New York City's 29-year-old first lady is heading back to Europe for a luxury Islamic calligraphy retreat in Portugal, her third overseas getaway with the same organization in 2026, while city leaders say she has shown more interest in travel than in serving New Yorkers.
Rama Duwaji, the wife of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, will return to her role as "artist-in-residence" with The Women Sanctuary, a private group hosting a retreat titled "Journey through Islamic Calligraphy" at a manor house in Arcos de Valdevez, in the countryside near Porto. Two sessions run September 16, 21 and September 25, 30, The New York Post reported. Attendees pay between $4,300 for a shared room and $5,260 for a private room with a private bathroom.
The retreat promises heated indoor and outdoor pools, landscaped gardens, illustration workshops led by Duwaji, and days spent "uncovering the traces" of Islamic history in Portugal. The Women Sanctuary's own website describes the experience as a space for "suhbah, spiritual reflection, and presence, where hearts can soften, souls can be nourished."
Portugal is not a one-off. Duwaji attended a Women Sanctuary retreat in Mallorca, Spain, around the time of America's 250th birthday celebration. She then traveled to Corsica, France, for a July 9, 14 retreat honoring "the legacy of Mary, the most honored woman in the Quran." The September sessions in Portugal will mark her third stint as artist-in-residence with the same group this year.
That pattern has drawn pointed criticism from elected officials in New York City. Queens City Councilwoman Joann Ariola told The Post:
"Former first ladies spent their time visiting schools and doing charitable work. Being Zohran Mamdani's wife must be very stressful because this first lady is more interested in vacations than she is in matters that affect New Yorkers."
Duwaji, a Syrian-American animator, illustrator, and ceramist, has not publicly responded to Ariola's remarks. Nor has she addressed similar criticism from former Queens City Councilman Bob Holden, who called the travel a sign of hypocrisy:
"They're acting like jet-setters when they're supposed to be for New Yorkers but they're anything but. She is a good example of the hypocrisy of this administration."
The retreat website does not clarify whether Duwaji receives compensation for her artist-in-residence role or who funds her travel. Those questions remain unanswered.
The Portugal retreat is not even Duwaji's only planned overseas trip next month. She is also slated to visit Lebanon and Syria in September, where she has relatives. Both countries sit on the U.S. State Department's "Do Not Travel" list for American citizens.
That trip produced its own controversy earlier this month. City Hall originally claimed the NYPD would provide a security detail for Duwaji during the Lebanon and Syria visit. The NYPD publicly denied it. Mayor Mamdani then blamed his own staff for what he called a "communication snafu", a sequence that raised questions about who at City Hall made the original claim and why.
The mayor's handling of that episode drew scrutiny because it put the NYPD in the position of contradicting City Hall on the record. Whether the Lebanon-Syria trip is still scheduled, and whether the security question has been resolved, remains unclear.
Mayor Mamdani has defended Duwaji publicly, arguing she should be free of criticism because she holds no official role in his administration. That argument has not satisfied the councilmembers who see a first lady spending the summer island-hopping through European retreats while New Yorkers deal with the daily grind of a city under pressure.
The mayor's broader conduct has also faced questions. An ethics complaint has accused Mamdani of misusing city resources for political purposes, and separate controversies have drawn attention to his public decisions and priorities.
Duwaji's own public record includes a 2015 Tumblr post in which she wrote:
"American soldiers fighting in imperialist wars are not brave nor are they fighting for anyone's freedom. They are mercilessly slaughtering 3rd world civilians and fighting to maintain American hegemony."
That statement, written when Duwaji was a teenager, has resurfaced alongside reporting on her overseas travel. It adds context to a pattern of conduct that critics say reflects a broader disconnect between the Mamdani administration and the New Yorkers it governs.
Duwaji's Mallorca retreat coincided with America's 250th birthday celebration, a timing detail that drew its own round of criticism. She spent the holiday abroad rather than in the city her husband leads.
Mamdani's record of controversial public decisions only sharpens the contrast. While the mayor and his wife present themselves as above political accountability, one by deflecting criticism of his staff, the other by claiming she is a private citizen, New Yorkers are left watching their first couple treat the city's highest office like a launchpad for a European summer.
Official or not, the title of first lady carries public expectations. Three luxury retreats, two countries on the State Department's no-go list, and a City Hall that cannot keep its own story straight, that is not a communication snafu. That is a pattern.
