- Rama Duwaji is the first Gen Z first lady of New York City at Gracie Mansion
- She is a Syrian-American artist and illustrator based in Brooklyn, New York
- Duwaji helped build Zohran Mamdani's campaign brand and social media presence
After years, Gracie Mansion, the New York mayor's official residence, will have a first lady. Rama Dwaji, the 28-year-old wife of New York's mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani -- who mostly opts to stay out of the spotlight -- was on stage with him when he declared his victory over former governor Andrew Cuomo.
A Syrian-American artist and illustrator, Duwaji moved to the US in 2021 and married Mamdani in a City Hall ceremony earlier this year. US media credits her for being one of the people who helped build Mamdani's brand identity when he first kicked off his campaign, including the bold iconography and font used on his yellow, orange and blue campaign materials.
Apart from being a major support in his private life, she is also credited with boosting her husband's digital and large social media presence. However, despite her apparent backstage efforts, Duwaji has not appeared on joint television shows with Mamdani or agreed to a splashy magazine profile.
Even her Instagram page, where she promotes her artwork depicting Middle Eastern women and the plight of Palestinians, shows her apparent association with Mamdani, apart from one carousel from the day of the June Democratic primary, where the couple feature together.
But with Mamdai's victory on Tuesday, Duwaji too created history, becoming the first member of Gen Z to serve as New York City's first lady.
Who Is Rama Duwaji?
The Dubai-educated Syrian-American is based in Brooklyn, New York. Originally listed on her Instagram as being from Damascus, her campaign says she is "ethnically Syrian" and was born in Texas.
She met Mamdani several years ago on the dating app Hinge. The couple held a private engagement and a Nikkah ceremony in Dubai in December 2024, followed by a wedding at the New York City Clerk's office earlier this year.
"Rama isn't just my wife; she's an incredible artist who deserves to be known on her own terms," Mamdani wrote in a May 12 post on Instagram, announcing they had been married three months earlier.
Duwaji earned a Master of Fine Arts in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her work has been featured by The New Yorker, The Washington Post, BBC, Apple, Spotify, VICE, and the Tate Modern in London.
She uses drawn portraiture and movement to explore themes of sisterhood, Arab identity, communal experience, and political resistance, as per her website.
Her illustrations often focus on pro-Palestinian messages, including depictions of Israeli violence, ethnic cleansing, and US complicity. One of her animations, shared by Mamdani, criticises New York charities for allegedly funding Israeli war crimes. "An artist's duty... is to reflect the times," she quoted singer and pianist Nina Simone in an interview.
She also creates ceramics, particularly hand-illustrated blue-and-white plates. Duwaji has nearly 235 thousand followers on Instagram, where she shares her artwork, political commentary, and other milestones.
