B (3:35)

That my little kind of like a digital scrapbook thing.

A (3:38)

Exactly. Yep.

B (3:39)

What I'm curious, what tool did you use?

A (3:41)

I use Canva.

B (3:43)

I didn't know that. I figured, okay, great.

A (3:46)

Gotta drink my own champagne, Jeff.

B (3:49)

Way to start strong there, Mia.

A (3:50)

Yeah, you got it.

B (3:52)

So you've had an impressive journey from student leadership to empowering institutions at canva. What first sparked your passion for education and technology?

A (4:04)

Well, Jeff, you know this story all too well. Just because, as you mentioned, you and I go way back to when I was a student leader, and you helped really spark my passion for technology and just all that was possible. But I think even before I knew it and knew the potential of technology on campus and how we can really harness it to. To support impact and initiatives for students really all started because of my experience as a struggling student. You know, I know college for some students, really, the stakes are kind of low. Go to class, spend some time with your friends, study, maybe go out on the weekends, take an internship or two. And that's really what I thought college would be like for me. But, boy, was I wrong. I took it in so many different directions, and I think it's really because the stakes were so much higher. It felt like, for me, I was kind of on borrowed time. Finance was very challenging for me through college, trying to fund school. And so it was kind of like, gotta hustle, gotta see how I can help out and really optimize my experience. And at first, I really struggled to find my footing and a sense of belonging. And so I learned that it was pretty common for CSU students to go through that. And being that it was like, really a shared ecosystem of students that were also struggling with belonging, struggling with finances, struggling to, like, really make college work for them, I kind of made it my Mission to make education a lot more approachable, personalized, even spearheading financial aid, reform things as a statewide student leader and help, really, institutions maximize the time that they have with students and vice versa. So as I became involved in student leadership, I started to then uncover different strengths that I had. And I learned that we. One of my strengths was seeing both sides of a campus system and how it operates. On one hand, you've got the incredible creativity and potential of students and educators, and then on the other hand, you have some of the barriers that some of the outdated systems in higher education really create, either intentionally or unintentionally. And so early in my career, I really realized that technology could be the equalizer, really helping design technology with empathy and purpose, meeting students where they were. That's why I've really devoted my work to bridging that gap and helping institutions use technology, not just to digitize processes. Like, you know, when we were on the stag together, it was really more about, like, reimagining what a meaningful learning and connection experience looked like for students and really to help ensure that higher ed continues to be worth it. Right. Like, all of the work that faculty put into their curriculum, all the work that staff put into their programming, and that students devote so much time into higher ed. Like, we want to still make sure that it's worth it, and we're making an impact and evolving, and so that's kind of where things first kick off.

B (7:01)

I love that you mentioned early on seeing both sides of academia, and it reminded me of the story. I didn't. It didn't come to me until you said that when one of your shining moments that I saw, like, maybe she will keep going with this, was we got approval for Mia to go to this conference, and it was for a vendor we were working with, call Moto Labs, and they had a great user conference they put on every year. And it was pretty rare to bring a student to this conference. But we got approval to bring Mia. We got the funding for it. She shows up to be on the student panel at this conference. It was in Chicago. Always remember where it was, because Roosevelt University is in Chicago. And they had a couple students on the panel, too. The panel was about just what's the student's perspective on technology in general. I can't remember the actual topics, but the bottom line was that Mia kind of stole the show. One of your strengths is being able to talk to people and understand the technology and interpreting it. So after the conference or even during the conference, I think one of the co founders came up to me. He said, we want me to work here. Can you kind of put in a good word? Like, Motor Labs was what was recruiting you? And she was. Mia was a junior, right? Weren't you a junior as the president?

A (8:08)

I was, yeah.

B (8:09)

Like, you guys, hold on. She has a year left, but we'll. We'll work on it. But yeah, fast forward. A couple years later, she was working at Motor Labs and got into tech. So I just had to tell that story because it was really cool to see Mia shine at that conference.

A (8:21)

Yeah, no, that was so fun, Jeff. And I remember it's because of the work we did. Like, we went to that conference, right, because we won the SAC State mobile app, won the best most innovative app award of the year. And so we went to accept that award and then also share some of our learnings along the way. And you know what? I think we won the most innovative award, of course, because of the work that we did around basic needs with the app and supporting campus basic needs for students. But I think what was really important and like, kind of the maybe like the through line, through this whole chat too is, is like focus, right? Like, I think when we were strategizing on technology on campus, it's about focus because you could just. Digital transformation could go in a bazillion directions and you can be going down rabbit holes trying to chase expectations of what people think of digital transformation on campus and trying to meet people with where they're at. Everyone wants a different tool. There's so much tech sprawl, but, like, we had very lasered focus on optimizing the app for very specific needs, and it worked and pretty cool stuff. I think that's. That's what got us there too.

