Cassidy Diaz
Assistant Editor
The first “What Matters to Me and Why” lecture of 2026 featured Marquisha Frost, associate vice president of inclusive excellence and mission integration, who began at the University in fall 2025.
Frost’s talk took place Feb. 12 in the Ludwick Center Sacred Space.
She explored personal themes of faith, family, freedom, fellowship and how they have played a role in her life.
“I think we forget about ourselves, and we go straight into all the things that are external (to) us,” Frost told the audience of about 40. “And we start to talk about why those things matter,” Frost said. “I believe that there is a God, and he doesn’t create waste, so if you’re here, you matter and there’s a purpose.”
Frost shared a “mind map” she created that connected all of what matters to her. Faith and family have mattered to her the most.
Freedom, fulfillment and fellowship are also important to her, she said. Entering her teenage years, she said she started to understand the impact and importance of her choices.
Faith was not forced on her, and this gave her the freedom to explore and find her passion for fellowship and service, she said.
“In Black communities, I think we spend a lot of time with one another, and we want to push one another to be better,” Frost said. “We do a lot in terms of service, but we aren’t (always) creating spaces for one another.”
With this awareness, she created a non-profit organization called Sanctuary Collective in 2022, when she was living in Nebraska. The Collective offers a support structure for women of all ages, abilities and careers to work toward individual and collective healing and goal attainment.
“I feel like that’s what’s connected me to purpose and vocation throughout my life and landed me to where I am now,” Frost said. “A lot of times I find my fulfillment through serving other people.”
Fulfillment for Frost, she explained, is a lasting sense of happiness and satisfaction from living a meaningful life by achieving goals, realizing your potential, living authentically and contributing to something beyond yourself.
“Being a mom is so vitally important to me,” Frost said, adding, “One of the things I learned very early on … is that if you’re no good to yourself, you can’t be any good to anybody else.”
Since beginning her position here last year, she has been seeking to understand and embody the University’s mission.
“One of my goals is to leave the place better than I found it,” Frost said. “What that means to me is I want to shift culture, I want to get us to the place where our core values are not just on paper.”
She said she has prioritized engaging with faculty, staff and students to better understand their needs and wants for the campus.
“To see what’s spoken in action is definitely something I aspire to be like,” said Stacey Strickland, adjunct instructor of dance, who also works in Frost’ office.
Students who have worked with Frost appreciate her approach.
“Every time I go (in), she has this lovely energy, and she gives me this motivation to just keep going even when I feel like I’m not doing my best,” said Isaac Vizcarra, junior digital media major.
“Her reinforcing inclusivity definitely gave me hope for the future of La Verne as a whole,” said Elijah Akumbom, sophomore computer science major.
“Serving here has been incredible, and you all matter to me, this place matters to me,” Frost said.
Cassidy Diaz can be reached at cassidy.diazgomez@laverne.edu.
Cassidy Diaz is a senior journalism major with a concentration in print and online journalism. She is also news editor for the Campus Times, and previously served as an assistant editor and a staff writer.
Antonio Ceniceros is a senior photography major and a staff photographer for the Campus Times and La Verne Magazine. He is also the lead photographer and social media manager for the University of La Verne’s football team, and currently specializes in sports, concert, and fashion photography. You can find his work on Instagram at @flicksbycinco..
