Who is Rama Duwaji? Her art activism steered husband Zohran Mamdani’s campaign

New Delhi: Zohran Mamdani just made history by becoming the New York City mayor. Young, Muslim, child of immigrants, democrat-socialist—the elements that have framed Mamdani’s politics and maneuvered his victory through are also what his detractors played up. His parents— filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani—became evidence of his privileged upbringing. But what also sparked intrigue was his wife, Rama Duwaji, a Syrian artist.

Born in 1997, Duwaji is being projected as New York’s first ‘Gen-Z first-lady.’ An article in The New York Post positions her as Mamdani’s “aloof wife,” who, despite being largely absent from Mamdani’s campaign and silent on social media, has “quietly steered” his win. An illustrator and animator, Duwaji’s work also emerges f