Anthea Phillipps was brought up in Sabah as a child. She got her degree in Botany from the University of Durham in the UK, and has worked for both the Sabah Museum and the Sabah Parks. With Sabah Parks, she was based at the Kinabalu Park Headquarters and helped establish the Park Herbarium and the Botanical Garden. She has written/co-authored/edited books on the islands of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, Mount Kinabalu Park and their plants including Rhododendrons and Pitcher-plants. She currently writes a weekly column about the amazing plants that can be seen in Borneo in a local newspaper.