16 BWA | JUL 2026 Melanie Perkins is still best understood not simply as the co-founder of Canva, but as the executive who has stayed close enough to the company’s original mission to keep reshaping it as it scales. Canva’s own leadership page identifies her as Co-Founder and CEO, and the company’s recent updates show that she remains publicly associated with its biggest strategic moves, from major product launches to its next era of AI and enterprise expansion. That matters because many founder stories become less compelling once the founder is no longer central to the operating story. Perkins’ profile is different: the company’s direction is still unmistakably hers. Under her leadership, Canva has moved well beyond the “easy graphic design tool” label that first made it famous. In Canva’s 2025 year-in-review post, the company said it had grown to 260 million monthly us-
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4MTQ=