Duolingo

The Lily Plushie commercial gained over 1 million views in 2 weeks on YouTube alone. I wrote and co-produced this toy commercial parody during my three-month contract at Duolingo. The ask was to focus on building brand lore for Lily, the second-most popular character in the app besides Duo The Owl.

In this commercial parody, Lily, an emo teenager, becomes a voice-activated toy who shares unfiltered truths with children. The plushie used in the commercial is from the brand’s official merchandise store.

The shocking home invasion video gained over 1 million views in 2 weeks on YouTube alone. Duolingo hired me to write sketch comedy videos about fandoms and social media trends. Home security videos of strangers invading homes often go viral.

I developed the idea of having Duo The Owl invade a couple’s house, but instead of causing harm like an ordinary robbery, he only does nice things. He mops their floor, cleans their refrigerator, and bakes allergen-free cookies. The juxtaposition of ominous audio with wholesome, good deeds created an unexpected and humorous moment for the brand.

After the release of the 2024 summer blockbuster movie “Twisters,” users on social media began posting content on TikTok professing their love for lead actor Glen Powell. The Duolingo social media team wanted to follow this trend and asked me for help with an idea. I suggested they have Duo spin like a tornado so Glen Powell would have to chase him. The video went viral and gained over 3.3 million views on TikTok.

For the long-form video “The Roast of Duo,” I helped revise the first draft and added jokes about language learning. I also wrote backup jokes for every influencer, matching their style and tone of voice, to ensure the dialogue would sound authentic to each performer.

I wrote a few jokes for this Duolingo sketch parody of the Hulu show, “The Bear” where Duo replaces the show’s lead Carmy, and runs a tight ship, well in this case, kitchen.