Foundation Day 2024
On May 23 we hosted Chris Low (class 2003) as our guest speaker for Foundation Day. We hope you enjoy some excerpts from Chris’ speech.
Good evening, everyone.
I want to acknowledge we are gathered on Gundangarra Country and acknowledge the wisdom, kindness and courage of elders past and present and all First Nations peoples joining in the audience today. My name is Chris Low and I’m a proud Wiradjuri man.
It’s great to be here at Oxley today. This place has a special spot in my heart, and I’m thrilled to share a bit of my story with you. Thank you, Tristan Bevan and Claudia Johnson, for helping coordinate my visit, and thank you all for making me feel welcome today, feels like home.
I graduated from Oxley in 2003 and those years were some of the best of my life. Before I came to Oxley, I went to a regional high school up north. I was genuinely scared of going to school there. In fact, I had to lie to my class and tell them it was just a coincidence that the teacher, Mr. Low, looked a lot like me, started at the same time as I did, and shared my last name.
I even asked my dad to transport my trombone to school via the back door into the music room so I didn’t have to carry it myself and face bullying or physical violence on the way to school.
Arriving at Oxley in Year 8 with pent up anxiety from my previous school experience I remember my parents driving in the Oxley driveway and peering out in terror at the ominous sight of students in the fields wearing big black overcoats (I am told these are now no longer part of the uniform) More Gryffindor and less Slytherin these days. I was quickly astounded by how welcomed and accepted I felt here. The buddy I was given, Ashleigh Alan, immediately put me at ease and made me feel deeply and quickly part of the community. I thought I was quite cool at school, but the evidence I dug up suggests otherwise.
Here, at Oxley it was just plain expected students treat people kindly because that’s how they’d like to be treated. I found a place, by the chance of my Dad getting a job at Oxley, where I could enjoy things like performing arts without being teased. I threw myself into everything. I had the honour of being the Vice Captain of the school and the Oodgeroo House Captain… go on Oodergoo! I participated in several State athletics meets and took the lead in theatre productions. I did Duke of Ed with Mr Bevan as well as dabbled in freestyle kyaking. I also sang in the Australian Youth Choir at the opening of the 2000 Olympics and played soccer at the state level. My cricket skills were, well, less impressive, but I enjoyed the game nonetheless. I had a love for art, although I didn’t perform super highly there either. I was heavily focused on extracurricular activities.
I’m sharing this to highlight that this is what I was doing instead of focusing on my academic performance. I was always told I was “not fulfilling my potential” in academic endeavours. I was a bit of an outlier amongst my peers.My best mates, Toby Hanson, who went on to become a lawyer for the UN, and Matt Fitzpatrick, an emergency specialist doctor, always overshadowed my academic performance. It brought me anxiety at times, which turned out to be wasted energy.
Truth be told, I was quite naughty in many ways, and I’m genuinely humbled—and quite surprised—that my sins have either been forgotten or forgiven by the school, when I was invited here to chat with you today. I can see Mr. Bevan shuffling in his seat, hopeful he didn’t forget anything too significant. I’ll leave that unclarified. Looks like the cricket pitch has recovered.
Looking at all of you, I see a room full of exciting potential and a desire to make the world just that bit better. Today, I want to share some bits from my rather unconventional path and hope you find something useful in my experience. I heard from my Dad that you learn reflecting on your experience as much as learn from the experience itself. That feels very true to me today.
Follow Your Passions
I had built up a strong sense of moral duty at Oxley. I had been treated well and wanted to fight for the good treatment of others. I had the incredible experience of going with the late Helmut Shaffer to East Timor on an aid trip to deliver school supplies to a remote school and experiences like this developed a fire in my belly to fight for my values and against inequity.
I had decided most people are good, and sharing the true stories of the world around us was a way to connect good people to help resolve injustice. So, after graduating from Oxley, I found a back door into uni and studied video journalism. While I was a good student in terms of the effort I put in, I wasn’t that great at it…. I simply wasn’t a good writer and still needed that skill despite focusing on the video side of journalism. The only success I remember was luckily catching a streaker at the then Prime Minister John Howard’s public appearance in Bateman’s Bay and getting the footage on the nightly news.
