 Prabhu began her work initially as a part-time staff at Cornell University’s H.F. Johnson Museum of Art.During her time there, she was invited to attend a National Art Education Association conference in 1976, where she and other fellow museum educators met and originated the profession’s official name of art museum educators.From there, Prabhu worked at the Boston Children's Museum from 1984-1987 with Michael Spock, Elaine Gurian and Leslie Bedford organizing cultural festivals and artistic programs, which combined her interests in museums and cultural anthropology.