Loved ones remember Brianna Kupfer for compassionate nature, creative abilities

This post was updated Feb. 26 at 9:13 p.m.

Brianna Kupfer was always ready to believe in people, said her sister Mikaela Kupfer.

“Every time any of us wanted to do anything, she was the first one to be like, ‘I believe in you. You’ve got this,’ Mikaela said. “She was just 100% good.”

Brianna, who was pursuing a certificate in interior design in UCLA Extension’s Architecture and Interior Design program, died on Jan. 13 after being attacked at Croft House, a furniture store on La Brea Avenue, where she worked as a design consultant. She was 24 years old. A suspect has been arrested and charged in connection to the crime.

Born and raised in Pacific Palisades, Brianna was a Los Angeles local. She graduated from Brentwood High School, where she played soccer, ran track and field, performed with the dance team, and served as captain of the cheerleading team, Mikaela said.

After graduating high school, Brianna went to the University of Miami, where she participated in a study abroad program at the University of Sydney in Australia in 2018. She graduated from the University of Miami in 2019 with a degree in public relations. She lived with her family at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but later moved to Culver City and lived with her close friend Lynn McIlvain while working and taking courses at UCLA. She was also a member of the UCLA Extension Student Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers, Mikaela said.

Brianna’s family and friends described her as compassionate and talented in a variety of interests.

McIlvain became close friends with Brianna at Brentwood High School and enrolled in the same UCLA Extension program with her. She said Brianna was very social.

“She was just the brightest light and would bring so much to any social scene and is always there to have a good time and always there to put a smile on everyone’s face,” McIlvain said. “(She) truly lit up the room when she’d walk in.”

Mikaela said her sister loved to improve her life and the lives of those around her with her knack for design and love for learning. She would keep journals to write down new knowledge she would discover, such as historical facts or information about different events, constantly trying new ways to express her creativity.

Despite seeming introverted at first, Brianna was always the life of the party, Mikaela said. Brianna would push her to be brave with new experiences, Mikaela added, convincing her to go whitewater rafting and skydiving in Australia, she said.

“Brianna has definitely been the biggest role model for me my entire life, and I think that pretty much every aspect of my life was shaped by her – my opinions, my humor. … The way that I approached life was all because of Brianna,” Mikaela said. “I was so proud of her and always trying to be like her.”

Brianna also loved to redesign old clothes and created new styles almost effortlessly, hoping to have her own clothing line someday, Mikaela said. She loved to have fun with her style and was never afraid to carry herself confidently with unconventional combinations and staples such as her white cowboy boots, added Kaitlyn Nyman, a close friend of Brianna’s since high school.

Close friend Gaby Hirschler, who also befriended Brianna in high school, said she was always impressed with Brianna’s ever-present craftsmanship and admired her humble demeanor.

“She sent me a picture of (an outfit) and I was obsessed. I was like, ‘Where did you buy this? I need it.’ And she goes, ‘Oh yeah, I just got bored and I sewed it,’” Hirschler said. “No one else could just get bored and sew something that was so intricate and detailed.”

Brianna also loved the outdoors and was conscious of the environment. Besides being resourceful with older clothes, she hoped to incorporate that passion into interior design with sustainable materials, McIlvain added. She often offered to help family and friends organize their living spaces to feel simple and spacious, Hirschler said. She usually added plenty of plants, Mikaela added.

A friend like Brianna is hard to find, McIlvain said.

Despite being roommates and seeing one another often, McIlvain said she and Brianna would not clash and were the best of friends. They woke up together and spent hours in class and socializing together, McIlvain added.

“Her presence was comforting. … It’s hard not to have her here,” McIlvain said. “She was really a sense of comfort to me, and I think that she was that for a lot of people.”

She also liked to hike, dance and box, as well as regularly did yoga and meditated for her internal well-being, Nyman said. She admired how Brianna was conscious of her own and others’ personal needs and had a bright and inclusive nature, she added.

“We had a really late night out, and she needed another two hours of sleep. I was texting her, (and) she would let me know that she needed those two hours of sleep before she could be available to chat,” Nyman said. “I always felt like she was so in tune with herself and so in touch with her needs, and it felt like she did those things so that she could show up 100% for the people around her.”

Nyman said some of her favorite memories with Brianna were ordinary yet special, as Brianna could make daily life fun and memorable. One time, she said, she and Brianna realized they had forgotten where their car was parked after attending a sports game.

“We wandered the streets for 45 minutes just hysterically laughing with each other, being like, ‘I actually have no idea where we’re going,’” Nyman said. “I felt in those moments, if I was with anyone else, I would have been panicking or freaking out. … It always felt like no matter what we were doing, we always had a good time.”