Zaria Parvez (Duolingo, DoorDash): Why Paid & Organic Social Have to Work Together

Zaria Parvez: > [VISUAL: Title card with a grid background. Text reads: "Motion presents", "CREATIVE STRATEGY SUMMIT 2026". A small box contains a wireframe globe icon.] My whole talk today is about how organic and paid can actually be besties, especially in a world where I think we kind of like to silo ourselves and sometimes say like, this is my team, this is your team, we'll try to figure it out.

Evan Lee: Flop to fly and needs to be on a t-shirt. Everyone's quoting it in the chat. Everyone has to go blow up social, but flop to fly is so good. I love it.

Zaria Parvez: We got to make sweatshirts or something, merch for after this motion merch.

Evan Lee: Drop them. Everybody show love in the chat. That was incredible. That was incredible.

Zaria Parvez: Thank you.

Evan Lee: Okay, there are a bunch of questions that have popped in here and I'll I'll pull them up one by one, but everybody is a quick reminder. Look to your top right. You got the Q&A tab. Get your questions in and keep uploading so we can bring them on stage.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, I think just as any social manager, right? Like scrolling on the internet, being part of the zeitgeist, watching the things, doing the things. But also, I think it's really important to like kind of deep dive into a section of culture that you'd have no idea about. Like for me, something that was really interesting was like Korean beauty standards, which is crazy because I've seen so much like K-beauty blow up, right? in the US. And I'm like, why is this happening? Like I actually don't know why that's happening. And like, learned so much about that. To this day, have not executed or used that, but I'm like, I could see that one day becoming a campaign. Who knows. And I think like those are the things where it's like you have short-term moments, but also you need to invest in like your long-term architecture so you have that in your back pocket of like when the time comes, you know how to strike and like that's kind of also invoking curiosity. Like I think it's important to like not only just, yeah, I think it's just important to be curious about the world around you and just like ask the questions.

Evan Lee: Huge. I love the uh the curiosity that's being shown to be able to figure that one out. So it makes so much sense. The other piece that it makes me think of is like research in general. So one version is like know what's going on in the world. And then the other thing I'm thinking about is like as it relates to uh like the company and the brand. So it's like product as well as persona work. So you talked a lot about uh like frameworks throughout your presentation. I'm wondering if there's any like persona work in your process or like understanding the product and like frameworks you have around that. I'm curious how you tend to to approach that side of things.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, I think what's interesting is like there's the ideal persona and then there's the reality persona. So like this is actually something I had to like kind of tackle at DoorDash where like like the reality is is like the higher you get up at a company, I think people think very highly of themselves at this company and they're like, everybody like loves DoorDash. And I'm like, actually we're kind of lame on social guys. And like this is the reality of how people actually see us. And like people just want promo codes from us. Like that is kind of the reality. And I think building into that, like that allowed us to like actually push things in work more forward. Like the sweeps Knicks promo was like all because people just want free shit from DoorDash. I was like, let's just give them free shit that's relevant. And now you've kind of made both camps happy. So I think like the hard part is like how do you frame kind of a negative perception that people might have about your brand in a positive way and use that. Um, I'm still learning. I mean, it's been 10 months of the role so far and there's like moments that have been awesome, moments that have flopped, but yeah, it's it's it's the reality I guess of the game.

Evan Lee: So one of the cool things you mentioned there is like talking to leadership and people within the org.

Zaria Parvez: Okay, my friend. I mean, the the reality of the situation is like, so Duo was a very small startup when I started. I started in 2020. I was like one of two marketing people on the team. So the reality was is like there was a zero budget but also like zero care at the time. So like with that, I feel like that's where the creative freedom was allowed to shine and like that's what I always tell teams because people love quoting Duolingo. Like they had a zero dollar budget. And I was like, there was also 100% creative freedom. You could not give a zero dollar budget and then dictate zero creative freedom. Um, so it was less of like me convincing and more of like them agreeing that hey, if we're not giving you the thing to do the thing, go ahead and do what you think is best with what you have. Um, so that mentality was already there and I think that's that was part of why I actually joined that company as well. So I will say like your interview process is also very important. Like if you can, try to prioritize places that give creative freedom even more so than budget because I think that's where you can actually shine. Um, but of course everyone has their specific situations. It's not always the case.