B (9:30)

The one thing we did that you're talking like one of the parts of the app, there's a few things wrapped them to the basic needs. Support buzz. It was the. The app that notified students when there was free food left on campus after a big event. And I remember us, the hard thing was to get the buy in. Like, we got dining services on, but really about communicating that this is out there. Get the app because you can get notified when there's free food, because there was a lot of students that didn't have access to that. And we'd present this at a conference, a couple conferences, and people almost. They didn't quite get it. It was almost like a novelty at other schools that people would have that struggle. So it was really. California was kind of a leader in that way, I think showing, you know, we always have that data and we have that issue. But it was so memorable. It was great working with you on that.

A (10:17)

Yeah.

B (10:17)

Let's talk a little bit more about your student time. When you were the president of the Cal State Student association, how did that shape your approach to leadership? Bridging over to the Ed Tech?

A (10:28)

Yeah, I mean, there's just so many layers to that experience. So being the president of the Cal State Student association, you know, representing half a million students in an extremely diverse state with extremely diverse students, and a system that has so many of its own nuances between the Northern California campuses, the Southern California campuses, and then the Central Valley, like there are just, I mean, as many microclimates as there are in state of California, there are 10 times as many microclimates within the CSU system. And so supporting that whole system and the students in it was a challenge worth rising to. And it really gave me a lot of insight that I think also lended itself to my work in ed tech because, you know, we were really at the forefront of education policy decisions, education funding, both at a state and federal level. Right. Like, I think my senior year I traveled over 100 days in the calendar year to different legislative offices. My faculty were so gracious. I did a lot of negotiating with them to just help make sure I graduated on time. But really it took a lot of innovation. And working with so many different folks across the institution, I think it taught me that meaningful change in education really requires a lot of alignment between stakeholders around shared goals. Right. And I really mean like all stakeholders. So of course we were the student leaders. But then you've got so many different administrators and technology partners, faculty, folks that are all having like a really same mission, but like, making sure that we're pulling the rope in the same direction was. Was challenging. And oftentimes I think the most asked question I had when I was a student leader was like, how do you reach students? How do we get a hold of students and share all these resources and share these ideas with them? And really it came down to like again, meeting them where they are with tools that they're already using and trying to understand like the undercurrent of what they're going through. And so in ed Tech, I think I carry that same lesson forward is I see leadership in general not as a top down decision making body, but really as like ecosystem building and ensuring that every voice from the classroom down to the president's office really has a hand in shaping how technology transforms learning. And how we're also being more nimble. I think that's inherently a challenge in the DNA of colleges and universities is they're not necessarily built to be very nimble. But how can we look at the systems we have and be nimble within them in some way? Because the industry is always just like a little step ahead of higher ed. And so ensuring that higher ed can be in lockstep with industry to ensure that students are ready for the workforce and prepared. All of those things that I was thinking that were swirling in my mind as a student leader still swirl in my mind today of, like, how are we helping campuses achieve their outcomes, their mission that's unique to their institution, but just from the outside of the campus.

B (13:32)

This time as you talk, I never realized how much you did travel. I do remember now you telling me that back in the day, but it makes me think you had this experience. I'll equate it to my experience a little bit. Where I worked in higher ed for so long, I learned the culture. I learned how slow moves, the challenges, the silos of technology. You learned it a different way because often if you're just. You're just a student, you don't get that. You were a student leader. You even worked there for a hot minute. I know. I don't know if it was a year or whatever, but you were working SAC State for a while there. You know, I say see that as a real benefit because I went into tech on the other side, and trying to market or sell to higher ed from that perspective really helps. I'm like, you really had a deeper perspective than most students probably would have with all your experience.

A (14:17)

When you're a student, you're on borrowed time. Right. It's like, you have a very short window to make change and to make it stick. And I know there are student leaders that came before me. They're like, I want to have a legacy on campus. I want to erect a statue that I can come on campus 10 years later and I can say, I raised funds for that statue and that's why it's here. But for me, it was systematic. It's like, how can I help shift the culture in a way very quickly and in a meaningful way that will.

B (14:44)

Stay when I leave. That's hard to do. Yeah. But I don't know. Maybe the stag is still going. We should check.

A (14:49)

We should check in on that.

B (14:52)

And now a word from our sponsor.

