Juliana Kuhno ’24 is remembered as fearless, adventurous and a fierce friend by her father Chuck Kuhno. Her mother Deana Kuhno said she was creative and always involved — whether she was working on her own passion projects or leading student organizations at Elon.
Juliana died Oct. 19 after complications from surgery. She was 22 years old and living in Wake Forest with her family after having graduated from Elon in May.
Juliana was involved with Limelight Records, Net Impact and The Edge Magazine on campus. She studied communications design and strategic communications and has worked in social media with multiple different brands, including Breakaway Music Festival and DG Creative Media.
“She just wanted to do things all the time, and she always felt like she had to keep going, keep going, keep going,” Chuck said. “She was a very resilient, persistent person.”
Both her parents said Juliana was always looking to move to New York, as that is where their family is originally from and she previously had interned there with Roc Nation entertainment company.
Morgan Hack ’23, who now lives in New York, said she had been excited for Juliana to move there as well so they could once again live near each other.
“I was really looking forward to living near her, and just cheerleading her more and watching her career,” Hack said. “She's been learning from mine, and I learned, little did I know I was learning from her, and I'm still learning from her.”
Hack said Juliana had many friends and her personality allowed her to connect with various types of people. Hack said Juliana was great at bringing people who previously did not know each other together.
Juliana and Hack met Juliana’s freshman year and stayed friends ever since, Hack said.
“Jules kind of just became my little sister, since we both didn't do the whole greek life thing and took on this relationship of big sister with her,” Hack said. “From helping her with her four year plan and her resume and her internships, we really bonded over having a career after Elon.”
Hack described her as someone who lived in the moment — from her love of music festivals to her overall outlook on life. Juliana loved music in general, particularly Taylor Swift, and Hack said the two of them would regularly drive around Elon in Juliana’s black Jeep listening to and singing music.
“I have this video of her singing at a green light when everybody was waiting, and she just wanted her moment singing before she kept driving,” Hack said. “I felt that that said a lot about her, that people can wait, things can wait. … That moment showed me a lot that she was just like, ‘Let's just stay here one second and just finish this lyric.”
Juliana was always a fierce advocate for others, Chuck said. No matter how busy she was, she always had time for her friends.
“That's the biggest thing I noticed with my daughter throughout all these years,” Chuck said. “It didn't matter who it was. If somebody needed a shoulder to cry on, or an ear to listen to, Juliana provided it. Even at her detriment. She would give extra time for people, even some people she didn't even know that well.”
Senior Jasper Nadler said she met Juliana her freshman year, when Juliana was a sophomore. They bonded over a love of music, among other things, as Nadler is an artist for Limelight Records and Juliana was on the executive board for the organization.
“I thought to myself, ‘Wow, I didn't realize cool people actually went to this school,’” Nadler said. “You could see her from a mile away with her big stomper boots and her extravagant outfits, and she was just really one of a kind.”
Nadler said she cannot find one bad thing to say about Juliana, something she said she has never felt about another person.
“If you knew her, you were lucky, and she was just such a light,” Nadler said. “She was so selfless and always radiated the best energy, where you couldn't help but smile if you were around her. And she was just so compassionate, and her aura was contagious.”
Phoebe Becker ’23 met Juliana her sophomore year, which was Juliana’s freshman year. Becker said Juliana was always a vibrant and colorful person — but also someone who has been there as a friend for her and countless others.
Becker remembered the time Juliana helped her trap a feral cat on Elon’s campus, as well as neuter and release the cat. Becker said Juliana was the first person she thought of and went to. Becker said Juliana not only took in the cat and looked after it, but gave her medication.
“She was always good at seeing the best in people,” Becker said. ”Not just seeing it, she was good at bringing it out of people.”
Deana said Juliana was always involved in creative projects and said Juliana was working on a song which Deana found after her voice teacher gave it to her. Deana said the song makes her feel like she was attuned with life and almost knew what was coming.
“Her song is ‘Wish You Were Here,’ which is what we all are wishing,” Deana said. “There’s a lot of things that point to us feeling like she kind of knew the way her story was gonna turn out.”
Her family will be holding a celebration of life for Juliana on Nov. 3, as they decided focusing on her life, as opposed to her death, was what Juliana would have wanted.
“She really felt like Elon was home,” Deana said. “She was very sad, actually, to leave when she graduated. … That was home. She made it home.”