Melanie Perkins
Co-founder and CEO, Canva.
Founded Canva in 2013.
EditorialAn editorial profile written by Ceolumen from public sources. Melanie Perkins is not a Ceolumen member and has not endorsed Ceolumen. Disclosures
Profile
Melanie Perkins is a co-founder and the chief executive of Canva, the online design platform, which she started with Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams and which launched in 2013. Under her, Canva has grown from a design tool into a visual communications platform with workplace and artificial intelligence products.
Perkins was born in Perth, Western Australia, in 1987. She studied communications, psychology and commerce at the University of Western Australia and tutored students in graphic design. She left university at 19, and in 2007 she and Obrecht founded Fusion Books, which let schools make yearbooks in an online drag-and-drop editor and later operated in New Zealand and France.
She and Obrecht have pledged most of their wealth to philanthropic causes through the Canva Foundation.
Sources
- Melanie Perkins Wikipedia
- Canva Wikipedia
- Most Powerful Women 2026: Melanie Perkins Fortune
Facts and role checked against these sources on 12 November 2026. Roles change; if something here is out of date, write to support@stacklumen.com.
Photo
Melanie Perkins smiling, in a black top, in front of a large Canva logo, 2019. Photograph by Melanie Perkins, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped from the original by Ceolumen and shared under the same licence.