Rana Abdelhamid, aka the “Mayor of Queens,” is a daughter of Egyptian immigrants, born and raised in Queens. She’s a black belt in karate, a lifelong organizer, and the founder of Malikah, a grassroots organization with a storefront in Astoria that offers self-defense, bystander training, and trauma-informed healing to over 20K New Yorkers.

Rana’s work centers survivors of gender and hate-based violence and people in marginalized communities across the city, but her vision of safety goes far beyond defense. Her Astoria space also operates as a food pantry and a safe mailing address for unhoused neighbors. She and her team run the Astoria Halal Fridge, a 24/7 community fridge, and the Queens Mutual Aid Fund.

Rana also founded the Queens Organizing Alliance, which brings people together through regular meetups to build collective power, friendship, and solidarity across the borough, and led the successful campaign for New York’s first MENA data disaggregation law, ensuring Middle Eastern and North African communities are counted in NYC. Her storytelling platform, Hijabis of New York, uplifts the voices of Muslim women across the five boroughs. Additionally, each year she gathers hundreds of Muslim women at the National Muslim Women’s Summit.

Abdelhamid served as the youngest board member of Amnesty International USA for six years. In 2022, she ran for U.S. Congress to represent her home district, mobilizing thousands of people around issues of housing and healthcare access. Her work has been widely recognized, with accolades including the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, a NYC Council Proclamation, the Truman Scholarship, and the Echoing Green Fellowship. She has been featured in outlets such as CNN, NBC News, and Teen Vogue. Rana holds a BA in political science and economics from Middlebury College and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School.

She is also the author of the forthcoming book Get Home Safe: A Guide to Self-Defense and Building Our Collective Power (Algonquin, 2026), building on her portfolio of advocacy and direct service work to scale citywide—creating more spaces across NYC where care, safety, and connection are not the exception, but the norm.