InView Magazine: Issue 8 out now!
Raised and educated in the United States, Ellen had a strong desire to work in the Middle East. But an unexpected opportunity with Hewlett-Packard saw her move into the world of tech at the start of her career – and she has never looked back.
Ellen relocated with Hewlett-Packard to Australia in 2016 before eventually moving to Symantec, which coincided with when the GDPR was gaining traction. It made her consider what the most interesting space to be working in as a lawyer was. “To me, the answer was data and analytics,” she reflects.
That strategic instinct eventually led her to Canva. Now, as a team lead within Canva’s 80-strong global legal team. Ellen leads one of the four specialist teams within Product & Privacy which supports company-wide data governance and Canva’s internal-facing operations including Infrastructure & Platform, Security & IT, the People team, GTM, Finance & Procurement, Legal and User Voice (which responds to user queries worldwide); the bedrock of the Canva magic.
When asked about her typical day, she laughs. “There’s no typical day, but there are patterns. I spend a lot of time coaching my team, being a sounding board, helping to prioritize and think strategically. How can we do things better? Are we ready for the next wave of regulation? How can we evolve our systems, find efficiencies, and not just react to rules? I am also the primary contact for the Security and Data Governance, so a significant part of my time is focused on supporting those teams.”
That forward-thinking mindset has proven critical in an industry shaped by constantly shifting regulatory tides. “The biggest challenge is just keeping up. Privacy laws and AI regulations, they’re changing all the time. And you can’t overhaul your systems overnight,” she explains, “It’s not just about understanding the law, it’s about operationalizing it – making it real.”
One of Ellen’s core focus areas right now is AI, and how legal teams can harness it safely, efficiently, and creatively. At Canva, she’s helping redefine the way legal work is done. “We’re encouraged to experiment. There’s strong leadership support to say, ‘This matters, this changes how everything works.’ And we’re fortunate – our internal guardrails are solid. When we use AI tools, we know the controls are there.”
“Critical thinking is everything. The laws are changing so fast that memorizing them isn’t the point. What matters is whether you can evaluate, adapt, and think strategically.”
That support has allowed Ellen’s team to dive into AI-powered process improvements. “It’s exciting. We take a five-minute task we do a hundred times and reduce it to 30 seconds. That scale matters!”
She’s also seeing a shift in the skillsets required in legal candidates. “Critical thinking is everything. The laws are changing so fast that memorizing them isn’t the point. What matters is whether you can evaluate, adapt, and think strategically.”
That pragmatism is something Ellen has honed over time – and it informs the advice she shares with lawyers aspiring to work in tech. “Figure out your dream job. Then reverse-engineer the path. Look at the job ads and people who have those roles, see what skills and certifications are required or desirable, and start building on those skills now. That’s your checklist.”
But her final tip is just as relevant outside the legal world: “Commit. Make time to learn. And don’t be afraid to geek out on what you love.”
For Ellen, what she loves is to geek out on privacy and process improvement. For others, it might be product, operations, or emerging tech. What matters most is staying curious and being ready to evolve – because in the world of tech, nothing stands still for long.
