Dayna Altman

Active Minds Speaker

Dayna Altman is a professional mental health speaker from Active Minds.

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About Dayna

Dayna Altman is an energetic and dynamic mental health speaker, entrepreneur, author, and advocate. The full force and sole operator of Bake it Till You Make it LLC, Dayna harvests her passion for mental health advocacy by using food and baking to create an authentic recipe for vulnerable storytelling. A nationally recognized mental health leader by the Biden-Harris administration, a dual graduate of Northeastern University, and an active Boston community member, Dayna has experience both working in the mental health field and with youth-based non-profits. Dayna is the author of four mental health cookbooks and the subject of an award-winning recovery documentary. Currently, Dayna pursues writing poetry, documentary filmmaking and creating art as a means to explore new ways to change the world using her own story.

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Despite considering herself an entrepreneur since the age of eight, Dayna feels she truly embarked on the art of being a creative mental health changemaker during college. During her time pursuing her BS in Human Services, Dayna co-founded the Active Minds Chapter at her college: Northeastern University.

Before Dayna truly took her “leap” into speaking with Active Minds and running her company: Bake it Till You Make it LLC full-time, she worked extensively with youth at McLean Hospital, Girls Inc. of Lynn and City Year. With a passion for supporting the mental health of young people, especially those who identify as girls, Dayna treasures the mentor relationships she created with youth, many of whom are now exploring their own ways to change the world! In 2022, Dayna was invited to speak at the White House as part of the Inaugural Youth Mental Health Action Forum. As a result of this experience, Dayna is the subject of a mental health recovery documentary about her organization: Bake it Till You Make it. Dayna is also the author of the Bake it Till You Make it series. Four (so far) mental health cookbooks that combine resources, recipes and stories. Learn more here.

Dayna has been featured in Experience Life Magazine by Lifetime Fitness, Aerie by American Eagle, Canvas Rebel, Bold Future Journeys as well as WCVB and CBS News.

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Booking information

Key topics

Depression
Trauma
Eating Disorders
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Recovery through Creativity
Youth Mental Health

Dayna’s Presentation Options

Healing from Scratch

Healing from Scratch is a presentation in which mental health author and entrepreneur, Dayna Altman tells her story with a twist. The creator of a baking-based mental health organization, Dayna chronicles her battles with depression, OCD, and eating disorders while facilitating a live bread-baking demonstration for her audience. Using ingredients as metaphors, Dayna’s raw account of her recovery is a means of inspiration and palatable conversation.

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What people are saying about Dayna

I was struck by Dayna’s affability and frankly in awe of her vulnerability in sharing such delicate experiences in an empowering way. She was incredibly responsible throughout the planning process, making our partnership seamless. I was blown away by Dayna’s ability to foster such an open environment for a group of 15. Dayna carefully wove in metaphors throughout her script which fostered robust group participation and gave a very heavy conversation a playful and silly component didn’t, etc. Dayna believes that food is something that unifies us and is easy to talk about, and I attribute the success of this powerful experience to her ability to weave references to mental health into every step of the recipes. She is incredible to work with.

-Illana Gensler, Northeastern University

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month this past May, Dayna led an interactive cooking demonstration for interested members of City Year’s corps, staff, and alumni communities during which she shared her mental health recovery story while baking. Dayna’s ability to be vulnerable, informative, and relatable while sharing her personal journey helped our people to feel validated and seen in their own journeys. I would be remiss if I did not share that Dayna has an uncanny ability to convey light and joy when presenting and communicating. Exploring topics related to mental health and well-being can be very heavy for folks and Dayna’s warm and humanizing presence helps people to feel supported and empowered in vulnerable spaces.

-Allison Hertz, City Year

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