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Work Background
CanvaJapan Country Manager (Interim)
Mar. 2026Tokyo, Japan
CanvaInternational Strategy Lead
Jul. 2025Operate at the intersection of International Strategy and Global Operations, partnering closely with Canva’s Head of International and Chief of Staff & Ops to shape portfolio-level priorities and elevate Country Manager effectiveness across EMEA, LATAM, SEA, and CJKI (China, Japan, Korea & India). I serve as both a strategic advisor to individual Country Managers across their full market lifecycle and a portfolio-level thought partner (to International Leadership team), influencing investment decisions, sequencing, and resource allocation across regions. Grounded in firsthand market experience, I translate local signal into global prioritisation -- ensuring capital, attention, and leadership energy are directed where they create disproportionate impact. Key Impact - Portfolio-level influence: Inform international prioritisation decisions including marketing investment, sequencing of expansion bets, and resource allocation across markets. - Strategic advisor to Country Managers: Act as a high-trust sparring partner across GTM strategy, org design, hiring, and scaling inflection points - raising decision quality without creating governance drag. - Executive extension: Surface risks early, connect market intelligence to global strategy, and ensure disciplined follow-through across regions. - Architect of international operating systems: Consolidate cross-market learnings into repeatable frameworks that improve launch velocity and reduce reinvention. - Cross-border integrator: Strengthen direct pathways between local markets and global Product, Brand, Marketing, SEO, Content, Localisation and Ops -- enabling autonomy without fragmentation. - Codifier of expansion intelligence: Turn lived market experience into durable playbooks and tools that increase strategic coherence at scale.
CanvaInternational Launcher
Jul. 2025Launching new markets globally across EMEA, LATAM, SEA and maintaining momentum within CJKI (China, Japan, Korea & India).
CanvaStrategy & Operations Lead, Japan
Sep. 2023 - Jul. 2025Sydney, New South Wales, AustraliaStrategic right hand to Canva Japan’s Country Manager, operating as the connective tissue of the leadership group and the force behind Japan’s boldest bets. I turned high-level strategy into structured execution across brand, product, content, GTM, and partnerships—scaling the business like a stealth-mode startup. As a cross-functional operator and strategic amplifier, I anchored complex initiatives with clarity, cohesion, and pace—ensuring things not only moved, but moved well. From stakeholder orchestration to cultural calibration, I helped Japan become Canva’s most creatively ambitious market without drifting into chaos or silos. After only 18 months of investment, Japan became Canva's fastest-growing market. Some Key Highlights:
-Brought bold creative to life: Led the cross-functional execution of Canva’s first Cannes Lion-nominated TV campaign (Kitano Takeshi & Gekidan Hitori)
-Unlocked scaled distribution: Drove Japan’s first global distribution deal with SoftBank C&S, navigating legal complexity, internal consensus-building, and GTM orchestration.
-Cracked youth virality: Produced and scaled Canva’s first manga series in Corocoro Comic, crafting a culturally fluent entry into Japan’s education market.
-Operationalised creator strategy: Built and scaled a 50M+ monthly view RPM-based influencer program, aligning incentives, tracking systems, and creator partnerships.
-Localised product for market fit: Partnered with Design, PM, and Brand to adapt core UX—including Furigana support, logo redesign, and an independent pricing model tailored to local user behavior.
-Scaled team & systems: Shaped hiring, onboarding, team rhythms, and documentation—growing Japan’s team from founding to 15+ and building the internal operating cadence that kept us paced and accountable.
-Acted as cultural barometer: Flagged drift, bridged silos, and kept creative velocity grounded in strategic clarity—quietly making our team look smarter and more organized than we sometimes were.
