An artist of Syrian origins.. Who is Rama Dawaji, the First Lady of New York?

Zahran Mamdani won the New York mayoral elections, becoming the first Muslim to hold the position of mayor of the city, and the youngest to hold this position in more than a hundred years, in an event described as a historic milestone in the path of political and social transformation in one of the most diverse cities in the United States.

In his victory speech on Tuesday evening, Mamdani publicly thanked his wife, Rama Dawaji, saying: “There is no one I would rather have by my side in this moment and in every moment.”

Rama Dawaji, the Syrian-American artist who grew up in Dubai, became the focus of media attention after her husband’s victory. She was born in Houston to a Syrian family from Damascus, and moved to Dubai in her childhood, which gave her a rich cultural background that was reflected in her artistic works that combine identity, belonging, and politics. She studied media arts at Virginia Commonwealth University, then received her master’s degree in painting from the School of Visual Arts in New York, and today resides in Brooklyn where she works as an interdisciplinary artist.

Dawaji uses her art as a platform to express humanitarian and social issues, including solidarity with Palestine and the hunger crisis in Gaza. More than 170,000 people follow her on Instagram, where she focuses her content on art and purposeful messages away from her husband’s political life.

Dawaji met Mamdani in 2021 through a dating app, and they shared common values ​​and a close humanitarian vision. Their engagement was announced in Dubai, and they married in early 2025 in New York before holding a family celebration in Uganda, Mamdani’s birthplace.

Despite her husband’s remarkable political rise, Dawaji prefers to remain behind the scenes, as she rarely appeared at campaign events, but she contributed to designing the visual identity for Mamdani’s election campaign, and participated in celebrating his historic victory. (Arabic)