Diversity and inclusion are an incredibly important part of Canva’s mission to empower the world to design, and its value as a company to be a force for good. Its global team has rapidly grown to more than 2,5000 people and the richness of its culture relies on having dynamic and varied personalities of all backgrounds throughout the organization. It encourages its team to bring their full selves to work; respecting and valuing everyone for who they are and is committed to championing opportunities for those in the LGBTQIA+ community.

It believes that LGBTQIA+ inclusion is an ongoing process, and not a one-off activity or a box that it ticks. This is evident from the very first interaction that candidates have with Canva. It has removed unnecessary degree requirements from its positions and removed gender-biased language from job descriptions. The team onboarding process includes deep-dive sessions on Diversity and Inclusion and Unconscious Bias. These are re-run and made available to the entire team throughout the year.

As a platform used by millions of people around the world, it has a responsibility to champion diversity, inclusion and representation across every aspect of its work. For the LGBTQIA+ community, Canva has permanently revamped its visual content algorithm for all relationship-based search keywords to deliver more diversity across genders and sexualities, giving presence to all types of relationships. It focuses on inclusivity and prioritizing LGBTQIA+ imagery, democratizing all images, not requiring a user to delineate between same sex or other descriptors. Search terms like ‘couple’ or ‘holding hands,’ that typically only return images of heterosexual couples, now yield photos representing all races, genders and identities, increasing visibility and encouraging mainstream use. 

Canva also runs Canva Design School sessions for trans activists from Europe and Asia giving them a platform to amplify their voice and communicate their cause visually. Canva is a member of the Intertech Australia group - an organization committed to promoting diversity and inclusion through developing, connecting and supporting LGBTQIA+ professionals in the tech industry; and is also a member of their Career Development program to support early LGBTQIA+ tech talent across Australia. Out for Australia is also another organization Canva is proudly supporting during this year’s Sydney Mardi Gras festival; an independent organization that champions authenticity in the workplace, empowering Australia’s LGBTQIA+ students and young professionals to thrive. Canva’s partnership with Mardi Gras is another important step in its journey of celebrating and supporting diversity across the globe.