About Haley Zega
In 2001, at just six years old, Haley Zega became the center of a national story when she vanished into the Ozark wilderness of Newton County, Arkansas while on a hike with family and friends. For three days, hundreds searched through dense forest, steep ridges, and unforgiving terrain.
Against the odds, she was found alive.
But her survival was only the beginning.
Growing up in the wake of national attention shaped Haley’s understanding of memory, resilience, fear, and the enduring power of community. The experience instilled in her a profound awareness of both vulnerability and strength — themes that continue to inform her work today.
Haley earned her BFA in Acting with Honors from Pace University in New York City, where she trained in contemporary performance and devised theatre through the university's International Performance Ensemble. Her artistic background allows her to approach storytelling — including her own — with nuance, depth, and emotional clarity.
Professionally, Haley serves as a Community Manager at Likewise Community, a vibrant co-working site in downtown Fayetteville, Arkansas where she helps cultivate spaces of connection and belonging. Whether managing community space, planning special events, stepping onto a stage, or speaking before an audience, her work is rooted in the belief that people are inherently generous, good and have the potential to be remarkably powerful when they come together.
Haley LOVES: traveling far and wide, cats, falling down Wikipedia rabbit holes, Shakespeare, hiking, the Philadelphia Flyers, dressing up, shepherd's pie, fancy writing, roller coasters...and her people.
