Melanie Perkins

As Co-founder And Ceo Of Online Design Platform Canva, Melanie Perkins Heads Up One Of Australia’s Fastest-growing Start-ups That Now Serves Over 15 Million Users A Month Across 190 Countries. But, Says Melanie, This Is Just The Beginning.

- Ruth Devine

Picture this: a 19-year-old university student decides to take over her mum’s lounge room in Perth. She’s had an idea. It’s a big one. She intends to make it a reality. With no money to rent office space, her mum’s carpeted floor will have to do.

The student’s name is Melanie Perkins and, as a commerce and communications degree student at the University of Western Australia, she’s frustrated by the lack of user-friendly tools available to complete everyday graphic design tasks. She and her boyfriend, Cliff Obrecht, decide to develop their own.

From there, they create online design software for the school yearbook market. Fusion Books is born. Five years later, it’s the biggest platform of its kind in Australia and has expanded into New Zealand and France.

Melanie may not have known it then, but the seeds sown in that crowded lounge room with “stuff scattered everywhere” were to blossom into one of Australia’s most successful start-up unicorns ever.

Fast-forward 12 years and I’m sitting in a photographic studio in Sydney’s hip enclave of Surry Hills. It’s a Friday afternoon and there’s a buzz in the air. The photographer and assistant mill around setting up equipment and taking test shots before the ‘talent’ arrives.

And then, there she is. No fanfare. No airs and graces. Just a warm, “Hi, I’m Mel.” I look up to see a woman in a simple black jersey dress and black sandals. If it wasn’t for the impressive diamonds in her ears, she could quite easily pass for an intern.