As a first-generation college student, Mariah Smith ’22 arrived at Notre Dame planning to become a doctor. But a conversation with an instructor, a senior leader who’d spent nearly four decades working in national security, opened her eyes to a new path.
During her first year, the New Orleans native found herself pulled in two directions. She loved the national security policy seminar taught by Keough School instructor Francis X. Taylor, a retired Air Force brigadier general and former State Department counterterrorism coordinator. She wanted to study global affairs and Arabic, but worried that preparing for medical school was the safer bet.
“I came in as a QuestBridge Scholar, so making sure I had a good job after graduation was an important part of my college experience,” Smith said. “When I talked to General Taylor, he told me, ‘If you major in Arabic and global affairs and want to work in Middle East foreign policy, you’ll do just fine.’ That was what I needed to hear.”
A “tech-government translator”
Today, Smith works as an analyst for Cambridge Global Advisors, a bipartisan consulting firm. After an initial stint in cybersecurity, she now helps technology companies partner with the U.S. government. A self-described “tech-government translator,” she meets with software development teams to understand their companies’ growth goals, helping them connect their work to government priorities so they can pitch it more effectively.
“Tech companies want to move really fast,” Smith says. “They want something now. But a government agency may think, ‘that’s not what we want, or maybe this version doesn’t quite help us accomplish our mission.’ It might want something that looks different, or the initial price might not work. So it’s about being able to connect those two cultures so that tech clients can meet government needs.”
The process involves navigating federal departments, from State to Homeland Security. It also means tracking issues the Office of the Inspector General has flagged, such as how mobile device security issues leave sensitive information vulnerable. And it requires Smith to stay current on how the latest executive orders impact government workflows.
Ultimately, Smith said, it’s about being a connector who provides strategic advice.
“A lot of my work is talking with our bench of former government folks and bringing in people who have relevant connections for a particular project,” she said. “I can tell a client where their software might fit in. Or I can explain how it doesn’t work with where the government's going at the moment, and advise them on how to update their product to be more competitive.”
Before working at Cambridge Global Advisors, Smith worked at the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan foreign policy think tank, where she leveraged an internship as a bridge to a full-time role. She worked for Daniel B. Shapiro, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, who was then directing the Atlantic Council’s N7 Initiative — a regional diplomacy project focused on expanding dialogue and practical cooperation across the Middle East and North Africa.
That job allowed Smith to meet diplomats from across the Middle East and work on conferences designed to encourage dialogue on policy topics including food and water, economic planning and education.
Saying yes to opportunities
Smith has continued to draw on the skills and perspectives she developed as a global affairs student. Her time at Notre Dame provided plenty of opportunities for growth, and she made a habit of saying yes.
As a student, Smith delivered presentations on conflict resolution, reviewed congressional documents and drafted policy memos, sharpening her ability to communicate arguments succinctly.
She also visited Berlin and Brussels through a trip organized by the Keough School’s Nanovic Institute for European Studies. Her travels helped her explore how Europe is confronting its energy crisis and meet officials from the European Union and NATO.
In addition, Smith was part of a select group of undergraduates who traveled to Qatar as part of the Madrasa Discourses program. The initiative, led by Ebrahim Moosa, a scholar of global religion at the Keough School, helped traditional Muslim scholars deepen their scientific literacy and integrate it within their religious tradition.
“This experience helped me get comfortable working across different worldviews, and it helped me build that muscle of listening carefully, understanding context and approaching complex issues with nuance,” Smith says. “Those skills support the translation work I do now to help clients understand how their audiences think, and to communicate in a way that resonates.”
Getting the support to succeed
Ultimately, Smith says, Taylor played a critical role in her education. Her first-year meeting with her mentor was one of many to come. After helping her identify a career path in her first year, he continued to provide advice and support, watching her succeed as a student, intern and professional.
“Mariah is a great example of the kind of person Notre Dame produces,” Taylor says. “She is an insightful analyst and writer and has a great future. It has been a pleasure to watch her grow from a student to a first-class national security practitioner.”
Smith says Taylor's mentorship — and the opportunities Notre Dame put in front of her — helped her launch a career that once felt out of reach.
“No one in my family had gone to college,” Smith says. “So having General Taylor as a mentor was incredible. His approach was always to say, ‘How can I help?’ I think that really changed my trajectory. It’s hard to conceptualize a path when you know nothing about it, but he helped show me how think tanks work and what it means to be a consultant and work with the government. He really showed me the art of the possible.”
Global Affairs Major at Notre Dame
The Keough School’s global affairs major combines coursework in policy, economics, ethics, politics and data analysis, preparing students to navigate complexity and become leaders in diplomacy, global development and public service.