doi:10.7916/71g3-dq56Oral history interview with Rumana A. Ahmed, 2022Ahmed, Rumanaoral historiesmixed materialPresidents--United StatesUnited States Foreign relations CubaAhmed, RumanaObama, BarackNational Security Council (U.S.)United States. White House Office of Correspondence and Presidential MessagesUnited StatesPatient Protection and Affordable Care ActRumana Ahmed reflects on her experience in the Obama administration, in which she served in a variety of positions in the Office of Presidential Correspondence (OPC) and Office of Public Engagement (OPE), and on the National Security Council (NSC) staff as a senior advisor in the Office for Global Engagement and Strategic Communications from 2014 to 2017. Ahmed focuses on the administration's maintenance of relations with key public constituencies, and describes her efforts to facilitate dialogue between the White House and Muslim American, Arab American, and Iranian American communities. She outlines the function of outside input to the administration's policy processes, and provides details about efforts and initiatives with which she was closely involved, including the White House Champions of Change program; Affordable Care Act enrollment campaigns; Countering Violent Extremism programs; and the administration's normalization of relations with Cuba. Also discussed are Ahmed's experience as a Muslim woman in the Obama White House, the importance of regular dialogue with ordinary Americans to the Obama administration, Obama's June 2009 speech in Cairo, and the power of White House events and programming to generate momentum for political and community action