Stony Brook alumni Patrice Gervais ’05 and David-Georges Renaud ’09 are transforming visual communication by bringing culture to emojis with their new app, Lingoji. For $1.99, catalogs of emojis can be added to your keyboard, which are specific to certain countries. Each country has its own catalog that features dozens of emojis with common expressions, both traditional and current, used by locals in that country.
A Caribbean native, Gervais found inspiration for the project from his love of other cultures. Having lived in New York City, he developed an appreciation for cultures and is now using that appreciation to embrace, inform and push for diversity in the emoji world.
Lingoji started with four Caribbean countries — Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Puerto Rico — and will expand to others over time. The mobile app is available in both iOS App Store and Google Play.

In addition to co-founders Gervais and Renaud, the development team includes Product Manager Gerald Brun and marketing by Colure Media Inc.
For questions or feedback, they can be reached at lingojiapps@gmail.com.
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