In 2017, Women for the Environment Africa (WE Africa) was born through the determination of a small dedicated group of women conservationists frustrated with the current model of conservation leadership. They shared a conviction that a different style of leadership with more diverse and inclusive teams  and more collaboration and less competition would result in more conservation innovation and impact. This desire to “do conservation differently” led to the realization that we needed to both build a community of women conservation leaders in Africa to increase our resilience, and establish a transformational leadership course to increase our numbers at the decision-making tables.