Evan Lee: And as as time has gone on, so that's super interesting, but as time has gone on, uh has it always been the same when there's been full buy in from leadership or was there like you had to to communicate through it and get the world get them to see the world as you do.

Zaria Parvez: It's a tug and pull. So like at Duo, I had full buy in, but then the expectations were so high, right? Like hit like I think at one point, one of our like OKRs was like to hit 1.5 billion organic impressions a quarter. Like that's insane, guys. And then, but like at DoorDash it's almost the opposite where like because they're still learning social first, there's a lot more explaining to do about like what it is and why it matters and how it converts the business. But like then there's like a little bit more budget to do the thing because they're used to like a higher budget, higher spend kind of situation. Um, so yeah, and then that was like a big part of my like analysis before I joined. I was like, how much freedom? Like what is what are we dealing with here? And if you're trading off freedom, are you giving me money? Um, and that's just like, yeah, it's just part of the process of figuring out the right team that you want to work for.

Evan Lee: I love the example you shared earlier too where you're like, okay, I know you all think everyone loves DoorDash, but like here's the reality of what people are saying. I'm wondering if you have any other tips for folks on like navigating that conversation to be able to to to get the buy in that you need.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, I think like I honestly feel like the data and the numbers speak the most. Like what we would do is like we would literally just like download Tik Toks and show the engagement on people shitting on us, right? Like that's just the reality and I feel like people can't fight what community is saying. And then like the vision of okay, now this is the yes and and what we're going to do with it. I think it's like probably a shitty situation to be like, everybody hates you anyway. Um, so like this is everybody hates you and this is how we're going to transform it and this is the time it's probably going to take us to do the thing. We're probably going to strike out a couple times, but like we're also going to try to win and I think getting those small wins also kind of help build your case each time. Um, but yeah, I think there's been moments candidly where like I've taken risks that my bosses were not okay with and then eventually it paid off. So I think also having your own creative conviction. Like you were hired to do a thing. Sometimes you just got to swing and do it and like that is fearful and scary. I I've been there before, but I think creative conviction is really important as a social person.

Evan Lee: I freaking love that. How did you get to the point of having that conviction?

Zaria Parvez: I think, I mean, I've I've I think it's a personality thing. I I mean when I was in third grade, I got suspended for like making a YouTube video go viral by accident for like why kids shouldn't be attending my school. So like maybe it's just like a Zaria pattern thing. But I think also like when you're you also know kind of how far you can push it with like the people around you. And I've actually noticed that like if you speak with enough confidence, enough even enough bullshit, man, like gain the confidence of a white man and most people will actually like agree with you. And I think we forget that. Like when you speak confidently about your work, it's all marketing is gut at the end of the day and if you show you have guts, people are usually like, well damn, like if they feel that strongly, like maybe we should try it. And I've seen that work more often than not guys, I swear. Just speak with confidence.

Evan Lee: That makes me so happy. Uh, I want to keep pulling on this thread along the lines of uh, uh, like multiple people involved.

Zaria Parvez: Okay, so what I've done at DoorDash is I've called it the 70-30 where I pretty much made this strategy where I was like 70% will be my beautiful content strategy and 30% will be your time to shine of what you guys wanted to be. And like that and I explain like why the 70% is important, why we've decided like this is like a specific like this is why the number we're focusing on because of brand awareness and so on and so forth. However, we understand that there are like business needs and desires and like we do not control everything, but that 30% will will reserve for you. And I think that's been like a good cadence, um, where like it kind of makes both parties happy and it doesn't really affect your strategy to the extreme, but it still gets you that collaborative spirit that's important sometimes in working in corporate.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. I love long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like what you're if you're a one-person team, like we all have our strengths and we all know like, hey, I'm actually more of a creative social person or I'm more of a strategic social person and figuring out that framework to let your specific strength shine and do what you can with what you have. I also think like realistic expectations. Like I always have tradeoffs. Like you want this much work, but you only have this much head count. Like realistically it's probably not going to happen. And I think just being honest about that, a lot of the times actually opens up people's like like people tend to be if you're working for a non-toxic place, usually they're understanding and like understand that tradeoff conversation and a lot of people just don't know. Like they think social people truly can do 20 jobs. But like if you articulate the why and this is what I'm focusing on, I've noticed that like usually that is okay. Like even at Duolingo before when before we got like contractors and more help, like I was like, I actually can't do filming until I figure out like what our community strategy is. So I'm just going to focus on commenting and this is why. And for a long time, like we would just comment and like do community management and like got more filming expertise probably like six months into it. So like it's kind of that slow build and being okay with that, but communicating that slow build versus just like silently dying inside.

