Page 36 - BEQ Magazine Iss 19

The constant strain of making sure to refer to her the Department of Defense, began working on her
girlfriend by a man’s name and with male pronouns, dissertation.
of never being able to bring a legitimate date to “My personal ‘why’ is to be the best person I
a Navy function, of knowing that who she loved can be to my wife,” Michaels said. “I didn’t want
was enough to erase all her accomplishments led my ancestry line to be invisible and appear as if
Michaels to leave the Navy on her terms. She ended I never loved or married in my life. The same is
her Naval career with an Honorable Discharge and a true for my sister’s obituary. I wanted my wife to
Bachelor’s degree. be acknowledged as my wife and not listed as my
At age 28, Michaels moved to Maryland, where her partner or friend.”
mother had relocated and enrolled in graduate school. In thinking about her own legacy, her experiences
She earned her Master’s degree and, in 1998, became and her desire to see equality and inclusiveness
a full-time IT instructor at the Pentagon, teaching accorded to everyone, she knew that she wanted to
Microsoft Office applications. Her professional life back explore the experiences of lesbian businesswomen.
on track; Michaels was also From there, she narrowed down her topic to focus
caring for her mother who on business travel.
was diagnosed with cancer Michaels’ dissertation, titled Self-Identified
in 1999. She passed away on Lesbian Businesswomen Who Travel Domestically
September 5, 2001, timing to Conduct Business in a Heteronormative Society:
Michaels believes was fate. A Phenomenological Study, is a qualitative,
“I was supposed to be transcendental phenomenological study.
at the Pentagon on the “What that means is that I did not seek to prove
morning of September 11, a hypothesis, as one would in a quantitative study,
but a series of personal but instead gathered the shared lived experiences
events caused me to be of other self-identified lesbian businesswomen to
late, and I avoided the allow the phenomenon to emerge naturally,” she
terrorist attack,” she said. explained.
“I’ve often wondered if Historically women have been oppressed
the timing of my mother’s and discriminated against in myriad ways in
death somehow saved my business, but Michaels wanted to focus on how
life.” the unique intersectional circumstances of lesbian
Michaels continued businesswomen with the oppression of gender
to work at the Pentagon (female) and sexual orientation (lesbian) shaped
for another year before participants’ lives.
moving back to Houston, “It is noteworthy to mention that when I would
where the rest of her have conversations with straight white women
family lived. Her father about my study, they were completely unaware
and her sister, Tamara of what a lesbian goes through to protect their
West, worked at the Johnson Space Center. West was sexual identity in a business setting,” she said.
the Executive Assistant to the Director of the JSC “What seemed obvious to me was not apparent to
until her unexpected death in 2019. Dr. Ellen Ochoa those who never had to implement such a filter in
- the first Hispanic female in space and a former their daily lives.”
Director of JSC - was the guest speaker at West’s She interviewed 11 women aged 31-60+, all of
funeral. A humble and gracious woman, Michaels whom have higher education and most of whom
said she would have been surprised by the impact were CEOs or senior-level managers and working
she had on so many people. in an LGBTQ+ friendly environment. Despite
While grieving the loss of her sister, Michaels, multiple degrees and professional success, Michaels
by then a Ph.D. candidate and subcontractor for identified situations where the participants engaged

36 SUMMER 2021 BUSINESSEQUALITYMAGAZINE.COM