Bake It Till You Make It: Mental Health
Using Baking To Empower Mental Health Healing
About Dayna:
Dayna Altman is an energetic and dynamic speaker, entrepreneur, author, and creator. 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. Through her organization, Dayna has become the author of the Bake it Till You Make it cookbook series which pairs stories, recipes and mental health resource pages. Dayna also works to empower and inspire outside of her books by hosting virtual mental health cooking workshops and baking events for her community.
A nationally recognized mental health leader by the Biden-Harris administration, Dayna was one of thirty young leaders invited to the White House for the inaugural Youth Mental Health Action Forum. Additionally Dayna has been featured as an Aerie by American Eagle Changemaker, on CBS News and was named an Entrepreneur to Watch by Billon Success and Excelon Magazine.
Despite considering herself an entrepreneur since the age of eight, Dayna feels she truly embarked on the art of being a creative change maker during college. A dual magna cum laude graduate of Northeastern University, Dayna earned both her BS in Human Services and her Master’s of Public Health.
Before Dayna truly took her “leap” into running Bake it Till You Make it LLC full time, she worked extensively in the field of youth mental health at McLean psychiatric Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital Girls Inc. of Lynn and City Year. With a passion to support the mental health of young people, especially those who identify as girls, Dayna treasures the mentor relationships she created with her youth (many of whom are now exploring their own ways to change the world!)
Outside of speaking, Dayna pursues writing poetry, documentary filmmaking, and baking of course; all in the name of exploring new ways to change the world with her own story. Living with depression and OCD, as well as being in recovery from an eating disorder and sexual assault, Dayna works each day to truly become her message.
WHAT SCHOOLS ARE SAYING
I am hearing great things from people! I am really pumped that we had nearly 100 people on a Wednesday night during midterms. 🙂 Thanks so much! Continue to be well and share your important message. 🙂
Also – Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority’s national philanthropy is ANAD. They were present last night and thought that their national organization could utilize you for some engagements/conferences.
Thanks again.
Heather H. U Pittsburgh, Johnstown
Director of Campus Activities & Engagement
We absolutely loved Dayna! She did a wonderful job adapting while we figured out how to get the presentation connected. I can not say more positive things about her!
Marissa G
Area Coordinator
Wartburg College
Your story was absolutely inspiring! Students and staff gained so much valuable insight into your story! It was definitely something I needed to hear at the time. It was a pleasure to meet you!
Hannah D
Student Activities President
Wartburg College
The event went very well! We got great feedback from students and they were super engaged with Dayna’s presentation. They also asked great questions at the end which as educators always makes us happy, ha!
Thank you so much for all your help – we are thrilled with how the event went!
In Wellness,
Connelly, Wellness Educator
Merrimack College, MA
Dayna was amazing to have on campus, she is so full of energy and good positive vibes. Overall, it went great, thank you for being so easy to work with and making this event happen for us!
Bailey, Assistant Director for Campus Engagement
University of North CarolinaShe was fantastic – very highly regarded by all attendees. We loved having her.
Valarie, Professor of Psychology
Quinsigamond Community CollegeThe event went wonderfully, students were engaged and Dayna was so enthusiastic and insightful during her time here. We are so glad Dayna joined us on campus!
Maria, Student
University of North Carolina
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. 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
Category : Body Image and Empowerment &Leadership, Success & Motivational &Mental Health &Sexual Assault Awareness &Speakers &Women's History Month