Signal › Contributors

Sofia Reyes

I got into content strategy sideways. I studied journalism at UNAM in Mexico City and spent my first two years after graduation writing for a print newspaper that was already dying. I covered the business beat: startups, fundraising, the nascent Mexican tech scene. I was good at explaining complicated things simply, which it turns out is the entire job description of content strategy, just without the Google Docs templates.

In 2018, I joined Rappi as a copywriter. Within six months I was running a team of four, and within a year I was leading content across three markets: Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina. Rappi's growth was chaotic in the best possible way. We published in three Spanish dialects simultaneously and learned that "content localization" isn't translation; it's understanding that a joke about tacos doesn't land the same in Bogotá as it does in Guadalajara.

I left Rappi in 2021 for MercadoLibre, where I led content strategy for Mercado Pago, their fintech arm. The challenge was entirely different: we weren't trying to be scrappy and viral, we were trying to build trust with people who'd never used a digital wallet before. I learned that the most effective content isn't clever; it's clear. We reduced support tickets by 34% just by rewriting onboarding emails in plain language.

The thing that frustrates me about "content strategy" discourse is that it's dominated by B2B SaaS playbooks from San Francisco. The assumption is always: English-speaking audience, high intent, Google search as the primary channel. That's maybe 15% of the world. I write about the other 85%: WhatsApp-first distribution, audio content in low-literacy markets, community-driven SEO in languages that Google's algorithm barely understands.

I joined Signal in early 2025 after publishing a teardown of Duolingo's content engine that got 150K views on LinkedIn. The thesis: Duolingo isn't a language app with good marketing, it's a media company that happens to teach languages.

I live in Roma Norte, Mexico City. I have a standing desk, a mezcal collection, and an opinion about every newsletter you've ever subscribed to.

Experience

Articles by Sofia Reyes (9)

Duolingo's AI Bet: $1 Billion in Revenue, 81% Stock Decline, and the Most Aggressive Automation Play in Consumer TechDuolingo replaced contractors with AI, built 148 courses in 12 months, crossed $1 billion in revenue, and then watched its stock drop 81% from the all · Mar 9, 2026Why the Next $1B Consumer App Will Be Built on WhatsApp, Not the App Store3.3 billion MAU. Zero app store tax. 98% message open rates. AI-native bots with payment rails. In India, Brazil, and Indonesia, WhatsApp IS the inter · Mar 9, 2026The Ozempic Economy Is Real and It's Reshaping Every Consumer IndustryGLP-1 drugs are not just a weight loss trend. They are a macroeconomic event. Alcohol sales are falling. Snack companies are restructuring. Airlines a · Mar 14, 2026The 100-Employee Tech Giant: Why AI Is Making Headcount ObsoleteA $12 billion AI startup founder declared that future tech giants could operate with fewer than 100 employees. Replit just raised $400 million at a $9 · Mar 18, 2026Google AI Overviews Just Cratered Publisher Traffic 60%. AEO Is No Longer Optional.The May 2026 traffic data is in. AI Overviews now appear on the majority of informational queries, and the AEO pivot most marketing teams treated as t · May 20, 2026Healthcare AEO: Why YMYL Just Became the Hardest Category in AI SearchMayo Clinic, NIH, and MedlinePlus account for the majority of medical citations across major AI assistants. Healthtech startups account for almost non · May 21, 2026Insurance AEO: How Carriers and Brokers Are Losing Quote Volume to AI SearchPrivate schools, learning pods, charter networks, tutoring brands, and summer camps now compete for the same AI-generated shortlist. GreatSchools and · May 25, 2026Buyer's Guide Format AEO: Winning High-Intent Citations When Shoppers Ask AIrel=canonical was built for Google's URL deduplication. GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Perplexity, and Common Crawl each treat duplicate signals differently — and · May 25, 2026We Surveyed 1,200 CMOs on AI Search. 41% Cited Us in 14 Days.Khanmigo ate the bottom of the $8B U.S. tutoring market. Wyzant, Varsity Tutors, Outschool, Mathnasium, and Sylvan now compete for the AI citation sho · May 26, 2026