Work Life

Dayna Reggero is a listener and award-winning documentarian. She was an All-American and Division 1 long distance runner. Dayna’s work started at 19, when she began appearing on television with animals to promote connection to nature.

In a print feature, Woman’s Day Magazine showcased Dayna as an “Earth Mother: an Artist Activist who isn’t just fighting for cleaner air and water, but protecting a community’s most precious resources – its people.”

Salon.com wrote: “By trade, Dayna Reggero is an environmentalist. Her work spans over two decades and ranges from filmmaking to beginning her career as a spokesperson. However, her most skilled work might come in the form of organizing conversations, or simply starting them.”

Dayna has been interviewed by CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX networks and coordinated with Animal Planet, TLC, and the Food Network for features. Her efforts have been featured by the Jane Goodall Institute, National Geographic as an Open Explorer Expedition, and in nationwide PBS series EcoSense for Living. Mallory McDuff’s 2023 book, “Love Your Mother” features a chapter on Dayna’s work. Dayna was selected for the Jackson Wild Mentorship Program and participated in the Sundance Institute Short Film Program.

Dayna was invited to join Ethan Hawke, Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Josh Hamilton, Antonique Smith and frontline leaders for the 2023 Climate March and Jane Fonda and Taylor Schilling for special Gulf Coast Fire Drill Friday in DC. Dayna launched Woody Harrelson’s effort to preserve forests; coordinated with Ian Somerhalder on collaborations to move beyond coal and protect forests; shared the inspiring voices of Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Cheech Marin on an album connecting children and nature; interviewed Michelle Branch, Adam Savage, Olivia Newton John, Fabulous Beekman Boys, and many more thought leaders for features about sustainability; and coordinated with Danny Glover and Patti LaBelle at events for social justice and animal welfare. In 2023, she interviewed the filmmakers behind the Netflix series Our Planet II and joined an intimate writers room with Hollywood writers, producers, and showrunners to chat about climate fiction ideas for top tv shows and movies like Walking Dead, The Umbrella Academy, and Lois and Clark.

Dayna’s first film effort was a tour of California’s sustainable farmers with Discovery Communications and Chevy Volt. Then, Dayna collaborated with the Sierra Club on the Emmy Award-winning series “Years of Living Dangerously” before founding the Climate Listening Project.

The Climate Listening Project connects hopeful conversations on climate change impacts and community solutions through listening and radical love. Dayna traveled to Belize to listen to birders across borders for “The Wood Thrush Connection” film. Dayna went on a national listening tour, filming moms for documentary “The Story We Want”. She traveled across the United States listening to farmers for a series “Cultivating Resilience”. She traveled to listen to doctors and health professionals on the front lines for her film “Planet Prescription”. And she listened to artists along the beaches and bayous of the Gulf Coast sacrifice zones for her new documentary short film “Gulf Coast Love Story”.

The Climate Listening Project has reached millions of people. Films continue to be shown at local and international impact events, from universities to the Paris Climate Talks. The “Faith in Action” film was shared with a DIY action toolkit at 4,000 churches across the United States. Dayna created a live mural with students at the University of Houston as part of art equity and solidarity initiative to launch Gulf Coast Murals, sharing funding with artists creating murals in cities along the Gulf Coast visioning a healthy hopeful future.

Education

Master of Science, Environmental Policy
Bachelor of Arts, Communications

Honors

Official Selection, Cinema Verde International Film Festival, 2024
Official Selection, Redfish Film Festival, 2024
Winner, Mattie Stepanek Poetic Film Prize, 2023
Winner, Best Director, Southern Shorts Awards, 2023
Winner, Impact Documentary Awards, 2023
Honorable Mention, Los Angeles Underground Film Festival, 2023
Finalist, Her Vision Film Festival, 2023
Finalist, Gulf Coast Film and Video Festival, 2023
Official Selection, International Social Change Film Festival, 2023
Official Selection, Florida Environmental Film Festival, 2023
Official Selection, Big Syn International Film Festival, 2023
Official Selection, Emerald Coast Film Festival, 2023
Official Selection, Lake Charles Film Festival, 2023
Official Selection, REEL East Texas Film Festival, 2023
Official Selection, Gulf Coast Short Film Festival, 2023
Winner, Maya Deren Short Film Innovation Prize, 2022
Winner, Femme Filmmakers Festival, 2022
Finalist, Don Eldon Activist Award, 2021
Winner, My Hero Project International Film Festival, 2021
Winner, Cinema Verde International Film Festival, 2021
Winner, Impact Docs Awards, 2020
Winner, Southern States Indie Film Fest, 2020
Official Selection, Fist Up Film Festival, 2020
Official Selection, Real to Reel International Film Festival, 2020
Official Selection, Cat Fly Indie Film Festival, 2020
Semi-Finalist, Southeast Regional Film Festival, 2020
Official Selection, Connect Beyond Festival, 2020
Official Selection, Southern Screen Film Festival, 2020
Official Selection, Big Syn International Film Festival UN SDG, 2020
Official Selection, Femme Filmmakers Festival, 2019
Official Selection, Film Vault Presents, 2019
Winner, Best Documentary, Micropolitan Film Festival, 2018
Winner, Best Film, 48 Hour Film Festival, 2018
Featured Filmmaker, Beyond the Page Film Festival, 2018
Official Selection, Los Angeles Women’s International Film Festival, 2018
Official Selection, Cat Fly Indie Film Festival, 2018
McCullough Fellowship Partner, University of North Carolina, 2018
Winner, Best Short Documentary, Belize International Film Festival, 2017
Finalist, Best Environmental Film, Boone Film Festival, 2017
Environment & Ecological #Conchie Social Activism Award, 2017
Outstanding Conservationist Top Nominee, Roosevelt-Ashe Awards, 2016
Featured Filmmaker, Wild & Scenic Film Festival, 2016
Shorty Award, Plant-a-Tree Campaign, 2012
Community Leader of the Year, Sustainable Energy Association, 2009
PR Power Award, Public Relations Society of America, 2007
Addy Award, Print Campaign, Advertising Federation, 2006
Addy Award, Mixed Media Campaign, Advertising Federation, 2006
Emerging Leader of the Year, Chamber of Commerce, 2006

Travel

Dayna is from New York and now lives on the Gulf Coast. She has traveled to work, study or explore in Australia, Belize, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Switzerland, Fiji, Puerto Rico, Aruba, Virgin Islands, Canada, and throughout most of the United States. She lived in Ecuador for three months as part of a student-exchange and volunteered in Italy for three months in a newly preserved forest in the Alps.

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