Jul 13, 2021

Zara Rahim started her career at the the top: She parlayed a college internship on Barack Obama’s re-election campaign into a full time job and eventually landed on the administration’s digital team, helping to get the White House more established on platforms like Twitter and Instagram. That first job would serve her well in ways she could never have foreseen: Rahim left the White House to follow Obama administration alums to work at Uber, where she would work on legislation around ride sharing. Having done her time in Silicon Valley, she was glad to return to politics when another Obama vet asked her to join the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016.

She has characterized Clinton’s loss as a crushing one, but her old Rolodex came in handy again when she was invited to come work at Vogue, of all places, where the communications director also had Obama ties. Rahim herself would be made communications director after just six months on the job.

After a restructuring at Condé Nast, Rahim was tapped as the first comms hire at the Wing, a beleaguered women’s coworking space. Her political allegiances got her into hot water when she wished death upon President Trump after his Covid diagnosis last year—though her outspokenness may have won her more friends than foes in her world. It certainly didn’t keep her from serving as a consultant and advisor to Mariah Carey on her acclaimed 2020 memoir, “The Meaning of Mariah Carey,” the subsequent book tour and social impact campaign.

Today, after counting Obama, Clinton, Anna Wintour and Mariah Carey as bosses, Rahim works for herself as a communications and policy consultant. She is also a talent producer for (fellow Brooklyn 50-er) Ziwe Fumidoh’s eponymous show on Showtime. When cultural commentator and author Fran Lebowitz appeared on the inaugural episode of “Ziwe”—unaware of what she was getting into—she said of Rahim: “She wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Not a bad endorsement for LinkedIn. Not that she needs it.