Girl of many talents

Brandy Fronte’s unique mix of passions allows her to share the Gospel

“People matter.”

Those are the two words by which Brandy Fronte chooses to live her life.

“I love people and I love to love on all types of people,” Fronte said. “It’s really simple math. You and Jesus and loving people. That’s it. That’s all it is. Unfortunately, a lot of people forget that, the simple basics of it.”

In addition to studying sports management at Liberty University, Fronte, a senior, is a member of the Lady Flames snowboarding team and raps as a hobby. And while she may have a full schedule, she always tries to carve out time for others.

From Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Fronte began snowboarding in her junior year of high school, following the example of her older brother.

That same year, Fronte discovered she had a passion for rap and spoken word. She began writing her own songs and performing them for her art class on Friday afternoons. She later rapped for her youth group and had the opportunity to open a show for B. Reith, a Christian hip-hop/rap artist, at her home church, in front of a crowd of 2,000 people.

“I actually got so nervous that I choked. I forgot my lyrics two lines into it,” Fronte said. “And I looked out into the audience, and my dad was standing right there … everybody started cheering. It was like a literal movie moment.”

Fronte continued honing her rapping skills during her senior year of high school, while trying to figure out her post-graduation plans. It was then a fellow church member told her about Liberty’s Snowflex Centre, a place where she could snowboard year round, regardless of the weather.

After attending a College for a Weekend event in the fall of 2011 she was hooked and committed to Liberty for fall of 2012.

Two weeks before she was to move to Lynchburg, Fronte received a surprise. The owner of Smash Game Entertainment, a record label based in California, showed up at the shoe store in the mall where she worked and informed her he wanted to sign her.

Knowing that she would soon be starting her freshman year of college, Fronte verbally agreed to work with the label, but never signed anything. The owner told her that they would be willing to work with her long distance, and that they would fly her out to the California studio during Christmas break for her actual signing.

Fronte began her freshman year at Liberty, hitting the Snowflex slopes for practice with the snowboarding team and writing raps — yet unsure of God’s involvement in her life.

“I had grown up in the church, but toward the end of my high school years, probably more toward my senior year, I started feeling like God picked favorites, and I wasn’t one of them,” Fronte said.

“… I still believed in him, I never stopped believing there was a God, but I just had a negative outlook.”

After several hours of snowboarding in October 2012, Fronte headed back to campus with an intense migraine, and was walking past the front steps of DeMoss Hall when she noticed a group of students playing music. So she stopped to listen.

As she sat on the steps, she was approached by a student who asked her if he could pray for her. Fronte agreed and was taken aback when he started praying for her headaches, which she had not told him about. The student then asked her to read John 3:16 aloud, replacing the word “world” with her first name: Brandy. For God so loved Brandy.

That day, Fronte surrendered her life to Christ, and was baptized by pastor Clayton King at Thomas Road Baptist Church a couple of weeks later during Campus Community.

With the offer of a rapping career still on the table, Fronte felt conflicted, as Smash Game Entertainment was a secular label. After talking with her parents and praying, she decided to turn down the offer with no negative consequences, because she had not formally signed a paper contract. And while she may not have signed with a label, she has since been afforded several opportunities to share her talent, such as a creation festival.

In November of 2013, Fronte tried out for and committed to the Lady Flames snowboarding team, and has since competed in both local and national events. In the national competition held at Whiteface in Lake Placid, New York in March 2014, Fronte took 14th place in the slope-style event. The following year, in March 2015, she took ninth place in the rail jam event at the national competition held in Mount Bachelor, Oregon.

According to Fronte, what drives her passions for rapping and snowboarding is her love for Jesus and others.

“I see surfers, snowboarders and skaters as an unreached people group,” Fronte said. “And that’s the group that I fit in with. Those are the people that I want to bless and be able to share the gospel with and my story with. Every person has a story. I’ve always been interested in that, hearing people’s stories.”

Anticipating graduation in May, Fronte said that she hopes to move to the West Coast one day, doing what she loves to do: surfing, skating, snowboarding and rapping. She also dreams of working with professional athletes in the world of action sports.

Knowing that her gifts and interests make her a little unusual, Fronte encouraged members of the Liberty community to be who God created them to be, and to embrace whatever skills and passions he has put into their lives.

“Be yourself, love yourself for who you are and definitely love other people and look past people’s differences and love people at the core,” Fronte said.

GRAF is a feature reporter.