C (14:56)

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B (15:18)

But let's jump to Moto Labs. Okay, so you leave SAC State, you start working at modalabs. You lead a team focused on customer success and higher ed. What lessons did you take with you that continues to guide you now at Canva?

A (15:33)

So my time at Moto Labs really taught me that technology adoption in higher ed is rarely about the tech itself. It is about trust, timing, and people. Right. So the Moto product is absolutely fantastic. And we were really helping campuses build mobile ecosystems that touched every part of the student life cycle. And I saw that success deepened on how well we aligned with the institution's culture and capacity for change. Right. It's kind of like, I always love using this analogy. If you've ever been fly fishing and you have a fly fishing instructor, they may say, like, once you got a fish on the line, like, you've got to dance kind of with the fish and you've got to work with the fish is like, that's how change happens in higher ed is like, you kind of have to dance with the change. Like, dance with the systems that you're working with because you can't bring, like, disruption, because that's not where change is meaningful. And so I really learned that at higher ed is, or, I'm sorry, at Moto Labs is the mobile app really was meant to be a digital campus that students can access at any point in time, find resources they needed. And that lesson really deeply informs my work at canva. So I focus mostly on being just a true partner, not just a platform that people tend to use. And so we got to meet institutions again where they are on their digital journey. Also, I've just got to call it out for campuses that might be listening to this. You are super strapped. Right. We know that campuses are extremely strapped for resources. Budgets are getting tighter every minute, it seems, and it always has been the case. So you're constantly operating, like, in the red. It feels so being someone on the outside at Canva that I can be almost an extension of the campus staff and be part of their team, be their strategist. That can move a lot quicker on the outside, get them resources that they might not have access to internally, really making myself open to help them and be useful to them in whatever capacity I can, just kind of as their consultant and partner, helping them do things that they. They can't always accomplish internally, and just being someone that they can lean on.

B (17:38)

Yeah, I think you do have the pulse of the sentiment out there now they are strapped. Not many new positions being added in marketing teams or elsewhere. Let's dive into Canvas a little or Canva a little bit and tell me about your role at Canva, how you're helping campuses integrate visual communication across. Across all these departments and the ecosystem.

A (18:02)

Yeah, so the fun way of describing it is really at canva, I just partner with colleges and universities to help integrate visual communication as a core capability across the entire campus, so across its academic functions as well as its business functions. What's neat about Canva too is that many universities already have insane amounts of organic adoption happening at the student and faculty level as well as staff level. And my role is really just to help campus leaders harness the momentum strategically. So that means building frameworks for brand governance, accessibility, skill development, and also ensure that so many different departments, whether they're in academic affairs or if they're marketing and communications, that they all have the tools to create and collaborate visually across the board. And ultimately it's not just really about helping campuses operate in the modern creative space, but just really helping them align impact a little bit more strategically. So a little bit about like the visual economy and how we're supporting campuses is that like in days gone by, the world communicated in a predominantly text based, word based format. Right. Campuses, some of them are still sending out memos, right. That was like the status quo for so long is just sending out memos across campus, harnessing and anchoring on email to inform students of things. And the way that we communicate has drastically changed and the world has become so much more visual. And in a world where as a consumer, brands are constantly trying to get your attention, try to get you to be brand loyal, try to get you into engage with their brand campuses who are trying to inform students and donors and alumni of resources and opportunities to interact and events and. Right. There's just so much noise out there. And so part of my role is to help campuses really kind of cut through that noise and communicate very directly and clearly to all of the different communities they support. So again, that could be global communities of alumni, prospective students, current students, maybe students that are at risk, that still need to kind of get some resources to ensure that they're successful. And students successful success initiatives are lucrative. So helping them kind of harness all that through a visual format and really kind of optimize how they're using Canva already.

B (20:29)

Yeah, that all makes sense. I have to tell you my kind of my feeling about the way Canva has kind of grown so Fast over the last decade is that When I started EdTech Connect, it was about crowdsourcing the technology inventory out there. What are people using? Why do they, what are they like? And sure it's about enterprise purchases, big SISs and enterprise software. But then there's these companies like Canva that are so good at what they do that all of a sudden they market directly to faculty end users. They have a pricing model that works. Maybe it's a free trial or a edu pricing and all of a sudden a CIO or a leader at a campus is like, well, we have like 300 people using this software. Maybe we should get a site license. And. And I feel like Canva's in that boat. Like they're there, right? You kind of timed it perfectly with the design, this design tool you have. And I come from a Photoshop background, so I learned Photoshop decades ago. I even took some training videos. I feel I'm really good at Photoshop. But Canva has infiltrated my time because it's so easy and so many of my peers are using it that I spend probably half and half my time building assets in each tool just because it's something that everybody needs. No matter what you're going to be doing, you need to have some of that skill set and what tool is going to be easier to use. I think Canvas got really good at is nailing that market.