Evan Lee: It makes so much sense. Uh, the place that I want to get into now is like more around the process of making something come to life.

Zaria Parvez: So, oh man, this is a fun one. Um, so it actually depends. Previously, I've heard like before my time at DoorDash, this was a longer process, but what we've done now is like we've actually built in like with leadership, like there are going to be like three or four times in the quarter that are going to be reactive and we want to get scope from like the paid media team, all the way to like whoever's running the promo team to be like this is a brand activation, we have to go. So like the next thing actually turned around, I think in 24 hours. Um, which is crazy because like distributors and all of that. And trust me, we still get like our wrist labs and people get annoyed. It's not like everyone's like, "Yay, 24 hours, let's do it." Um, but it is a conversation, right? Like that is like in our planning conversations that we need reactive to do the goals that you're asking us to do and we need help from these teams. Um, and I also say like find your supporters. Like there are people in the business that like want to make cool shit. Like I found someone like on our gift cards team that's like in product, but just loves the internet. and he's like, I'm always down to like ping me and let me know and like let's make it happen. So like finding those advocates, I also say like make friends in low places. Like one of my like account level ones is one of my besties because I'm like, I need you to prove these things fast so I can move with these creators, right? Like those actually tend to be the people who get the shit done. So like find your allies across the org, um, and that helps move things faster as well.

Evan Lee: That is so good. And then speaking of the process a little bit more here, so love that that one came together in 24 hours. I'm wondering, uh, if you have a set process where it's like these are the steps we go through. We ideate together, we then brief together, we then engage the creators and walking through that process.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah, sure. Um, so I would say like first step is usually somebody frantically sending a text message or a slack message being like, I have an amazing idea. And this is just like the honesty of it. I wish it was like, and then we present in this huge deck. Um, and then like, again, I think it comes back to that creative conviction. Like I have an amazing team. I can be on top of every single thing they're doing. However, if somebody's like, like trust me on this, like I know this is going to hit, I'm going to trust you. Like that's why I hired you. So like this like broom like sweep, like I am not a basketball person guys, like not at all. And so when they were like, please, like we have to give out these free brooms. I'm like, God damn it. Okay, let's figure out how to do this. Um, and then my job I feel like as a director is like, let me get the right people in the right room. So like we figured out like this was the idea, let me find the right promo person, the right retail person. Let's ask if this is even possible. And so that turned into a quick slack channel with like again the advocates, accountant, legal and strategy and operations. Those are like my three besties. Got them in there, shared the idea and again when that when people see that conviction, they're like, fuck, let's like make this happen, this is dope. And so then the brief was honestly just like, hey, this is my idea, what needs to be true to make this happen. Um, and then usually from there it goes into like, okay, these are sorry, I need to talk to this person and need to unlock there. So a lot of it is like chasing people down. Um, but I think because we've built in that need for reactive, people are more like it's less of a process and more of like, okay, this is one of our moments that we're all going to hate each other for 24 hours, but like let's get it done.

Evan Lee: You had mentioned in there it's like uh having the trust in your team that you've been able to build. I'm wondering if you have any frameworks of how you approach hiring uh and the types of people that you tend to hire.

