Melanie Perkins

Melanie Perkins is CEO and co-founder of Canva, an online visual communication and collaboration platform with a mission to empower the whole world to design. Since launching in 2013, Canva has grown to over 85 million users across more than 190 countries, with more than 11 billion designs created (that’s 180 every second).

Melanie started her first company at the age of 19, creating an online design tool for creating school yearbooks. As the company grew and design became an increasingly universal need across almost every industry, Melanie went on to launch what would later become the first version of Canva.

In 2021, Melanie launched the Canva Foundation, announcing her commitment to donate the vast majority of her wealth and equity in Canva towards philanthropic causes.

Canva founder Melanie Perkins is on the cover of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women issue.

Australian entrepreneur Melanie Perkins and her husband Cliff Obrecht began their billion-dollar tech giant in her mother's living room in Perth.

Fast forward 12 years, and the couple have topped the 2022 Australian Financial Review's Young Rich List with a combined wealth of $16.5 billion from their software company, Canva.