About

Rama Duwaji is the wife of New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who won the 2025 NYC mayoral election. Duwaji, an animator and illustrator, met Mamdani on the dating app Hinge, and the two eloped in April 2025. Described as Mamdani's "aloof wife" by the New York Post, Duwaji was credited by many with improving Mamdani's social media, digital sensibilities and campaign iconography per CNN. She is Syrian-American and a member of Gen Z at 28 years old as of late 2025.

Viral posts, discourse and memes about Duwaji surfaced en masse during Mamdani's mayoral campaign in 2025. Many internet users harped on Duwaji's beauty on Twitter / X and other social media sites, including thirsting posts.

Background

Rama Duwaji (28) was born in Houston, Texas, to a Syrian-American family. She moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), when she was 9 years old. She studied art and eventually earned a master's degree in illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her illustrations have been used in major publications like The Cut, BBC, Vogue and The New Yorker.^[1]

For instance, The Cut^[2] article "'I Wanted to Have Something to Give My Daughter From Gaza'" from September 2025 used Duwaji's artwork.

On April 7th, 2025, YUNG^[3] interviewed Duwaji.

Mamdani and Duwaji got married in April 2025, according to The Cut.^[6]

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Online History

Rama Duwaji has been on Instagram for at least 10 years, according to her own account relayed in her YUNG^[3] interview. As of November 2025, Duwaji's earliest post on her Instagram,^[4] @ramaduwaji, was shared on February 7th, 2018.

In the following years, her artwork has gone viral on Instagram. For instance, on November 19th, 2023, she shared a carousel post on Instagram^[5] that showed a comic of a Palestinian family's story of survival after the start of the 2023-2025 Hamas-Israel Conflict. The post gained over 67,100 likes in two years.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by RAMA DUWAJI (@ramaduwaji)

Online Presence

In May 2025, some Twitter / X users pressured Zohran Mamdani about his wife, Rama Duwaji, staying out of the spotlight.^[6] In turn, Mamdani shared a post on Instagram^[7] on May 12th, showing photos of him and Duwaji in wedding garb on the NYC subway, gaining over 127,200 likes in six months.

On May 12th, X^[8] user @emmagf reposted Mamdani's post, gaining over 10,000 likes in six months.

On June 16th, 2025, X^[9] user @youwouldntpost tweeted, "Respectfully, I had not seen a picture of Zohran's wife before today and I am hitting myself in the head with a hammer at this time," gaining over 32,000 likes in five months.

On June 18th, X^[10] user @abjectbaby quote-tweeted @youwouldntpost, attaching a photo from Duwaji's Instagram, captioning it, "Need aristocratic Syrian arthoe wife." Over five months, the post received over 7,500 likes.

On November 3rd, 2025, the New York Post shared a tweet on X^[11] that shared a link to its article, "How Zohran Mamdani’s aloof wife, Rama Duwaji, quietly steered his campaign from behind the scenes."

Later on that same day, X^[12] user @Socialist_frogz quote-tweeted the New York Post's tweet, writing, "Ever since I was a little girl I knew I wanted to be an aloof wife, quietly steering a campaign from behind the scenes," gaining over 255,000 likes in two days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References