A (21:47)

Yeah, I mean when we're talking about like again resource strapped campuses, like time is a huge resource and a lot of staff. I mean, you know this too from your time at SAC State is you're wearing so many hats and IT teams have so many different applications under their umbrella and their purview that they've got to learn, they've got to use Canva. It just meets them exactly where they are. It's super easy. It's not another hat they have to put on of learning a new system. It's just really intuitive. You can like pick it up in a day and honestly have a lot of fun in it. I met someone who said that like their personal hobby is just to create Canva decks for fun. So like when they're like unwinding for the night after work, they like will put on Netflix or something and they'll put on their favorite show and they will also have their laptop and be like working on a Canva death just for fun. And I thought that was really neat.

B (22:41)

It must be really fun to work. It's such a strong. When I was in tech sales or people who have Told me when they're trying to sell technology, you want two things. You want brand and you want good tech, you know, And I think Canva's one of those companies you're like, gosh, you have. You've kind of killed it in both. Let's go into some things about what have you seen innovation wise, what are some campuses doing or what are some innovative ways you've seen institutions using Canva to transform learning or campus communications?

A (23:11)

Yeah, there's a few different use cases that I've seen recently that are really blown my mind. I think one of my favorites still on the academic side is seeing when students use Canva to build out digital portfolios that can like, kind of align their coursework to some of their career outcomes or like a job description that they're seeing and like, share that out with employers, share that out on LinkedIn with people. That is really interactive. Like a digital portfolio that people can actually, like, interact with the work and projects that you've done. Like, what a cool way to take a resume and like, flip it on its head, right. And immediately show value to other people and get them excited about what you can do and ideas that you have. So that is one of my favorites. It's almost like a student showcase. It's really neat. But also, I think on the administrative side, I think one of the neatest use cases truly is just like harnessing Canva for its brand capabilities. And like, harnessing truly the brand kit function within Canva, where you can take all of the approved logos from a campus, pop them into an approved brand kit, then staff and faculty across the institution can apply that brand kit to their designs. And so everyone's got the same look and feel. And that, like, moves beyond silos, right? Everyone's using Canva in some capacity already. So, like, kind of put the marketing and communications team in the driver's seat, provide all these resources, take the guesswork out of interpreting brand guidelines, and inevitably getting it wrong. I mean, I've got to just share. I've got to admit this because we were both at SAC State together when I worked under administration and business affairs under the CFO's office. I remember drafting up a letter using a letterhead template that someone had shared with me. And I was going to draft up a letter and send it out to all of aba and I was just like, not super big on the formal logo of Sacramento State at the time. I went and scoured the Internet and found the SAC State athletics logo from that time. It was cool. It was. I Mean, that's athletics logos, right? They're, like, energizing and neat and different and sleek. And so I popped it on the letterhead. And now knowing on this side of Canva just how inappropriate that was, I mean, a little slap on my wrist is like, man, if we had something like Canva, where I was using the proper templates, the proper toolkit, of course, then I would be representing campus. And I just find that that's. That's kind of normal, is like, helping everyone be a brand ambassador will just get the reach so much further out there across different communities when everyone's singing the same harmony.

B (25:47)

Yeah. And if you can make it fun, like you said, I think Canva's fun to use. Like, that's huge right there. That's half the battle. Can you share any sort of ways that Canva's using AI now or coming soon or what's the. What are the most interesting AI integrations?

A (26:04)

Okay, so our magic studio is incredible. There are so many different design ingredients there that are a lot of fun to use and just generating different pieces of artwork. Having Canva create your different decks that you might want to have for pitches for curriculum, whatever it may be. One thing I'll share, I'll share one of my favorite AI tools. But one of the things that is so fascinating to me, I just heard this, like, a week or two ago. We found a report that Canva is the second most used AI platform globally, like, second to OpenAI. And we recently just launched a really great integration with ChatGPT where you can integrate it and connect your Canva account. And you can ask your ChatGPT if it could create a design for you in Canva with X amount of criteria, whatever you want, and it'll pop open a Canva design. It's just fantastic.

B (26:54)

ChatGPT will now create Canva files Canva designs. Wow, that's cool. I didn't know that.

