Marlon Lawrence has a very cool job—and there are a lot of very cool jobs at Audible, so that’s saying something. We work with several high-profile creators and their production companies to create Audible Originals, and as a Director of Content Partnerships, Marlon helps to ensure they have a great experience. This means he gets to work closely with the team at Issa Rae’s Raedio, with whom we have a worldwide exclusive multi-project development deal; Queen Latifah’s Flavor Unit; and Kenya Barris’s Khalabo Ink Society, which recently released The Unusual Suspects with Kenya Barris and Malcolm Gladwell.

As Marlon explains, “My role is to be their team’s main point of contact throughout the duration of our relationship and to manage our day-to-day collaboration,” which means coordinating between the production companies and Audible’s own marketing, PR and legal teams, as well as many other cross-functional Audible teams, from production to promotion. On any given day he might deliver feedback to our creative marketing team as they develop assets for a title, or help manage approvals from creators on final edits, all while trying to prevent launch delays.

Fortunately, Marlon is a master of diplomacy, cultivated over years of working in entertainment. “I started a career in entertainment at age nineteen, working at a boutique agency specializing in event production, and it quickly taught me patience,” he says. He was assistant to the CEO, who herself had been Jay-Z’s assistant, so he learned a lot about how to navigate personalities and emotions with an attitude of “okay, we’re just going to problem-solve.” Also, he adds, “don’t take anything personally; everyone has their process and you just need to know how to work with it.” 

In college, Marlon studied PR and worked for global media, tech and entertainment companies, coordinating major events like SXSW and the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. “Then Audible called me” about five years ago, “and I thought it was a great opportunity. I knew some folks here and they said it was a really great team. I was also excited about the future of audio entertainment, which is booming.”

Marlon’s unique role requires him to work across different schedules and time zones, and sometimes with creative developments unfolding last minute. In those cases, “I try to close my laptop at the end of the day and take a nap then wake up around 8 p.m. and check emails.” He also makes sure to replenish by “drinking some tea, hanging with my friends, playing a game of spades, and then sleeping. I love to rest!”

In fact, Marlon has made new friends because of the intensity of his work, becoming close with “the superstars” across Raedio, Flavor Unit, and Khalabo Ink Society. Their roles share so many of the same nuances, he says, “we understand each other on a different level and it’s like, ‘we’re in this together, let’s make magic happen’.” They make him excited to come to work every day, as does getting to see the process that goes into every production from development to launch, all the creators’ visions and ideas, and “how good Audible is at storytelling in audio.”

Some of Marlon’s highlights so far include working on Class of 88, hosted by Will Smith and co-produced with Wondery; DJ Drama’s Gangsta Grillz podcast, co-produced with Khalabo Ink Society; Snoop Dogg’s Words + Music, From the Streets to the Suites; and Michael Elliott’s new rom-com, Technically Speaking. “One of my favorite things about Audible,” says Marlon, “is that they make sure to consistently highlight” Black creators and programming all year round, via our Listen. Black. 365. campaign.

Since he started at Audible during the Covid-19 pandemic, Marlon has really become more connected with his coworkers and the culture at Audible over the last couple of years. “It’s a really easy office—there’s clearly a value placed on your being a human first,” he says. “Everyone I meet is really smart, really good at what they do, and it’s so easy to vibe with people who are trying to do the same thing you are, which is make amazing audio entertainment.”