Melanie Perkins is CEO and cofounder of Canva, an online design and publishing tool which makes graphic design simple for everyone. Since launching in 2013, Canva has grown to over 20 million users across 190 countries, with more than 1.8 billion designs created.

Perkins first came up with the idea for Canva while studying at the University of Western Australia. At the time, she was also teaching design programs to fellow students. After seeing students struggle, she created her first company, Fusion Books, which took the idea of a simple design tool, and applied it to the niche market of school yearbooks.

Having known all along that the technology Melanie had developed could be applied more broadly, she set out to raise funding for Canva. Today, Canva is valued at US$3.2 billion, making Canva the second Australian startup to achieve Unicorn status.

Perkins is a graduate of The University of Western Austrailia with a B.A. in Arts and Commerce in Communications, Psychology, and Marketing Management.

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