Shauniece Frazier is a junior Comparative Women’s Studies major and Psychology minor at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Shauniece was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. Growing up, she was always taught about the value of serving others and living a generous life. As a child, Shauniece would help her mother prepare and deliver sandwiches to those experiencing homelessness on Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles. When she was seven, her mother was in a life altering car accident which left her disabled and unable to work. Although her family relied on government assistance to help make ends meet, Shauniece’s mother would always tell her that they are blessed to be a blessing, even when they had little. When Shauniece was a teenager she began to follow in her mother’s footsteps in an attempt to live a life centered around community service. At the age of 16, during a time when she and her mother were on food stamps, they had learned how to use coupons from the Sunday papers to purchase household items and toiletries at a deeply discounted price. They were able to use coupons to purchase and  make weekly donations to a church in South Central Los Angeles, as well as a women’s shelter in Downtown Los Angeles in the form of full sized body wash, toothpaste, deodorant, pads, tampons, laundry detergent, dish soap, paper towels and toilet paper. Shauniece was later nominated and then received a Ford Freedom Unsung Hero Award for her charitable efforts in the South Central Los Angeles Community.

Going to Spelman was always a dream of Shauniece’s, but after graduating high school, her dream of going to college faded back as responsibilities became more dominant. She began working full time, sometimes two jobs, but still wanted to find ways to volunteer and serve her community. Shauniece started volunteering in the children’s ministry at her local church and that is where her passion for serving in the next generation really took root. Volunteering in the children’s ministry led to her joining her church’s intern program in Seattle, Washington. There,  she continued volunteering in the children's ministry in Seattle by serving on Sundays, leading volunteer groups and activities, filming skits, and sermonizing. Shauniece also volunteered at a local elementary school during the week, while working part time. Following the intern program, she enrolled in a small private university in Seattle to begin her undergraduate degree. While there, Shauniece was often the only black girl in most of her classes.  She often encountered the “stereotype threat”, where she felt pressure to perform to represent her race, but her gender as well. As time went on, Shauniece knew she needed to pursue her dream of attending an HBCU, and in May 2020 she was accepted into her dream school, Spelman College. 

Since transferring to Spelman, Shauniece has been invited to join The National Society for Leadership and Success, as well as Psi Chi— the International Honor Society in Psychology. She has continued to serve her community as an essential worker during the COVID-19 pandemic, while being a full time student. After graduating, Shauniece plans to attend graduate school, earning her doctoral degree so that she can teach at a collegiate level, host seminars, and use various social media platforms to educate and empower others.. Shauniece wants to have a career in education, centering around African American Women. She believes it is a part of her life’s work to help tell the lost narratives of Black women, and help others understand the complexity and intersectionality of race, gender, and class that affect Black women across the world. In doing so, she believes she can help empower Black girls to navigate the world with confidence and resilience. Although Shauniece is new to Atlanta and the AUC, she looks forward to finding organizations that share her core values of generosity and empowering the next generation so that she can help serve underprivileged communities here as well. Shauniece also plans on establishing  a non profit organization so that she can start giving back household items to families in need once again in Atlanta, Seattle, and her hometown of Los Angeles. Her goal is to one day be able to pay it forward by sponsoring several women to attend the colleges and universities of their dreams.