Samatali Haque, daughter of Bangladeshi poet and intellectual Farhad Mazhar, has been appointed to the transition team of New York’s newly elected mayor, Zohran Mamdani. Haque, a professor at the City University of New York and a human rights activist, previously worked as a labor attorney before entering academia. She actively participated in Mamdani’s mayoral campaign and is known to have a close professional relationship with him. Born to Farhad Mazhar’s first wife, Haque is married to a Puerto Rican and resides in New York with their two children. The transition team also includes eight other Bangladeshi-origin members, a development that has sparked pride and excitement within the Bangladeshi community in the United States. Mamdani, a Muslim and Democratic Socialist, is set to be sworn in as mayor of New York City on January 1, marking a historic moment for Muslim representation in major Western cities.