Zara Rahim is a strategic communications advisor and cultural strategist working at the intersection of politics, media, and culture. She most recently served as Senior Advisor to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, first as an early architect of his historic mayoral campaign and later within City Hall during the administration’s first 100 days.
Rahim helped shape the campaign’s narrative, cultural strategy, and national media profile. Mamdani has credited her with helping frame the campaign early on— moving away from conventional political playbooks toward a vision grounded in the lived reality of New York City. Throughout the campaign, she helped guide how he was understood by the press, translating his identity as a Brown Muslim immigrant candidate while positioning him as a serious governing figure. She also played a key role in debate preparation, helping script a breakout performance that catapulted him into the national spotlight.
Her approach to media and culture emphasized meeting audiences where they already were, rather than relying solely on traditional political institutions or legacy press. Rahim helped shape a strategy that moved fluidly across artists, sports, nightlife, podcasts, comedy, and politically oppositional media environments—placing the campaign in spaces that reflected how people actually consume culture and form political identity today. A major part of her work also involved navigating the political and media complexities surrounding Muslim identity, Gaza, and criticism of the Democratic Party at a national scale.
Her broader work spans politics, media, entertainment, and social impact. Clients and collaborators have included A24, Incite at Columbia University, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Mariah Carey, Netflix, The New York Public Library, Pillars Fund, and the MTA. Rahim began her career on President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign before joining the White House, and later served as Communications Director at Vogue.
A first-generation Bangladeshi American, she is a daughter of Florida yet a New Yorker through and through. She's based in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.