I am an example of a transformed higher education administrator. In this essay, I describe how my journey to an education doctorate impacts my work as a scholar-practitioner in higher education. The CANDEL program challenged what I thought I understood about the status quo in higher education with respect to race, socioeconomic impacts, meritocracy, grit, and assumptions we make about students. The coursework and cohort model confronted my own biases and were foundational to my dissertation questions. Conducting my research on university leadership at my home institution gave me an opportunity to develop a shared equity leadership approach to solving complex problems. Equity-focused work in higher education is a long-game, ongoing, and essential to addressing the challenges facing our institutions. Without this, inequities experienced by faculty, staff and students will persist. The education doctorate and its scholar-practitioners are important drivers in shifting the American educational landscape.