Zaria Parvez: So, my biggest thing is like I always hire for ideas. I don't really care like what school you went to. I don't even care if you have a degree. Um, for me it's really important that like, again, I keep saying creative conviction, but you have ideas that you're excited about and want to execute. And I actually I'm totally okay if like your idea is a flop. Like it is okay. Like I just want to see that like you want to push something forward and that energy is there. And we often we see that like you see that in an interview. Like you can tell when somebody's excited. I do think like a take-home task is really helpful in that. I know that can be a little bit contentious. But like that helps me see like your ideation and like how you're thinking through things. Um, so yeah, I feel like that's where I focus more again than like your resume. Like I I do a logo and I hired um, one of my favorite hires who was now full-time was a college student who was a dancer and we were doing some like dancing Tik Tok and I was like struggling with filming. He was just part of the dance group. Like that was it. He was supposed to be a mascot. He was like, yo, let me help you out real quick. And like grabbed my phone, was like doing all these editing tricks and I'm like, so do you need a job? Like I think to me like those are the moments where you're like, yeah, like, you know, like show me what you got and to me that's the most important versus like what school you went to and so on and so forth.

Evan Lee: I love it. I love it. I'm um I'm now thinking of so I'm just looking through the questions here.

Zaria Parvez: That's such a good question. Um, number one, two and three thing that I feel like was the best thing I did for myself was accidentally build a personal brand in the midst of all this. Um, my dream job, even before like Duo was kind of like my first job out of college, I was just experimenting with where I wanted to go. I love like writing and I actually wanted to be a journalist, but journalism did not make enough money at the time. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to just do a lingo for now and see what happens. Um, so LinkedIn almost became, I don't know why I chose LinkedIn in the beginning actually. Like I should have chose Substack or something, but whatever, learning. Um, and I was like, I just want to write. Like I want to write about things that I'm experiencing as this new grad, things I'm experiencing like at Duolingo and this was even before like Duolingo was what it was. And I think that allowed me to like build my personal voice and brand and then I just kept going with it. Um, so I feel like my personal brand will always be like I'm a very genuine I hope it comes off, but I try to be very genuine. Like to me that is really important because I think there's a lot of bullshit in marketing and I think it's really important to like be honest about the reality of things. Like even with Duolingo, I often say like, yes, I worked my butt off. However, it was also right place, right time, right moment, right hit on the algorithms. Like there are a lot of things that work to make somebody successful. And so my hope is like to kind of put that curtain down for people to show like I also mess up. I am not like there's moments where I have no idea what I'm doing where I get nervous before a talk or I get nervous when I'm like talking to exx or I'm not pounding the table the way I should be and like these are the lessons I learn. So I just try to be genuine in that so everyone knows that like, hey, can I learn from you too because I'm also in it with you guys. Like it's it's a two-way street.

Evan Lee: Uh, something I'm curious about here is like was was writing your initial like love in terms of a format to communicate?

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. long form and no one appreciates long form these days. And like now I'm like and then I got stuck in five-second TikTok world, but yeah, my love is like, yeah, is long form journalism. Give me a morning newspaper and I will have a great weekend. Like that is that is what I genuinely love. And maybe one day I'll go to journalism, who knows.

Evan Lee: I think there's something in there though like of of being able to start because I was going to ask like how you've honed your communication over time, right? But it sounds like it's started from a really strong place and then it's more like stripping it away. So what matters more when you have to condense it like a five-second clip.

Zaria Parvez: Like reflecting on your work is actually really helpful. Like even for example, like making this deck right to present to you guys. Like I have to be like, oh wait, how did I actually think about this? Like what are the things that I was actually trying to pay attention to because as social people, we work so fast that we like sometimes actually forget like it becomes such a native knowledge to us that I I think this is important like in the corporate world to be able to articulate. And so sometimes just writing and like reflecting on like this campaign happened and these are all the things that I did to get there is helpful for like your own growth too, like within a company and within an org.

Evan Lee: So Zaria, you've now been through this journey of like starting out at Duo on a really small team, no budget, creative freedom and now experience the hyper growth and being at DoorDash.

Zaria Parvez: Yeah. Um, I mean, something that people don't know about me is I was at Duolingo for five years and for three years, I was a one-person team. So I have much love for this question. I think the biggest thing is like being able to scope out like