Trending A Career: Celine Rahman '10

Decision time had arrived for Celine Rahman. It was 2008 and she was about to receive her diploma from Jamesville-Dewitt High School. What would come next? She didn’t have a plan. That’s when her mother told her Onondaga Community College would be a great place to start.

Rahman took her mother’s advice, came to campus and felt at home. She was a full-time student who worked three part-time jobs. One of her jobs was at the College’s Career Center. “My time there was really helpful. The people there taught me how to explore my passions and transfer them into actual jobs. I felt very fortunate to work alongside them and to take advantage of their expertise.”

A class Rahman took with Communication Professor Katharine Rumrill-Teece wound up setting her on her career path. “The class inspired me and I learned about myself. I wound up majoring in Communication because of it.” The experience in Professor Rumrill-Teece’s class led her to start an online blog, “Cup of Rahman” in 2009. The inspiration for the name came from the similar sounding Ramen Noodles. On her blog Rahman billed herself as a millennial artist highlighting fashion and photography. “I am a child of the 90s. I would post a lot of images from that time and attach quotes to encourage women to express their feelings, to live free and not to be afraid of who they are.”

Today Cup of Rahman can also be found on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook and has its own YouTube channel. She has more than 30,000 followers. Rahman's success has resulted in her leaving a job in New York City and returning to Syracuse to focus solely on furthering the brand and social media presence of her project. “It was not easy to leave New York. I felt if Cup of Rahman was going to be anything, I needed to dedicate the necessary time to it in order to give it a chance to succeed.”

Rahman credits her time spent at OCC with propelling her to where she is now. “I learned a lot about pursuing my passions. I learned to work hard both in school and with my craft. I am committed to seeing this through.”