Membership Manager
How did you come to be with the EFA?
I am a writer, editor, and communications professional and have spent my career in the nonprofit and government sectors. During the pandemic, I was hired to run communications for New York City’s COVID-19 contact tracing program. After the program ended in mid-2022 I decided to take on some freelance writing and editing and other temporary work before diving back into the search for my next full-time gig. It was during this time that I was hired as a temp by the EFA when one of its staff members was on medical leave. Fortunately for me, the organization was in the process of creating a new position, and would ultimately offer it to me!
Read more about Mia Lipsit
What do you find fulfilling about working with this organization?
As someone who has done freelance editing and writing myself, I am well aware of the challenges and rewards of this type of work. I therefore find it fulfilling to be able to serve the needs of freelancers—to support them to strengthen and expand their skill sets, grow their businesses, and succeed in an increasingly competitive marketplace. I also love working my colleagues, our Board, and our members, whom I have found to be an exceptionally smart, kind, supportive, and thoughtful group of folks.
What excites you about the future of the EFA?
Because the pandemic greatly increased the types of jobs that could be done remotely, it also made freelancing a very real option that more and more workers are choosing. I think this gives the EFA an opportunity to expand its membership base and to play an increasingly important role in the editorial services industry. Since I started working for the organization it has added two full-time staff members and moved forward with its governance work. This is therefore a very exciting time for the EFA and, given that my role is to oversee member recruitment and retention, for me to be part of it!
What else would you like EFA members to know about you?
When I’m not sitting in front of my computer, fostering cats, or knitting scarves (yes, only scarves), you can find me nurturing my perpetual wanderlust—also known as “miandering”—exploring and getting to know other countries and cultures (and cuisines) around the globe.
Mark Schaefer
Membership Coordinator
How did you come to be with the EFA?
I first got involved with the EFA two years ago after I discovered the organization having done an online search for freelancer rates to help guide me in my new freelance business. From there, I became a member of the EFA and started receiving job posts as all members do. One of those job posts was for the position of Membership Coordinator, a job I had held with the Linguistic Society of America in Washington, D.C. before moving back to my native New York. And so, after successfully applying for the position, I found myself in charge of the very rate chart and job lists that had brought me to the EFA in the first place.
Read more about Mark Schaefer
What do you find fulfilling about working with this organization?
The most fulfilling parts of being the membership coordinator are helping to solve members’ problems and getting members the information they need to navigate the EFA and be successful in their freelance careers.
What excites you about the future of the EFA?
I’m excited about the growth of the EFA as an organization and the way that it is adapting to the changing environment in which freelancers work. I’m looking forward to seeing the ways that we can continue to improve how we serve this community of talented professionals.
What else would you like EFA members to know about you?
I have professional and academic backgrounds in language (Russian, German, French, Ancient Hebrew, Ancient Greek, and smatterings of half a dozen more), linguistics, law, and theology, and am a published author. I enjoy cycling and have done five major solo long-distance rides: DC–Albany, DC–Charlottesville–Berkeley Springs, DC–Chicago, around Lake Ontario, and Albany–Montreal–Lake Placid–Albany.
Oliver Ray
Events and Programs Coordinator
How did you come to be with the EFA?
I came to be with the EFA at the end of 2023, after graduating from Pratt Institute’s creative writing program and then freelancing as a romance ghostwriter. When I first saw the job posting, I was ecstatic and knew I had to go for it. I got a variety of jobs offers, but I was holding out for the EFA, so you can only imagine my excitement when I finally got the email offering me a chance to be apart of the EFA team. It was an easy yes!
Read more about Oliver Ray
What do you find fulfilling about working with this organization?
Event planning and the literary world have been my passions for as long as I can remember, so to be able to combine them and serve such a wonderful community is really such a gift to me. Bringing people together has always been fulfilling for me, and to be able to do it for like-minded people across the US is a dream come true.
What excites you about the future of the EFA?
I can just see so much potential for this organization and the ways that it can grow. I also see my own growth along the way, and can barely contain my excitement at the thought. The EFA has so much history and so many wonderful members ready to make more of it. I really hope that I can help continue to foster a sense of community that our members can rely on and hopefully bring new ideas that propel the community forward.
What else would you like EFA members to know about you?
While I’m Brooklyn based now, I was born and raised in suburban Kansas. New York City was a childhood dream that I fought tooth and nail for, and it still feels unreal to realize I’ve ‘made it’. My work is my passion, so if there’s anything I can do to help or improve, I’m always all ears. When I’m off the clock, I enjoy caring for my two beautiful cockatiels or planning parties for my group of friends. When it comes to writing, I’m first and foremost a poet, but I love writing in all sorts of genres.
Republished and updated from an article which appeared in the Winter 2024 issue of the Freelancer
