Danielle Yvette Bilanko

R.I.P. July 4, 2026

In Loving Memory

Danielle Yvette Bilanko (age 44) passed away on July 4, 2026 at her residence in Santa Cruz, California. She was born in Chicago, Illinois and was the youngest in a family of four sisters.

Danielle will be remembered for her imagination and determination. She excelled in all the arts, especially fashion, food, and fine art. She began studying art and design at Barrington High School. After graduating from Santa Cruz High, Danielle got her associates degree and enrolled in specialized courses, studied with mentors, and invented new ways of creating anything she put her mind to. Danielle was extremely sentimental, and valued family tradition. She began working for the family-owned business, Ivéta Gourmet, at a young age, and in 2016, opened the second Ivéta restaurant on UCSC campus. She invented, designed, and built a cold brew coffee brewer for the cafes. She taught herself Illustrator, re-designed the packaging for Ivéta Gourmet baking mixes, and was in development of a new line of tea scones. She mastered the art of chocolatier and cake decoration, creating her own signature line of desserts exclusive to Ivéta Gourmet. She studied fashion design and taught herself to sew. She brought her imagination to life through drawing and painting. She was a lover of music, attended many concerts, and surrounded herself with talented musicians who inspired her to learn guitar, piano, drums, and violin. She had a large record collection, turntables, and mixer and dabbled in the art of DJ-ing. 

In 2018, Danielle received the Mayor’s Certificate of Achievement award in Santa Cruz for being an outstanding mother. Danielle taught Ewan to communicate with sign language before he was able to speak, and fought hard to successfully birth Sophia. She effortlessly whipped up photorealistic pancakes of her kids’ favorite cartoon characters and painted an entire wall with chalkboard paint so they could draw on the walls endlessly, creating a living, changing art mural. Danielle loved Halloween and would express her artistic talents by creating fashionable costumes and elaborate decorations for the whole neighborhood to enjoy, but her favorite holiday was spent with the family watching explosions of rainbow glitter paint the starry night sky on the 4th of July.

∞

A ceremony celebrating the life of Danielle Yvette Bilanko will be held on Saturday, October 10th at Ivéta in Santa Cruz, CA.

This will be a casual gathering among family and friends.

Please use the form to share or update your contact info so we can stay in touch. If you would like to attend the Memorial we will send you the RSVP.
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Share stories, photos, videos, art, music, poetry, and any other memorabilia of Danielle so that we may compile these memories for her children and loved ones to remember her by.
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Please contact Lauren Bilanko (lauren @ bilanko .com) for a mailing address before sending physical items.