Dr Janet Salisbury has a background in science research, writing and communications. Through this work, she became interested in creating dialogue around contentious policy issues and the role of the arts in bringing people together around common cause.  In January 2020, with bushfires still raging, she called the women in her networks to two meetings in Canberra to discuss her ideas around amplifying women’s voices for a collaborative national approach for climate action. Since then, she has led the WCC to become a dynamic national movement of women - meeting with parliamentarians and community leaders, to promote the Congress vision for collaborative, nonpartisan action to secure the climate and create systems change for gender-balanced, long-term human and planetary wellbeing.