Forbes named her as one of the most influential voices in social media, and this year she’s coming to New Zealand! Zaria Parvez is the Global Social Media Manager for language app Duolingo and the woman who turned a once-dormant TikTok account into a global social media darling with 15 million followers and billions of views.

Their brand mascot, the beloved but totally unhinged green owl Duo, became as an influencer in his own right, famous for pulling off marketing stunts. He went to the Super Bowl, officiated weddings, even had a baby. So, imagine the social media frenzy when Duo’s death was announced via Instagram in February 2025! 
Insane brand move or brilliant viral strategy? We’ll find out at #OnSocial25.

• Creating your own cultural moments
• Why you don’t need a huge budget to go viral
• Jumping on viral trends to maximise reach
• Fostering community in the comments sections
• What we can all learn from Duolingo’s bold, witty and meme-worthy marketing strategy.

About Zaria

Zaria Parvez is Duolingo’s senior global social media manager. She leads social strategy, community management, and creator partnerships across all major social platforms. Zaria spearheaded the development of Duolingo’s TikTok account.

As a direct result of Zaria's work on Duolingo's TikTok strategy and execution, the now-famous TikTok channel grew from 50K followers in September 2021 to 11M followers today. What started as a test-and-learn initiative has become Duolingo's most successful social buzz and word of mouth initiative to date – all because of Zaria's insights, instincts, and expertise. More broadly, Zaria is a role model for a new, diverse class of Gen Z social media talent and has proven what's possible when given creative freedom and trust in the work she does.

Since her time at Duolingo, Zaria has been named AdAge Social Marketer of the Year 2021, Adweek Creative 100 and Forbes 30 under 30. 

About Naomi

Naomi Shepherd leads the customer facing teams and is a seasoned and accomplished Director at Meta, a leading metaverse company. With a deep focus on customer growth and support, Naomi has successfully guided businesses of all sizes in harnessing the power of Meta technologies.

Naomi Shepherd's professional journey spans the realms of radio and digital audio in the UK and New York. Her experiences in these industries have honed her skills in content creation, storytelling, and engaging audiences through immersive audio. This background fuels her passion for leveraging technology to captivate and connect people.

Joining us via live-stream from Europe

Michael Corcoran, the fearless ex-head of social media at Ryanair and now the powerhouse behind Frankly is known for his daring, no-nonsense approach to social media.

In just over two years, he reinvented Ryanair’s social presence from stock-standard to the sassiest brand on the planet by doubling down on the airline’s disruptive DNA.

Find out how Michael and his team did it, the method behind the madness, and why it’s crucial for brands to understand why they’re on social in the first place.

Get ready for a masterclass in social media as Michael joins us at #OnSocial25! 
Find out: 

• What role does social really play for your brand?
• Why you need to throw away the playbook
• Why you can’t be afraid to get off the fence
• Why your social media needs some personality
• Why your comebacks need to be faster
• Why less is more.

About Michael

Michael Corcoran was head of social media at Ryanair between July 2021 and November 2023. The airline basically wrote the script for sassy socials, and Michael and his team have influenced countless social and marketing pros around the world with their work. Michael is a seasoned expert in digital marketing specialist, and he played a pivotal role in shaping Ryanair's social media presence and disruptive marketing strategies.

Now leading the charge at Frankly, the social media agency he started after leaving Ryanair, Michael continues to take bold, creative steps in the world of digital marketing.

ZURU have become a huge success story by disrupting categories and building brands for the Gen Z and Millennial shopper. 
30+ brands, 120+ markets, constant pipeline of new brands/products.

• Breaking it down to not be too time consuming, demystifying this
• How to stay on top of trends, how to create for each platform
• Differentiate yourself from your competition
• Expectation for each brand to do minimum 3-5 posts per week
• All the same channels, all the brands have got to win, so how do you manage this, to give each brand their own white space on the channels, give each their own identity and voice.

About Rob

The ZURU Group is one of the fastest-growing and most disruptive companies in the world.

Rob is ZURUs Head of Digital — a marketing expert with 15 years of experience in building and transforming global brands for the modern world.

A sought-after speaker and thought leader, Rob is passionate about harnessing the power of data to build and execute impactful ZURU Toys and FMCG brands that stand out (and work hard!) in an ever-evolving media landscape.

Rob leads the global digital and data agenda across all of The ZURU Group: FMCG & Toys.

45 million impressions, 32 million video views and millions of engagements. 35,000 new followers. 
It’s a feat of Olympic proportions by Sky’s social media team during two mad weeks last year. 

The team were in the thick of it, working round the clock to tackle the time difference with Paris, celebrating and sharing Aotearoa’s wins with a growing community of followers.

Unique perspective of Māori influencer Te Aorere Pewhairangi on the ground in Paris. What set them apart and brought them global attention. Giving him creative freedom.

• What they did differently this time
• How the platforms have evolved since the last Olympics
• Building on a global cultural moment
• The challenges and the wins
• Planning and executing at this level.

About Harry

With 10  years of experience in social media marketing, Harry has built a reputation for developing and executing impactful, social-first content strategies that drive engagement, enhance brand visibility, and elevate the customer experience. As the lead of Sky New Zealand’s Social Media team, he consistently champions innovative and performance-driven campaigns across multiple digital platforms.

