Lisa Miller did not arrive at biodiversity finance through spreadsheets or climate models. Her starting point was animals. Growing up in Australia, she was drawn to wildlife in a way that preceded any broader argument about conservation, and by the age of six she already imagined a future working with them. In the 1980s, as habitat loss entered the public conversation, that interest deepened. The release of Gorillas in the Mist coincided with a school project on mountain gorillas and Dian Fossey. It was an early alignment. Nature was not abstract; it was specific, already under pressure, and often fragile in ways that were easy to overlook.

That trajectory led her to study zoology, and then to the Australian Museum, where she worked across several scientific departments, including ichthyology. The work was technical, shaped by long hours of observation and the routines of classification. Another influence proved just as lasting as the science itself. Within the museum, Miller became involved in science communication, helping translate research for public audiences. Some visitors arrived with curiosity, fear, confusion, or indifference. Many left with a clearer sense that the natural world was closer to their own lives than they had first assumed. The experience made her more aware of how knowledge moves, and in what happens when it does not.