CanvaStrategic Operations Lead, Japan
Sep. 2023 - Jul. 2025Sydney, New South Wales, AustraliaStrategic right hand to Canva Japan’s Country Manager, operating as the connective tissue of the leadership group and the force behind Japan’s boldest bets. I turned high-level strategy into structured execution across brand, product, content, GTM, and partnerships—scaling the business like a stealth-mode startup. As a cross-functional operator and strategic amplifier, I anchored complex initiatives with clarity, cohesion, and pace—ensuring things not only moved, but moved well. From stakeholder orchestration to cultural calibration, I helped Japan become Canva’s most creatively ambitious market without drifting into chaos or silos. After only 18 months of investment, Japan became Canva's fastest-growing market. Some Key Highlights:
-Brought bold creative to life: Led the cross-functional execution of Canva’s first Cannes Lion-nominated TV campaign (Kitano Takeshi & Gekidan Hitori)
-Unlocked scaled distribution: Drove Japan’s first global distribution deal with SoftBank C&S, navigating legal complexity, internal consensus-building, and GTM orchestration.
-Cracked youth virality: Produced and scaled Canva’s first manga series in Corocoro Comic, crafting a culturally fluent entry into Japan’s education market.
-Operationalised creator strategy: Built and scaled a 50M+ monthly view RPM-based influencer program, aligning incentives, tracking systems, and creator partnerships.
-Localised product for market fit: Partnered with Design, PM, and Brand to adapt core UX—including Furigana support, logo redesign, and an independent pricing model tailored to local user behavior.
-Scaled team & systems: Shaped hiring, onboarding, team rhythms, and documentation—growing Japan’s team from founding to 15+ and building the internal operating cadence that kept us paced and accountable.
-Acted as cultural barometer: Flagged drift, bridged silos, and kept creative velocity grounded in strategic clarity—quietly making our team look smarter and more organized than we sometimes were.
RBC Capital MarketsInvestment Banking Analyst
Sep. 2021 - Sep. 2023General Industrials, Financial Sponsors & Technology Coverage Includes Healthcare and Core plus assets
KPMG AustraliaCorporate Finance (Debt Advisory) Analyst
Feb. 2020 - Sep. 2021Within this role I provide assistance to a team of experienced Debt Specialists / Banking professionals in the following key areas: • Capital structuring (Debt and Equity) • Capital raising (Debt & Equity) and refinancing strategies • Capital management planning • Assessment of funding options and alternatives • Acquisition funding and strategy • Credit rating evaluation and advisory • Restructuring and negotiation • Benchmarking of debt levels, terms and pricing I have assisted in a range of Real Estate Transactions ranging from land acquisition funding, construction loans, and a portfolio of co-living sites, to sourcing preferred equity, mezzanine funding, and finding a JV partner and/or pure equity partner for large-scale development projects. I have also assisted in Corporate transactions such as sourcing debt funding for an international technology company in their m&a strategy of acquiring an Australian based media site.
WestpacCorporate & Institutional Banking (CIB) Intern
Nov. 2018 - Feb. 2019Sydney, AustraliaA rotational internship through the Corporate Banking Industry & Analytics Team, and a joint rotation between Risk & Compliance and Strategy within the COO Team.
Marsh McLennanAccount Executive & Risk Management Analyst
Mar. 2018 - Oct. 2018Sydney, Australia
Marsh & McLennan CompaniesSummer Intern
Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018Sydney, AustraliaA rotational internship through risk management, private equity and M&A (PEMA), the quantitative modelling unit (QMU) and financial lines.
GoCatchSales and Operations Intern
Nov. 2017 - Dec. 2017Sydney, Australia
PwC AustraliaInsight Academy
Sep. 2017 - Sep. 2017Sydney, Australia
Actuarial Society of UNSWCareers Officer
Mar. 2017 - Nov. 2017
Actuarial Society of UNSWPeer Mentor
Jan. 2017 - Nov. 2017
SportsgirlSales Assistant
Nov. 2016 - Feb. 2018Burwood
Self-employedPrivate Tutor
Dec. 2015 - Dec. 2016HSC tutor for Mathematics (2U & 3U), English Advanced, Biology and Music 2
Santa Sabina CollegeDebating Coach
May. 2015 - May. 2017
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