Harry’s deep passion for sport has been instrumental in delivering high-profile campaigns, including Sky’s coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 2023 Men’s Rugby World Cup, the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and bringing Sky Super Rugby Aupiki’s Final to TikTok — a world-first initiative.

Local brands have proven that you don't need a massive budget to make a big impact on social media. In this session, we talk to the people behind Two Dudes, Stickman and Hell Pizza. They will share their journeys—from scrappy beginnings and trial-and-error approaches to carving out unique niches and achieving standout success. 
If you want to find out how they capitalised on new and trending social media channels, got creative on a budget, and built a loyal community of followers, then you don’t want to miss this session!

• Finding what works for you and your brand
• Getting the right people involved
• Finding your unique voice
• Early adoption tactics that helped us stand out from the competition
• Test, learn and build from there.

About Stephanie

Stephanie Quantrill is a senior marketer with over 20 years experience working for some of the most respected and well-loved brands in New Zealand and overseas. She started her own business, Cue Marketing Partners in 2024, specialising as a fractional CMO.

She’s currently the Marketing Director at Hell Pizza , helping deliver a new brand platform  “Worth Going to Hell for” and redefining the channel strategy to deliver effective marketing in the highly competitive world of QSR.

She’s passionate about long term brand building and loves talking marketing and advertising with anyone who will listen.

Local brands have proven that you don't need a massive budget to make a big impact on social media. In this session, we talk to the people behind Two Dudes, Stickman and Hell Pizza. They will share their journeys—from scrappy beginnings and trial-and-error approaches to carving out unique niches and achieving standout success. 
If you want to find out how they capitalised on new and trending social media channels, got creative on a budget, and built a loyal community of followers, then you don’t want to miss this session!

• Finding what works for you and your brand
• Getting the right people involved
• Finding your unique voice
• Early adoption tactics that helped us stand out from the competition
• Test, learn and build from there.

About Tomas

Tomas is a Co-Founder of Kiwi start-up, Two Dudes. They are changing men's health one bathroom at a time with natural grooming products for men. The purpose driven business started as a side hustle. It was built on a foundation of direct-to-consumer eCommerce, and has now expanded into retail shelves nationwide.

Prior to launching Two Dudes, Tomas was an eCommerce Lead at HEINEKEN Asia Pacific, rolling out digital sales platforms across Singapore, Vietnam, and New Zealand.

LDiscover how to harness internal talent to drive your social media presence. Learn about the strategies, successes, and how it works in practice.

• Building a social-first culture in your organisation
• How to think as a creator and continue to push the boundaries
• Co-creation with your customers
• Boosting reach and engagement
• Creating a human voice
• Challenges, opportunities and what’s next.

About Sam

Sam Mills is an Auckland native who has worked within the adventure tourism industry for the past 6 years, and currently works at AJ Hackett Bungy NZ in an operational capacity and as the lead content creator for their Auckland sites.

Within her content role, Sam has produced ‘Bring It Home,’ a short documentary surrounding Auckland Bungy’s most recent Guinness world record attempt. With a keen interest in videography, she focuses on medium-form content, website content and promotional material.

LDiscover how to harness internal talent to drive your social media presence. Learn about the strategies, successes, and how it works in practice.

• Building a social-first culture in your organisation
• How to think as a creator and continue to push the boundaries
• Co-creation with your customers
• Boosting reach and engagement
• Creating a human voice
• Challenges, opportunities and what’s next.

About Ryan

Ryan Stokes is the social content and community manager at ASB where he takes ideas from concept to final edit for the companies’ social channels.

With 4 years of experience in the social media space, Ryan specializes in creating ambitious pieces of content on a small budget and team.

Along with ASB, Ryan runs a content agency with his partner that specialises in high-quality photos and video for small businesses and personal brands. Post Party was birthed out of a passion for making social media more accessible and achievable for smaller brands, which is Ryan’s favourite part of the job.

Q&A Roundtables - Ask the Experts
Several different roundtables focused on an aspect of social media, all in the same room.

About Zania

As a prominent figure in New Zealand's digital and social media marketing landscape, Zania is dedicated to transforming the online presence of businesses across industries to build thriving brands. She proudly serves on the Marketing Association Digital SIG committee, leads her digital and social media consultancy, Zaniaguy.com, and hosts the popular business podcast "Marketing Masters - The Art and Science of Modern Marketing." In her consultancy, she leverages AI-powered tools to help businesses succeed faster and more efficiently.

Zania has specialised in digital marketing her entire career, including 4.5 transformative years leading New World's digital and social marketing. She not only met KPIs but soared past them, cultivating a buzzing foodie community across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and propelling their social conversations from 400 to 40,000 a month. Beyond driving social engagement, she contributed to all campaigns by building seamless customer experiences across all digital touchpoints and was a key contributor to driving sales.

Her journey has allowed her to work with industry leaders and loved brands like Bluebells Cakery, Colliers, New World, Vodafone NZ (now One NZ), Les Mills International, and The Salvation Army among others. Zania’s career also spans a decade in the UK, where she honed her digital skills with prestigious companies such as Phaidon Press International and The Engine Group crafting and executing digital marketing and social media strategies that delivered results.

A passionate and creative problem-solver, she thrives on collaborating with clients and teams to drive business growth and foster enduring brand loyalty.