I soon realized my heart was really in what I thought was just a hobby—cooking. Looking at my mates Matt and Toby, I always had a chip on my shoulder that I didn’t succeed as they did with their more serious careers. But this hobby I was passionate about turned into my cheffing career, and I ended up traveling around the world cooking, from Vietnam to a remote indigenous community in the Northern Territory to the north of Scotland, and eventually running a few restaurants in Surry Hills and Redfern.
My restaurant, Orto Trading Co did well, but it was tough, and a fallout between my business partners led to us selling. It was at that crossroads, trying to figure out where I go from there, when two of my customers, who happened to be two of the Canva founders, Mel and Cliff, invited me to “bring the vibe” from my restaurant into their workplace. I was skeptical about how my skills would transfer to the tech world. What was the Vibe? What was Canva? I was skeptical about the tech world itself. All I knew about tech was movies I had seen of Facebook in the 90s full of debauchery, and I couldn’t imagine those strong values I learned at Oxley being met in an industry like tech.
At Canva, where I have now worked for eight years, my role as the Head of Vibe is all about creating a community with a shared sense of purpose. We create experiences or The Vibe in the workplace for nearly 5,000 employees across 15 countries. This includes everything from events and workplace operations to designing, building, and maintaining all our offices, as well as cultural programming. It turned out my role as a chef and restaurateur had incredible similarities to creating workplace experiences. Both are centered on creating a feeling, to unite people in shared magical moments that are memorable and inspiring. In the restaurant, it was about curating an experience that progressed a conversation about what good dining means and inspired customers to return for more, to become part of our community. In the workplace, we are creating magical experiences that inspire the Canva team to unite around a shared purpose to achieve our shared mission and eventually do the most good we can in the world.
The difference between my experience at the north coast high school and Oxley is a great example of how the right environment can allow individuals to thrive. It is now my role to create that environment for others, and I love it. This role was one I had never heard of while I was in high school and hadn’t even heard of when I took it on.
I wonder where you folks will all end up?? but don’t worry if things take unexpected turns—you might land somewhere better than you expect.
It turns out that the tech industry is an amazing vehicle for change and living out my values. We have a really simple but incredibly ambitious two-step plan at Canva: create the world’s most valuable company and do the most good we can. It’s a virtuous cycle of growth. I have had the opportunity to help build some incredible programs and be part of some enormous impact that Canva has had. From empowering 650k non profits and 70 million students and teachers on Canva; planting 6.2M trees; 30% of Canva’s value is donated to our charity Canva foundation. W
It has turned out that my streak for pushing the boundaries, sorry to the teachers that had to deal with that at school, had some real-world applications. Finding what excites you and following it with dedication and enthusiasm was key for me finding a rewarding and impactful career I can feel proud of.
Values Matter
Seeing a company like Canva grow from 50-5000 employees has certainly had its challenges. What made sense and was true for a company of 50 employees makes no sense and can appear stupid to a company of 5000. Values have been a north star. Wherever they come from…. Kindness, courage and wisdom are great too…. but know them, interrogate them, test them… ‘
allowing them to guide me has been hugely beneficial.
As you go through life, you’ll face many opportunities and big decisions. At Oxley, you’re learning not just academic skills but also the importance of values and ethics. Holding onto these lessons has been my compass in navigating life’s complexities.
Be Adaptable
The world is changing fast. Technology, climate change, and global dynamics are reshaping everything. To thrive, you need to be adaptable and innovative. Throughout my career, I’ve seen how embracing change and thinking creatively can turn challenges into opportunities. The Canva founder said to me at one point, I need to you build us a 5000sqm office in Surry Hills. I had never built an office and he knew that but either had he and it was either him or me, so it was me. Since, I have delivered more than 15 office projects around the world. I kinda know what I’m doing now but feels like I’m only 1% of the way there (as we say at Canva).
Embrace Uncertainty and Opportunity
One thing I’ve realized is that young folks are often told they need to know exactly what they want to do and have a clear roadmap to get there. I think for many of us, that’s deeply impractical. I never had a clear plan. If I can share something from my own experience, it’s to please take advantage of the variety of opportunities at Oxley (they are massive). These experiences will arm you with skills. These skills will enable you to seize life’s opportunities. Life is unpredictable, and the best opportunities often come when you least expect them.
Thank you
