MEET JULIANA
Juliana is the product of a working-class family. Her mom was a nurse, and her dad is a chef, a retired restaurant owner, and a veteran. When Juliana was nine, her mom passed away from cancer. Her family lost their home in the recession in suburban Illinois and relocated to Beloit, WI. There, her dad opened Mama Lou’s Shrimp and BBQ Smokehouse, named for Juliana’s great-grandmother. By age 15, Juliana co-managed the business as her dad battled congestive heart failure. Soon after, her family moved to Madison to be closer to the VA, where Juliana graduated from Madison West High School.
Juliana’s background taught her the power of community. In 2020, she co-founded the Madison BIPOC Coalition during the Black Lives Matter movement and led the fight for racial justice. At 21, while still a student at UW-Madison, her community elected her as the District 8 Alder -- and re-elected her two years later. As Alder, she legalized duplexes citywide, helped pass over 1,000 units of affordable housing, invested millions in homeless and undocumented communities, stood up for Gaza and Madison’s communities of color, and delivered fair municipal maps. She’s a proud member of Madison Area Democratic Socialists of America, because she understands that these issues are connected, and that we need a mass movement to win the world working people deserve.
The struggles working families in Madison are facing are not hypothetical to me. I’ve lived through it and survived. But, we deserve more than just surviving - we deserve to thrive.
TURNING HARDSHIP INTO ACTION
Juliana knows exactly what it’s like when the system fails. Three years ago, her dad survived a major episode of cardiac arrest. He beat a 6 out of 100 odds of living, thanks to the dedicated first responders and healthcare workers at the Meriter and VA hospitals. But his life came at the cost of an over $500,000 medical bill and an eviction from a greedy landlord.
These experiences shaped Juliana and drove her to fight for families facing the same in public service. She graduated from UW–Madison in 2022, worked as a Federal Legislative Liaison at the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA), and now serves as the Chief of Staff to Wisconsin’s first Filipino American state representative. Throughout it all, she’s learned that these hardships are not accidents, but the result of a rigged system and leaders unwilling to fight hard enough. That’s why she’s running to build a movement that empowers working class people to fight for real democracy in our government, in our workplaces, and in our communities.
“I believe we can create a better future with leaders who will fight for Madison.”
