Meet Rama Duwaji, Zohran Mamdani's Enigmatic Wife

Zohran Mamdani's wife, Rama Duwaji, is a creative powerhouse. Speaking on "The Amad Show," in 2020, the thriving artist revealed that it was rare to see her without a sketchbook in hand in her younger years. By the time Duwaji had entered her early teens, she knew she wanted to pursue art professionally because it brought her so much peace that even hours perfecting a piece didn't wear her out. And so, the Houston native, who had been living in Dubai with her family since she was 9, enrolled in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar. However, after Duwaji completed her freshman year, she decided to get her communications arts degree from the American campus instead. During a 2019 interview with Shado, the professional artist shared that although her peers in the GCC referred to Duwaji as "the American," she still didn't feel at home in the U.S. 

In fact, the burgeoning artist gradually started to counteract the ensuing identity struggles by fully embracing her Arab roots as well as all of her experiences growing up in the area. The animator then detailed how she imprinted those feelings onto her work, noting, "I started exploring themes of nostalgia, and things that symbolize what it is to be Arab." By the time she enrolled in New York's School of Visual Arts for a master's degree in fine arts, those themes had arguably become her motif. Even Duwaji's thesis explored how cooking and eating food together bonded people in Arabic cultures. Her artwork was aptly titled "Sahtain!" which is an Arabic expression that roughly translates to "bon appétit!" 

Throughout her career, Rama Duwaji has used her artistic talents to shine a light on crucial stories from women around the globe. In her work with the BBC and the Washington Post, she has illustrated the suffering of Palestinian women. In addition to helping the BBC portray the plight of a woman who was imprisoned in Egypt, she has also called attention to the ongoing Sudanese conflict through her own work. Some of Duwaji's art has explored what it means to be a woman of color in a world filled with unrealistic beauty standards too. In her chat with Sado, she clarified that she had no desire to dictate how people should view her work in this regard, in particular. "I hope my illustrations make people feel good. I hope my illustrations make women of colour send them to their friends and say 'hey cute she has the same nose as you' or 'look, it's us,'" the animator explained succinctly. 

Her ultimate hope was that diversity in art across all different kinds of media would eventually make unrealistic beauty standards a thing of the past. While scrolling through Hinge, Duwaji stumbled upon the profile of one Zohran Mamdani, who later became the NYC politician that really got under Donald Trump's skin, and eventually, the city's mayor. Thankfully, their dating app meetup was essentially the only weird thing about Duwaji and Mamdani's marriage that we couldn't ignore. After tying the knot, in a low-key courthouse ceremony in February 2025, Duwaji and NYC mayoral elect Mamdani held lavish weddings in both Dubai and Uganda, further solidifying their commitment.