Thea Newcomb Training

Truth be told, being a CCC meant the world to me. I am not sure when the program actually started, but I became a CCC in late 2018.

As a CCC, I had a “certified” badge to use on my blog and social (and I wore the hell out of that “badge” too). We got some cool swag (you probably saw CCCs sharing theirs on social).

It included a FREE Canva Pro account. We had the virtual “ear” of Canva. We were beta testers of new features (loved that!). It was amazing to be part of such a stellar group of approximately 150 active fellow global ambassadors.

It all sounds pretty cool right? Yeah, I thought so too….It was.

Over the final eighteen months of the programme, we were told an actual certification was in the works. I couldn’t contain my excitement about the prospect of actually being tested and “Canva certified”.

In my head, I envisaged it being something like, say a Microsoft Certification. Certification would make sure we were all fully apprised of all the Canva tools and features.

As 2022 kicked off, the beta certificate process began – hooray! When it was unveiled, it involved some quizzes and a 3-5 minute tutorial video assignment…Ah, this was not what I had in mind.

Everything had to be in on February 7, 2022. We are told we were going to have to wait until Valentine’s Day for the results. The 14th came around and we were then thanked for our efforts and told we would hear our results in a few more days…

The email arrived a few days later that they decided to end the program.

There would no longer be a CCC program or any certification process.

From what I understand, there has been a lot of reshuffling going on behind the scenes, of which I have no real knowledge of. The idea, they explain, would be to rehouse existing CCCs into a separate program or programs if they should desire.

As someone who’s been a staunch champion of Canva since early 2014 and Canva trainer since 2016, this experience has given me much pause for thought.

I felt, well, dumped.

As for the Current Canva CCCs, we were given two options to become moderators in the Design Circle Facebook Group or the Canva Champions.

There will be new badges and titles coming in the not too distant future too (eg. could be something like “expert educator”).

Though I am in both groups, I barely have time to moderate my own Canva VIPs group, so I can’t really commit to trying to help in theirs.

So I am out for now…

I love the Canva tool. I always will. It has changed my life without a doubt. Teaching (mostly) business owners how to use Canva has been my primary income for many years now. I will continue to deliver training groups and one-to-one both in person and online globally. (PS: I have no ties at all – so I can go anywhere in the world, any time!) Frankly, I am already an Expert Canva Trainer (even without their official badge).
For as long as they’ll allow, I’ll continue to promote my Free Canva Pro trial link.

Hard Lesson Learned

Throughout the last dozen or so years of being a trainer, I’ve always advised people “never build your house on someone else’s land”.

In my business, I’ve based a lot of my identity on being a Canva trainer, affiliate and ambassador, but my focus will change now.

Canva is a business, and as such, it has to do what it feels best for its future going forward. I must take a page out of their book and do the same.

Instead of Canva being the main tool in my tool box I will begin to blog more about other fabulous tools….especially print on demand tools: Aududu Book Creator, BookBolt, Merch Informer et al. Since this all kicked off I have become an ambassador for SmartMockups.**

Update from 2024 after much deliberation, Canva came back with the Canva Verified Experts program. I along with twenty four of my fellow ambassadors continued on to become CVEs. This is still an invite-only program, and two years on, there are still less than sixty of us in the world.

Thanks for stopping by. You can check out this post about being a Canva Champion which has other routes to getting a Canva badge – if you’re still so inclined…Good luck to you my fellow Canva lover.

**PS: If you’re a creative, I’d highly encourage you to swing by new, constantly update Links page. On that page, you’ll find an amazing array of recommended tools, free resources, extended trials and much more. Some are affiliate, some are not, but all are awesome. I have a constant growing list of new ones to add as I discover them too.