Alyssah Hall
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!First-generation college graduate Monique Stennis moved from Los Angeles to Chino when she was growing up. She left behind a metropolitan area with more cultural diversity to settle in a more rural area with farms. She also became a small fraction of the Black children in her new school.
Stennis’ parents always motivated and encouraged her to achieve a college degree. Although her parents eventually divorced, they remained united in their desire to raise her to seek a higher education. Stennis credits her parents with teaching her through experiences such as traveling outside the country and exposing her to the arts. She went on to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in communications from California State University, San Bernardino, and later acquired her master’s degree in marketing from the University of La Verne.
Stennis has worked over 15 years in the field of higher education. She served as the University of Redlands’ Senior Director of Diversity Initiatives for two years. Now, she teaches adjunct courses there on business, communications and management.
“When I look at 2025, I still think education is very important…I’m a lifelong learner, and it feels like every time I put myself in a position to learn something new, I remember how much I don’t know. I think in order to always put your best foot forward, a formalized higher education is important to do that,” Stennis said.
Stennis had experience in retail management as a training manager and enjoyed the teaching aspect. She decided she wanted to teach as well once she earned her MBA. She has been an adjunct teacher for close to 20 years now. Nearly 10 years ago, Stennis began working at the University of Redlands, doing social media management prior to her interim position related to diversity, equity and inclusion at the university.
“Even though my role was social media manager, I have always put myself in positions of being involved in making places much more equitable. I ended up spending some time on a committee that included staff, faculty and students to talk about, ‘what can we do better at a predominantly white institution to serve our students of color,’ and then I ended up becoming a co-chair of that particular committee,” Stennis said.
Since her role as senior director of diversity initiatives ended last year, Stennis has continued adjunct teaching at the University of Redlands. According to Stennis, it was an interim position and she feels confident about the University’s commitment to diversity.
Currently, Stennis teaches a course she created on personal branding, inspired by a healthcare executive who wanted workshop training for their team. This led to Stennis teaching the course at different colleges, and eventually led to her writing a book titled Truly You: Your Brand’s Pathway to Success.
An important rule of thumb Stennis has learned as an educator is to meet her students where they are. She understands that sometimes her students have a lot going on so she works to be flexible and make adjustments when she needs to so that they can get the information they need to be successful. Stennis said this doesn’t mean to have an absence of standards and believes maintaining professional expectations is possible while still allowing some level of grace. Stennis also challenges herself as an educator to make sure that she is presenting the information to her students to the best of her ability and seeing where she can continue to do better, so that they can thrive and learn.
Stennis has also come across many students who were concerned and fearful about the future of their education journey due to the Trump administration’s views on higher education. As an educator and mentor, Stennis wants to empower the students who come to her with fears about their schooling by telling them to go forward with their education by any means necessary.
“As a Black child, understanding the history in this country, there was never a focus in my household of fear –[about someone not allowing]- you to get an education. The focus was to do everything you can to get that education,” Stennis shared.
“When I think about the students I am engaged with today that have that fear, I don’t relate to that fear, because I am from a group of people who have been oppressed for so long, and that regardless of our oppression, we’re still going to make it happen,” Stennis continued.
Since Stennis’s spring/summer course recently ended, she has been focused on what’s next for her, and is contemplating writing a second book. Her next book would highlight what personal branding means, specifically for Black women professionals. Stennis encourages Black professional women of any age to connect with her on LinkedIn to engage in a deeper conversation about navigating being Black in business and education.
Stennis shared that while she wants to explore other opportunities, she knows her path will end up in an area of academia.
“I don’t know if there are any studies out there, but I think part of the hallmark of being a Black educator is not only the functionality of educating within a subject, but also educating the whole of the person,” Stennis said.
“I feel like there is much more that we tend to give as Black educators, because of our history, because of our pursuit to thrive in this country, regardless of what was in front of us,” Stennis finished.
This article is part of the 2025 Black Voice News Series, Black Leaders in Higher Education in the Inland Empire. The series is produced in partnership with the Black Voice Foundation.