🚕 Zohran Mamdani: A Breath Of Fresh (Political) Air
Published 1 day ago • 3 min read
🧠 What’s Inside
Why pronouncing names right is SO important
How Zohran Mamdani’s mustard-yellow, biryani-eating campaign rewrote NYC politics
What leaders can learn from authenticity, branding, and leading out loud
🎤 Louder For The People In The Back
"It's Mamdani - M-A-M-D-A-N-I - and I reminded him not just for me...but for all of us who were denied the basic dignity of being addressed by the name we were given. Because what it speaks to is the inability to understand that we too, are New York...We too have dreams. We too have struggles. And the least you can do is know our name when we fight for those dreams and live through those struggles." - Zohran Mamdani, NYC Mayoral Candidate
Like many of you, I’ve been hooked on Zohran Mamdani’s social media presence these past few weeks.
It’s been moving to hear my own immigrant parents talk about Mamdani’s family — his father, Mahmood Mamdani, a Uganda-born scholar whose work on colonialism and political violence has shaped thinking worldwide; and his mother, Mira Nair, a celebrated Indian-American filmmaker.
For so many of us, a mispronounced name is shorthand for a deeper dismissal. If they can’t get this right — can they really see us at all? That’s why Zohran’s insistence on his name hit home. Because it's an all-too-relatable reality for most kids of immigrants across the world.
📊 The numbers back this up: 74% of U.S. workers say they struggle with colleagues’ names, and 16% avoid conversations to dodge getting them wrong (Boundless Immigration).
Every mispronunciation, every sidestep, chips away at our dignity, our sense of belonging, and our confidence to fight for our dreams.
Quick Leadership Tip: Ask how someone likes their name pronounced. Repeat it—twice. Jot a phonetic hint (“MAHM-da-nee”). This tiny move builds trust, a culture of true inclusion and belonging, and a psychologically safe space to be our best selves.
✨ A Glimmer Of Hope In The 2020s
In a world where the next world war is a headline away, Zohran Mamdani's campaign brings a glimmer of hope and a breath of fresh air to the stale American political climate. With his signature mustard branding, dancing and rapping clips from his college days, code-switching between Urdu and English across his campaign tour, eating biryani with his hands while breaking down social policy, blunt parallels between South-African apartheid and Palestinian human rights...Mamdani shows us one really big thing:he didn't have anything to lose by being himself.
Unlike many before him who have leaned heavily on identity politics, Mamdani ran with his identity and onactual policies:
fare-free buses
rent freezes
city-owned grocery stores to bring down the cost of living
And it served him well: he beat Cuomo by 7 points to become the Democratic nominee for mayor. While not yet Mayor of NYC, Mamdani joins a tiny club of Muslim mayoral candidates in American history (Charles Bilal, Amer Ghalib, and Bill Bazzi).
Maybe making waves in 2025 isn't the political suicide we were always taught that it was.
💨 What Made Mamdani’s Message Unstoppable?
Mamdani's success in the NYC primaries wasn't just about what he said, it was about how his campaign was designed: the alignment of story, brand, and substance.
FORGEbrought a strong, movie-like persona to life with blazing visuals — combining taxi yellow, vintage Bollywood letterforms, and bodega-sign familiarity. Instead of trying to speak to everyone at once, he tailored signage to each borough, each neighborhood — a visual nod and love letter to the people he hopes to serve.
💬 What Can We Learn From Mamdani In Our Own Leadership?
In past newsletters, I've broken down the likes of Ramy & Miss Rachel - and how they have become icons of new leadership in the light of the genocide in Palestine. And yet, missing from my meanderings have been real leaders; real political leaders — I should say.
What I've loved about the rise of Zohran Mamdani is that he didn’t sand down his edges to look like a “viable" candidate for the Democratic Party. Instead, he leaned into his own clarity — in values, voice, and brand — and in turn, he drew supporters who were ready to say yes before he even knocked.
As leaders, we must ask ourselves the tough questions: ➡ Where am I softening my edges to feel safe? ➡ Where could I be louder about what I stand for? ➡ What might happen if my visuals, voice, and values actually matched?
Zohran offers us a model for leading in a new way; leading with some risk, leading for good, leading with a little bit of fucking edge.
🥨 Snacks
PHEW what a week it's been...I'm low on snacks, but here's what I've got top of mind:
📌 Propaganda: WTF is the role of Israel in city politics? A sharp, necessary call out on how global issues and propaganda shape local leadership opportunities.
📚 Currently reading:Bloodchhild, a collection of short stories by Octavia Butler, is a stunning collection of short stories that challenge power, identity, and survival.
Till next week ✌🏽✌🏽✌🏽
snapshot: got to attend a live podcast recording with the one and only Mehdi Hasan and Alana Hadid for We're Not Kidding at the LA Historic Theater last week
Looking for more personalized coaching support, a tailored workshop, or something else? I'd love to learn more 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽
