The Frost School of Music at the University of Miami offers world-class instruction on virtually all aspects of music, from creation to performance to teaching to business. But that exhaustive instruction is only part of the educational experience. In and out of the classroom, the Frost School fosters a mindset dubbed “FrostBuilt,” encouraging students to be resourceful, proactive, and entrepreneurial as they develop a broad range of skills that put them on track to be leaders wherever their careers take them.
One student who has embraced that trajectory is Angelina Mack, a junior in the Modern Artist Development and Entrepreneurship (M.A.D.E.) program, which empowers students aiming to be independent artists and entrepreneurs with the flexibility and freedom to tailor their education to their own goals. She has taken full advantage of those opportunities, especially over the past year.
Mack’s efforts outside the classroom have included serving as a brand ambassador for WhatsApp, and being selected for programs such as the VOLUMES online networking summit and the ASCAP Foundation’s The Collective Workshop. She also recorded and released her first song in October, marketing it effectively enough to amass more than 20,000 Spotify streams in two weeks.
On top of all this, Mack took a 20-credit course load during the fall 2025 semester and made the Provost’s Honor Roll. This spring, she will study abroad in Barcelona, Spain, through the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program. Eventually, she hopes to run her own music-industry business, one that connects artists and listeners.
“The Frost School of Music has been great at showing me the opportunities out there and how to be resourceful,” Mack said. “I’ve learned a variety of skills I’ll need to excel at whatever I do, and the Frost School has shown me what’s possible. The skills I’ve learned here have opened my mind up to anything I’d want to do in any facet of the music industry or business.”
Another #FrostBuilt exemplar is Maria Paula Mariño, a graduate student in the Media Scoring and Production program studying composition for film and visual media. She is also a producer, engineer, and photographer, on track to earn her master’s degree in May 2026.
Mariño put her skills to work on multiple extracurricular projects where she collaborated with other students, including stage-managing the UNSIN Music Festival, co-organizing a Sound & Studio Stories event, and serving as co-president of the new Frost School chapter of We Are Moving The Needle, a group that empowers women in the music industry. She recently won the BMI Foundation’s William Goldstein Scholarship and has worked extensively as a studio engineer in Miami as well as New Orleans, where she earned her undergraduate degree at Loyola University.
Eventually, Mariño hopes to own her own recording studio. More immediately, she’s working on her first EP under her own name for her graduate thesis project.
“The most valuable thing about the Frost School of Music is the network,” Mariño says. “The school is so well-connected to the music industry and really pushes students to take advantage of it. They also push you to think in terms of entrepreneurship, business, and marketing, and to try a lot of different things. The school is great at leveling you up in all areas and putting opportunities in front of you. It’s all right there. Like life in general, the rest is up to you. I feel like I’m being formed into a multi-faceted artist.”
