Rama Duwaji Biography
Rama Duwaji is the wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. She is an award-winning New York-based Syrian illustrator, ceramic artist, and animator who examines the nuances of sisterhood and communal experiences. She has worked with VICE, Cartier, Spotify, BBC, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Apple and Tate Modern.
She has a graphic novel, Razor Burn, which is a silent comic she illustrated about a girl struggling with body dysmorphia as she goes through high school. She’s insecure about things like arm hair, her nose, and acne, and the comic shows her journey of trying to accept herself for who she is.
Age and Early Life
Rama was born on June 30, 1997, in Houston, Texas, to Syrian Muslim parents who hailed from Damascus. She grew up in Texas but later relocated with her parents to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where she developed an early interest in art, storytelling, and visual communication.
Education
Rama graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Communication Design. She had briefly attended the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar after her family relocated to Dubai, before transferring to the school’s Richmond, Virginia campus. She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York.
During an interview with Shado Magazine, she said that her work is mostly influenced by the different stages in her life, the people she meets, the things she is learning, as well as the things she is either going through or has gone through.
Career as an Artist
Rama’s work is largely black and white and illustrative in nature. She focuses on themes around Arabic heritage, women’s rights, identity, displacement, and contemporary social issues. Her illustrations often use bold colors, expressive characters, and emotionally resonant storytelling.
During an interview with YUNG, she said she uses her voice to speak about what’s happening in the US, Palestine and Syria as much as she can. She added that art can speak out against injustice and spread it. In addition, she said art is inherently political in how it’s made, funded, and shared.
“Even creating art as a refuge from the horrors we see is political to me. It’s a reaction to the world around us. As long as you do the work in spaces outside your art, you’re still engaging with the world. The choice to use art to engage or disengage with the state of the world is a deeply personal one, but it still doesn’t excuse us from acknowledging the injustices that are going on. At the end of the day, it’s all about intentions.”
Some of her illustrations speaking out against injustices and politics include:
- In May 2025, she made an illustration that depicts a young Palestinian girl holding a large empty pot with the words “Not a hunger crisis” emblazoned across it, before transitioning into a view from above of several people holding similarly empty vessels overlaid with text reading, “It is deliberate starvation.” According to her caption, she made the illustration as Israel continued to bomb Gaza nonstop with consecutive airstrikes. She shared a link to a nonprofit aimed at supporting refugees and displaced people.
- In April 2023, she highlighted the plight of Sudan via an illustration of a woman with text reading “Eyes on Sudan.” She added slides which included information on the plight of Sudanese who have been impacted by the country’s civil war and ways to donate to support refugees and domestic violence victims.
- She also highlighted the experience of Reem Ahmed, an architect from Gaza who was trapped under the rubble of her home for 12 hours after an Israeli airstrike that killed members of her family.
- In 2022, her works appeared in the BBC World Service documentary “Who killed my grandfather,” which investigated the assassination of a Yemeni politician in 1974.
How Did Rama Duwaji and Zohran Mamdani Meet?
Rama and Zohran Mamdani met in 2021 through the dating app Hinge. At the time, Mamdani was serving in the New York State Assembly. They got engaged in October 2024 and later held a private Islamic nikah ceremony in Dubai before officially marrying in a civil ceremony at New York City Hall in February 2025. A separate wedding ceremony was held in Buzinga Hill, Uganda, Mamdani’s country of birth, in July.
FAQ’s
Rama Duwaji Age: She is 27 years old. She was born in 1998 in Houston, Texas.
Rama Duwaji Religion: Muslim
Rama Duwaji Ethnicity: Syrian
Rama Duwaji Nationality: American
Rama Duwaji Parents: Unknown, but lives in Dubai
Rama’s Education Background: BFA in Communication Design, Virginia Commonwealth University; Master of Fine Arts in Illustration, School of Visual Arts, New York