Melanie Perkins (born 1987) is an Australian technology entrepreneur, who is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Canva.

[10] She attended Sacred Heart College,[11] a secondary school located in the northern Perth suburb of Sorrento.

In high school, Perkins had aspirations of becoming a professional figure skater and would routinely wake up at 4:30 am to train.

[12] She credits this experience with developing her entrepreneurial drive as ‘she never forgot the freedom and excitement from building a business.’[13] After high school, Perkins enrolled at The University of Western Australia, majoring in communications, psychology and commerce.

Originally, Perkins wanted to develop software that made the entire design process easier but due to the competition with large companies and her lack of resources, she concluded ‘it did not seem the logical thing to do’.

[15] Started in the Duncraig living room of Perkins's mother,[15][16][17] Obrecht would cold call schools in an attempt to get new clients for Fusion Books.

Over five years, Fusion Books grew into the largest yearbook company in Australia and expanded into France and New Zealand.

Some of these gatherings took place in Silicon Valley where Perkins and Obrecht met Lars Rasmussen, co-founder of Google Maps.

[18] He expressed interest in the idea but told the founders to ‘put everything on hold’ until they found a tech team of the calibre required.

[10] Rasmussen then became the tech adviser to the business, where he introduced Perkins and Obrecht to Cameron Adams, an ex-Google employee with relevant technical expertise.

[15] Adams was in Silicon Valley trying to raise funds for his start-up when Perkins sent him another email asking if he wanted to join the business.