Dina Zuckerberg ’91 was born with a cleft lip, hearing loss, and no vision in one eye. Her craniofacial difference required six surgeries, years of braces, and speech therapy throughout her childhood. The surgeries had lasting scars that were more than just physical; they were deeply emotional. She was teased and bullied growing up. She remembers how in elementary school she was excluded, sometimes sitting alone on the school bus and in the lunchroom. Over time, she believes those experiences caused her to “lose my voice,” she says.
When Dina entered Goucher in the fall of 1987 as part of the first co-educational class, she began to reclaim it. An American studies major, Dina found her footing through involvement.
Dina became active in the Jewish Students Association, attending Shabbat dinners in the Kosher Dining Hall as well as a memorable community Passover Seder. She took on leadership roles in groups that had meaning to her by becoming the secretary of Amnesty International, the secretary of Jewish Student Association, and a member of SGA’s Social Committee. “It opened my mind to new ideas, thinking, and experiences,” she recalls.
After Goucher, she worked at a corporate law firm as a litigation paralegal, an experience that she says ultimately “squashed my dreams of wanting to be a lawyer.” Yet her liberal arts background, her ability to think, read, and write critically, opened other doors for her. She went on to work at the Author’s Guild, which she described as a “fun” job that introduced her to lots of well-known writers.
She later joined Goldman Sachs in the NY Private Wealth Management, rising to VP in the Investment Strategy Group. Still something felt missing. She began volunteering, searching for work that aligned more closely with her passions.
That search brought her back to a formative part of her identity. After college, Dina got involved with a group called the Inner Faces, a group of teens and adults with facial differences. In 1994, the group wrote and performed an original show about their lives at the One Dream Theater. Through skits, music, and mirrorlogues—monologues delivered while looking in a mirror and asking “what do you see?”—they shared their truths. For Dina, it was the first time getting on stage and sharing her own story in such a public way, and it was transformative. “It was the beginning of rediscovering myself and understanding how my difference could allow me to reach a wider audience,” she says. Dina’s mom, Barbara, recalls, “When she began working with people who were her age in that community, it made such a difference.”
Dina eventually joined myFace, first as a volunteer and later as a full-time career, where she has found her vocation. “I wanted no child to go through what I had gone through growing up,” she says. One of the programs she is most proud of is the myFace Wonder Project, an anti-bullying initiative inspired by the best-selling young adult novel Wonder, by R.J. Palacio. The presentation educates students in schools across the country on the importance of celebrating uniqueness, being an “Upstander,” and always choosing to be kind. Dina shares her story about growing up with a craniofacial difference and emphasizes how her challenges have never stopped her from doing anything she wanted in her life. During her school assemblies, one of the many thoughtful questions often asked is, Do you wish it could have been different for you growing up? “My answer, after lots of thought, is yes, I wish it could have been easier,” she says. “But I also know that I wouldn’t be the person I am now, doing what I do, if not for the experiences I had. Maybe I’m exactly where I was meant to be.”
During the pandemic, the presentations expanded to both virtual and in person, and the Wonder Project has reached over 100,000 students nationwide. When the 10th anniversary illustrated edition of Wonder was being published, Dina was asked by the author to write the foreword, an honor that reflects both her advocacy and her deep connection to the work. “When Wonder first came out in 2012, I resonated with it from the first page,” Dina says. “When Auggie talks about wishing he had a magic lamp—I remembered on my birthday when I was around 8 years old blowing out the candles on my birthday cake, wishing life would be a little easier for me.”
In addition to the Wonder Project, Dina hosts a monthly podcast called “myFace, myStory” interviewing guests, which reaches over 40,000 listeners and is available on YouTube and other podcasting platforms. As director of family programs, Dina brings her lived experience to the programs she helps implement for the individuals and families myFace serves. Whether it is through myFace’s emotional support groups, online educational series, family networking events, or public awareness initiatives, her goal is to advocate for the craniofacial community and make sure their voices are heard. She wants everyone with a facial difference to know myFace is here for them, and that they are not alone on their journey. “It’s a job that has had tremendous meaning in her life,” says her mother. “Dina always had a lot of courage and put herself out there. What she does is meaningful and beneficial.”
If you would like to bring the Wonder Project to a school in your area, go to myFace.org/wonder or email dina@myface.org. Those who knew her in college remember her as always kind, generous, and friendly, someone who did anything she could to help others. Her classmates nominated her for Goucher’s Elizabeth Statuta Baker ’70 Public Service Award, which she will receive at her 35th class reunion in April 2026.
From losing her voice as a child to becoming a national advocate for kindness and belonging, Dina’s journey is one of resilience, purpose, and wonder.