When the Big Apple’s 111th mayor, Zohran Mamdani, takes office in January, his wife of less than a year, glamorous artist Rama Duwaji, will become the city’s first ever Gen Z First Lady – with the couple expected to swap their trendy bolt-hole in Queens for regal mayoral residence Grace Mansion.
The Houston-born, Dubai-raised illustrator, at just 28, will officially become First Lady of New York City on January 1st 2026 after her democratic socialist husband – at 34, the city’s youngest ever mayor – becomes Eric Adams’s successor.
The city is still reeling from an overnight victory few would have expected even a year ago.
Mamdani defeated former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in a race that saw him take more than 50 percent of the vote to become the Big Apple’s youngest and first Muslim mayor.
Over two million people turned out to vote, the highest number, says the New York Board of Elections, since 1969.
Illustrator and animator Duwaji, who is of Syrian-American descent, has already seen her social media followers rocket as she prepares for four years in the spotlight.
At Brooklyn’s Paramount Theater on Tuesday evening, the 28-year-old took the stage alongside her husband – but looked arguably more hipster than high office.
Dressed in an elegant black lace ensemble and with a blunt, choppy fringe that tips its hat to Breakfast at Tiffany’s star Audrey Hepburn, she offered a polished wave, with immaculate dark-painted talons, to supporters as the results became clear.
Sporting her favoured gold hoop earrings and a black lace ensemble, Rama Duwaji, the 28-year-old wife of new New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, has become the youngest ever First Lady of New York City, after her husband took more than 50 per cent of the vote in this week’s mayoral elections (Pictured at Brooklyn Paramount Theate)
Like many a modern romance, the couple’s love story began via one of the world’s biggest dating apps, with the pair matching profiles on Hinge back in 2021, when Duwaji was just 24 and Mamdani a 29-year-old with already blossoming political ambitions.
During his campaign, which has seen go from zero to hero in a matter of months, Mamdani told The Bulwark podcast that those looking for love shouldn’t dismiss online dating methods, saying: ‘I met my wife on Hinge so there is still hope on those dating apps!’.
The suitors announced their engagement in October last year and, on a chilly February day in New York earlier this year, said ‘I do’ at City Hall, Lower Manhattan’s historic 19th century building that Mamdani can now also call his office.
There were also nuptials overseas, with an opulent engagement party and Nikkah ceremony, an Islamic wedding, taking place in Dubai in December 2024.
While Mamdani moved to New York from his native Uganda at the age of just seven; he’s the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani, his bride was born in Houston but raised from the age of nine in Dubai, with much of her family still residing in the glitzy UAE emirate.
After graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, studying in both Doha, Qatar and Richmond, Virginia, Duwaji returned to Dubai…before moving to New York in 2021, just months before meeting her future husband.
While Duwaji opted for understated chic as she watched her husband give his victory speech in New York on Tuesday evening, her day-to-day wardrobe, from her Instagram posts, certainly isn’t what you’d normally associate the attire of a politician’s wife.
Alongside her own black-and-white illustrations, many exploring Arab culture and reflecting Duwaji’s creative vocation, there are also major hints at the new mayoral first lady’s personal style – and youthful years.
A modern love story: The couple met on dating app Hinge, just months after the then 24-year-old Rama Duwaji moved to the Big Apple from Dubai
Photos with friends – and the occasional snap of the incoming mayor – see her dressed in plenty of the black she seems to favour, but also pops of bright colours, more of those over-sized gold hoop earrings, chic rollnecks and essential New York winterwear – beanies, gloves and big coats.
At an exhibition in Brooklyn this summer, the artist was seen striking a pose wearing a black vest, Bermuda shorts and a studded black leather handbag.
Meanwhile at Mamdani’s primary party in Queens in June, the incoming mayoral First Lady sported a sleeveless navy satin top and her go-to gold bangles and chains, with the same punk-style handbag.
Early next year, the couple will are likely to move into Gracie Mansion, the official mayor’s residence.
One of the city’s most historical properties, it dates back to 1799, is one of the oldest surviving wooden properties in Manhattan and has the nickname ‘New York’s little White House’.
Only one mayor in recent history, Michael Bloomberg, has passed on the chance to reside their during a mayoral tenure.
Moving in will set the young couple far apart from their peers; while those who live at Gracie Mansion often decorate to their tastes, the property is unlikely to ever feel like the right fit for a young couple whose friends are living in minimalist apartments in Queens and Williamsburg.
First Lady incoming: Duwaji, who’s a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, pictured during Zohran Mamdani’s primary party in Queens in June this year
The new First Lady of New York City pictured in August this year attending an exhibition, KanSuda Presents: Becoming & Belonging, in Brooklyn
Mamdani embraces his wife as his parents Mahmood Mamdani (pictured left) and Mira Nair (pictured right) look on in Brooklyn
The Democrat’s promise of free buses, rent freezes, fewer cops and higher taxes for the wealthy and big business sparked unprecedented support in the mayoral race.
But real estate agents fear his victory will spark a mass exodus from the Big Apple and critics – including Wall Street – have warned his policies could cripple the city’s economy.
Mamdani told supporters in Brooklyn last night: ‘I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologise for any of this.’
He directly addressed the president: ‘Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up!’
In his ferocious speech promising a ‘new dawn’ for New York, he quoted late socialist politician Eugene Debs, bragged about ‘toppling a political dynasty’ and launched into a blistering attack against President Donald Trump – who has called Mamdani a ‘communist’.
‘If any city can show a nation how to stop Donald Trump, it is the city that gave rise to him,’ said Mamdani, who represents a district in the same borough of Queens where the president was raised.
