Graduate Alumni Focus | Meagan “Rabbit” Prophet, DBA’25

To preface, an invisible identity may be a singular characteristic—such as sexual orientation, gender, disability, neurodivergence, mental health condition, religion—or an intersection of several identities. My advocacy began from a very personal place: navigating a career while holding an LGBTQIA+ identity that isn’t always visible and recognizing that disclosure can carry professional risk. Early on, I saw how silence can protect you in the short term but isolate you over time, and how many of my colleagues quietly weighed the same trade-offs. That realization inspired me to focus on invisible identities, both academically at Hood College in pursuance of a doctoral degree and professionally—not to urge everyone to be out, but to build cultures where people don’t have to choose between safety and authenticity.

I was drawn to Hood College for its close-knit academic community, strong mentorship culture and the flexibility to align my dissertation with both identity and emerging interests in organizational justice, belonging and employee engagement. It was important to me that the program included a formal dissertation and defense to demonstrate mastery of both academic theory and practical application. The unique opportunity to choose your topic of study paired with the dissertation requirement is a foundational distinction that sets the Hood College doctoral program apart from other university offerings in the DMV area.

My experience at Hood College gave me the tools and the courage to pair advocacy with accountability. While the coursework provided me a rigorous, evidence-based lens on how organizations function and how people thrive within them, there are three individuals that helped me translate insight into practice, especially around psychological safety, inclusive leadership and change management: Professors Anita Jose, Nisha Manikoth and Peggy Dufour. Alongside the professional risk of identifying with the LGBTQIA+ community, there is also academic risk in aligning yourself as an ally with marginalized academic themes. I am deeply grateful for their acceptance and expertise, which directly shaped my approach to advancing advocacy and accountability for invisible identities in my workplace through leadership behavior and measurable outcomes.

There are three memories so indelible they will never fade away: first, in the days after the new administration took office, I feared my identity-based research would be sidelined by a string of presidential executive orders. My dissertation chair, Professor Jose, called me to share Ted Kennedy’s 1980 speech at the Democratic National Convention. The last line, “[f]or all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die,” anchored me to keep showing up, finish my dissertation and advocate for those at risk of being silenced. Second, Professor Manikoth insisted I submit a manuscript about LGBTQIA+ identity to the Academy of Human Resource Development conference. That push not only validated my scholarship, but also set a trajectory that continues today, with an upcoming submission to an academic journal. Third, are the members of Cohort Six; their friendship and support to this day fuels the persistence that advocacy work demands.

My advice: You are enough, and every journey is unique: tune out the comparison game and focus less on what others are they doing and more on what’s my next awesome move.

I’ve returned to leisure reading. Right now, I’m reading Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy and The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vaughn. Both works center on identity.

Inspired by Rabbit’s story? Ready to #GOFURTHER in your career?
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