As Zohran Mamdani delivered an emphatic speech on Tuesday night to mark his victory in the race to become mayor of New York City, he delivered a special shoutout. “And to my incredible wife, Rama, hayati,” he said, using the Arabic word for “my life.” “There is no one I would rather have by my side in this moment, and in every moment.”The crowd whooped and hollered loudly at Mamdani’s mention of his wife, Rama Duwaji, a sign of her important role in her husband’s campaign and the growing interest in her. As Mamdani finished speaking, she joined him onstage to another round of applause.In the lead-up to Election Day, Duwaji, an animator and illustrator, continued to avoid the traditional political spotlight. She has not engaged in election and politics talk, save for a selfie on her Instagram story on Tuesday in which she posed with an “I voted” sticker.Like her husband, Duwaji, 28, has had a busy past few months – except that hers have not involved anything officially resembling a trip on the campaign trail. Recently, her illustrations were featured in an article in Vogue spotlighting the city’s garment workers, and in an article in New York magazine about the objects that Palestinians took from their homes when they fled Gaza.Born in Houston, Duwaji, who is of Syrian descent, moved to Dubai when she was about 9 years old. She graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in communication arts. She moved to New York City in 2021 to pursue a career in art. That same year, she and Mamdani, a little-known state assemblyman, matched on the dating app Hinge.In 2024, she graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York with a master of fine arts in illustration as visual essay. Many of Duwaji’s signature black-and-white designs express concern for humanitarian crises in Gaza, Sudan and Lebanon, and portray intimate scenes of Middle Eastern life. She often posts her illustrations on Instagram, where she has inadvertently developed a fan base of her own. Some of her 224,000 followers have been attracted by her artistic endeavours, others by her style, including a wardrobe featuring eye-catching vintage pieces, stacked gold jewellery, one-shoulder tops, and her signature black riding boots.