A (27:00)

It's incredible. So we just recently launched that. Really neat. But I think one of my favorite parts of Canva's magic studio by far is Canva code. I've used Canva code for some, like, personal, fun things. I take opera lessons on the side for fun, and I created my own, like, kind of study portal as an opera student. Someone who doesn't know how to read sheet music by trade. Right. Like, I'm. I'm learning all of those things. And so I asked canvico to help create, like, a learning portfolio and, like, platform for me as an opera student with the resources my instructor has provided. That's been a game changer. But also I've seen teachers on the K12 side and I've seen faculty create really cool like learning hubs for students. So they'll create a bespoke website and Canva launch it. It's our free website that we have and make it really interactive and you can edit, change things as you go. But Canva code is really neat. I've seen students who've created side hustles and use Canva code to develop out pricing calculators for their side hustles and have it be public facing so they can send it out to a customer. A customer can get a price quote immediately for like their lawn mowing service or if a student's doing freelance design work, they can get a price quote for creating a logo or creating other assets, which is really neat.

B (28:20)

I'll have to check that out because I'm getting more into using some AI tools to code some really some prototypes and things like that. So yeah, I might have to see what that can do. I was recently, we're trying to redoing the EdTech Connect website and I wanted to prototype it for some developers and I started using this tool and three hours later I had like a working prototype which is prompting from what I wanted.

A (28:45)

Yeah, that's awesome.

B (28:47)

So I've used Claude and a couple other tools but toss Canva in there. Yeah, I'm gonna try it. Well, what trends in higher education tech do you think we should be watching over the next two or three years?

A (29:00)

Yeah, you know, I'm really seeing three big trends that are starting to emerge that I think will be shaping and reshaping higher education right now. The first, of course, it's almost like obligatory that I have to say this is the rise of generative AI in teaching and learning. So universities are moving away from a more disorganized kind of experimentation to real implementation at this point. Right. So so many folks have kind of gone off on their own path and started to experiment with different AI tools. I'm starting to see that those are firming up and developing some sort of generalized ethos around how campuses are handling AI and providing the tools to upskill staff and faculty. So using AI to enhance academic integrity, help streamline some workflows, and then also personalize the learning experience a little bit. The second that I'm seeing is really the shift towards digital skill building across different disciplines. So we're seeing that communication, design and data literacy, those are like the baseline competencies across all majors. Right. So on the academic side, it's not just creative majors, but also now for engineers, business students, scientists. Tools like CANVA are really being embedded into coursework to help students translate some of the really more complex learning experiences they're having and build those out into visual landscapes that also kind of help them hone their professionalism by taking something that's kind of swirling again in their brain and, and put it onto a visual element there.

B (30:34)

I like those insights. Well, if you could give one piece of advice to today's students looking to make an impact in education or tech, what would that be?

A (30:44)

I would say really gotta start where you are, use what you have and say yes to learning moments that scare you a little bit. Part of my personal philosophy is I try to never say no as often as possible. I try to say yes in as many ways that I can to new things. Right. If somebody asks me to tell, like partner on a project or a different idea that they have, I love to say yes. When I was a student, I said yes to maybe a few too many things, right? Like, there's only so many hours in a day, but when you say yes to things, it really will open up your worldview of how you can help others. So, like, I think I started to shift my mindset a little bit when I was a student. Instead of thinking, like, how many accomplishments should I be trying to strive for? Like, can I get a 4.0 GPA? Definitely didn't, but like, can I strive for that? What is the accomplishment I'm looking for? And I started stepping away from like more of those quantitative metrics of accomplishment and started looking more at qualitative, how can I actually help more people? And once you start to realize that being a impactful person is how you can be useful and you can be helpful to others and not just do things that are like, rack up some sort of achievements, the more you start to learn, that's what life's all about too. It's like, how can I be useful? How can I add something here and help lend a hand? So I'd say stay curious, ask questions, ask how you can help. Ask how you can support and be mission driven about it.

B (32:20)

And say yes to the podcast and say yes.

A (32:22)

And look how much fun we're having.

B (32:25)

You're here, so it's really great to have you, Mia. I'm going to put Mia's links in the show notes to her LinkedIn and to Canva. So it was really great to have you. Thank you, Mia.

A (32:36)

Thanks, Jeff. Appreciate it.

B (32:39)

As we wrap up this episode. Remember, EdTech Connect is your trusted companion on your journey to enhance education through technology. Whether you're looking to spark student engagement, refine edtech implementation strategies, or stay ahead of the curve in emerging technologies, EdTech Connect brings you the insights you need. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an inspiring and informative episode. And while you're there, please leave us a review. Your feedback fuels us to keep bringing you valuable content. For even more resources and connections, head over to edtechconnect.com your hub for edtech reviews, trends and solutions. Until next time, thanks for tuning in.