Nicole Avant and her family have lived through the unthinkable. Her mother, 81-year-old philanthropist Jacqueline Avant, was fatally shot in her Beverly Hills home during a home invasion on Dec. 1, 2021.

Jacqueline’s husband, music industry legend Clarence Avant, was also home at the time. “My faith has kept me stable,” Nicole told me Friday morning at the opening of the Jacqueline Avant Children and Family Center at the MLK Medical Campus in the Watts-Willowbrook community. “But it is true that life does begin again and you will smile again. You have to believe that even if you don’t see how that can be, you have to act as if.”

Jacqueline’s killer was sentenced last year to 190 years to life in prison.

The three-story children and family center embodies Jacqueline’s lifelong devotion to helping the underserved and underrepresented. The 5,000-square-foot facility uses programs that address the needs of at-risk children struggling with trauma, health and mental health problems.

“My mom would wake me up when I was eight years old and say, ‘We’re going to Watts, we’re going to South Central and we’re bringing books and food,’” Nicole tells me. “I’d be like, ‘But I want to go play soccer in Roxbury Park.’ She’d say, ‘You have to remember to serve others all the time. It doesn’t mean you have to dismiss yourself — but you do have to share.’”

The center opening and dedication attracted giants of the music industry, including Jerry Moss, Jimmy Jam, Phil Quartararo, L.A. Reid, Hollywood management powerhouse Benny Medina, real estate tycoon and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso, actor Holly Robinson Peete and Nicole’s husband, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos.

Los Angles Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell opened the ceremony before handing the mic to Dr. Janet Arnold-Clark, who detailed the lifesaving and affirming work being done at the center.

Nicole offered brief remarks before guests were invited to tour the facility. Standing in front of a wall of white flowers and greenery, Nicole tells me she was close to tears as she spoke and saw so many of her mother’s friends in attendance. “But I knew I couldn’t break down because if I started crying, my dad would start crying,” she says.

I asked Nicole to elaborate on her faith — specifically, if she ever questioned God’s existence while trying to come to terms with her mother’s passing. “Never. I actually thanked God for being with my mom,” she says. “My mom always said, ‘Sometimes people will make very bad choices, but it doesn’t take away from the goodness of God because everyone has free will.’ Atrocities have happened to everybody in this world, all races and religions, male, female, it’s happened around the globe forever. She always said, ‘Look, you have to focus on the good people who says, ‘That’s not okay.’ With every atrocity there is somebody who says, ‘Wait a minute, hold on, that’s not right.’ We need to focus on that.”

With the opening of the center, Nicole and her family have turned their focus from tragedy to helping others. “My friend Dionne said to me, ‘The greatest way you can honor your mom’s life is to live to the fullest. That is what you have to do,’” she says. “Your job is to live to the fullest because you don’t know how long you have on this earth, no one does. Sometimes you have three months, sometimes you have three years, you just don’t know. People remember you by your good works. That’s what people remember.”

Magic Johnson was expected at the center opening but had a last minute schedule conflict. Mitchell read a statement from the basketball legend. “I know that the existence of this building and the services and resources that it will provide to the children and families of this community is a goal that Jacquie worked towards for many, many years,” Johnson wrote. “I have no doubt that every time a child walks through these doors, the spirit of Jacquie will be giving them a comforting hug, and that she will be looking down upon them with her loving smile.”

Nicole adds, “My mom was very gentle and soft and quiet. It wasn’t weakness at all. It was such strength. She always said to tread lightly because you never know what someone else is going through.”

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