Some of the most powerful images coming out at the end of the New York mayoral race have been that of winner Zohran Mamdani with his wife Rama Duwaji by his side, taking in this historic moment. Mamdani's win has put renewed spotlight on Duwaji as the Gen-Z first lady of NYC.

The 28-year-old media-shy artist was born in Houston, Texas, and moved to Dubai when she was about 9. Her father, a software developer, and her mother, a doctor, are both Syrian Muslims from Damascus.

They were supportive of her love of art, though they also encouraged her to be practical when it came to choosing a career. During her last few months in high school in Dubai, Duwaji decided to pursue art as a career.

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She attended Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar for her freshman year of college, and moved to Richmond, Virginia, the main VCU campus, to complete her undergraduate studies.

She graduated in 2019 with a bachelor's degree in communication arts. After that, she lived with her family in Dubai and participated in various artist residencies, including in Beirut and Paris.

After moving to New York in 2021 to pursue a career as an artist, Duwaji met Mamdani via the dating app, Hinge, when he was a little-known state Assembly member. They soon developed a relationship, and Mamdani's friends have shared that he was "so giddy" about her and that Duwaji naturally fit into their group.

On October 21, 2024, Mamdani posted a photo of Duwaji, smiling, on Instagram, with the caption“Light of my life,” a ring emoji and the hashtag #hardlaunch. Two days later, he began his mayoral campaign.

The pair had an engagement ceremony and a Nikkah in a "garden romance" rooftop setting in Dubai Creek Harbour in 2024.

Mamdani also shared photos from their courthouse wedding, including the pair on the subway, with Duwaji in white with a vintage coat, holding flowers, and both at City Hall.

Once a Brooklyn resident, Duwaji and Mamdani now live in Astoria, Queens, near Steinway Street, a hot spot for Arab cuisine and culture where hookah shops and restaurants line the block.

Duwaji has rarely spoken publicly about her husband's mayoral race, but is quite vocal through her art. One of her illustrations published in a feature article in New York magazine was about the objects that Palestinians took with them when they fled their homes in the Gaza Strip.

“I believe everyone has a responsibility to speak out against injustice, and art has such an ability to spread it,” Duwaji said in an interview in April with Yung magazine. Many of her designs express concern for humanitarian crises in Gaza, Sudan and Lebanon.

But she has not participated in the kind of campaign activities that the spouses of candidates often do, keeping herself out of the traditional political spotlight.

With her husband's historic win, Duwaji now finds herself as the city's Gen-Z first lady, just four years after moving to New York as an aspiring artist. Whether she is able to maintain her low-profile, quietly vocal artistic life, remains to be seen.

[With inputs from NYT]

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