Niamh Rahman ‘16 came to UW-Madison with the goal of pursuing her childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian, but her academic journey took a different turn. After struggling through some challenging prerequisite courses during her first two years of undergrad, Rahman had to make a difficult decision — whether or not she wanted to commit to the time-intensive vet school path. Ultimately, her interest in psychology and skills in writing led to her double major in Psychology and Journalism, blending her passions for both the creative arts and science.
Today, Rahman is a senior digital campaigns associate at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a public health and nutrition-focused nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. Rahman leads email marketing, copywriting and paid social media campaigns for the nonprofit, which advocates for fewer chemical additives in food on grocery store shelves, healthier nutrition policies across the U.S. at local, state and federal levels, stronger regulation of foodborne illness by the Food and Drug Administration and United States Department of Agriculture, and access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits for individuals in need, among other efforts. Her psychology degree provided her with a foundation for understanding the nonprofit’s research on health and nutrition trends in the U.S. to communicate data findings to public audiences.
“Even if I’m not talking to my peers about psychology, having that understanding and science background is helpful to understand and break down the research for a lay audience,” Rahman says. “What I do in communications is bridging the gap between scientists or researchers and the general public.”
Rahman started working at the nonprofit in 2022 after working remotely for two years as a digital marketing specialist at a homeopathic, natural wellness company. Before that, she held digital strategist and account services roles at two Milwaukee ad agencies and worked as a communications assistant at the Waisman Center, which researches human development and disabilities.
Her position at CSPI has allowed her to return to nonprofit work and, because it is fully remote, gives her flexibility to travel — one of her passions.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rahman also started to pursue freelance digital marketing and photography. She owns a business that provides social media marketing, copywriting, web design consulting and photography services to clients.
“A lot of what I do on the freelance side is sales, and marketing itself is convincing people of something, and that has to do with the mind,” Rahman says. “In a lot of ways, psychology and marketing overlap. You’re trying to understand why people make the decisions that they do and what can influence them.”
As an undergraduate student, Rahman took Dr. Patti Coffey’s course, The Criminal Mind: A Forensic and Psychobiological Perspective. The course helped her determine a clinical or forensic path was not for her, though, as an avid true-crime fan, it was one of her favorite classes. “I have so much admiration and respect for Dr. Coffey pursuing a joint path of not only teaching as a professor but also working in private practice and at the Mendota Mental Health Institute.”
Inspired by multifaceted career paths like Dr. Coffey’s, Rahman remains passionate about sustainability, animals, and conservation. She still envisions many dream jobs — one is photojournalist for National Geographic. Public health and nutrition also interest her, which her current position at CSPI allows her to pursue. Rahman advises students to be open to a nonlinear career path.
“Not going the vet school route felt, at the time, like the biggest failure,” Rahman says. “But there are countless possibilities and jobs you don’t even know exist or haven’t heard of. That gave me the confidence and reassurance to chart my own course and build the career I wanted, that could integrate both my passion for science and my skills in the arts.”
Written by Sara Stanislawski x’25