Behind every viral campaign, there is often a hidden story of pressure, sacrifice, and blurred boundaries between work and personal life. Zaria Parvez, the face of Duolingo’s blockbuster social media strategy, has revealed that her greatest professional achievements came when she stopped separating her work from her personal life — but that success came at a cost.
Parvez, who recently announced her departure as senior global social media manager at Duolingo after five years with the company, shared in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that her most creative and impactful work occurred during periods when she abandoned the idea of work-life balance.
“There was a lot of, ‘I’m not gonna check Slack after 5. I’m going to actually work a 40-hour week,’” she explained. “But I will say, when I didn’t separate my life from my work, I succeeded far more in my role. That’s a hard truth.”
The Making of a Viral Brand
Duolingo has become a case study in how social media can transform a brand into a cultural phenomenon. Known for its guilt-inducing app notifications and witty, often irreverent online presence, the company has built a reputation for connecting authentically with younger audiences, especially Gen Z.
At the heart of that success was Parvez’s creative vision. Whether it was TikTok videos, YouTube campaigns, or viral Twitter posts, Duolingo’s green owl mascot became a recognizable and meme-worthy character. Today, the language-learning app boasts over 16.7 million TikTok followers, making it one of the first major brands to fully embrace country-specific internet trends and viral culture.
But Parvez admits the virality wasn’t without consequences.
The Human Cost of Going Viral
As the architect of many of these campaigns, Parvez shouldered the immense responsibility of keeping Duolingo’s content fresh, creative, and shareable — every single day. The pressure, she revealed, began to affect her mental and physical health.
“Last year when I went on medical leave, I was really confused and exhausted,” she said. “It got to the point where the anxiety of running such a big account and having to be always on was so on my shoulders.”
She described nights with as little as three hours of sleep, constantly consumed by thoughts of how to stay creative and maintain Duolingo’s momentum online. “I would be incessantly trying to figure out, how do I be creative in all the best ways? How do I do this on my own?”
Even her family felt the weight of her professional success. When Duolingo staged a controversial but wildly successful marketing stunt in which it faked the death of its owl mascot, the campaign went viral, pulling in 1.7 billion impressions and sparking engagement from celebrities like MrBeast and Dua Lipa, as well as major brands such as Hilton, Chipotle, and Netflix. The stunt was so convincing that Parvez’s own mother asked if she had lost her job.
When Campaigns Cross the Line
Not all of Duolingo’s social media experiments landed well. Parvez recalled one instance in 2021 during the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial, when the company’s comment on a TikTok post drew harsh backlash from Twitter users. The experience highlighted the risks of being an “edgy” brand online, where the line between humor and insensitivity can be razor thin.
Earlier this month, Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn acknowledged that the company has deliberately dialed back on edgy posts, especially after his own comments on internal AI usage received criticism. He said that toning down the social media edge helped improve sentiment toward the company — but also may have reduced Duolingo’s daily active users, a key growth metric, in the most recent quarter.
Balancing Creativity, Pressure, and Success
Parvez’s story raises a broader question facing the digital marketing industry: Is viral success worth the toll it takes on the people behind it? For brands, an always-on presence is essential in today’s competitive social media landscape. But for individuals tasked with driving that engagement, the demand for constant creativity can blur the line between dedication and burnout.
Despite the challenges, Duolingo’s strategy has proven effective. The company’s stock has climbed 61% in the last year, reflecting investor confidence in its ability to engage users and maintain cultural relevance. For Parvez, however, the lesson is clear: professional triumph often comes with personal costs — and for her, stepping away was necessary.
