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Yadira Ramos-Herbert grew up in Queens, the granddaughter of immigrants. She started her career as an attorney in New York City, then spent a decade in leadership at Columbia University Law School.
She was working with students there when the campus was rocked by protests over the war in Gaza, after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. Soon afterward, she became the first woman and the first person of color ever to lead the city of New Rochelle, New York.
Today, Ramos-Herbert presides over one of the most closely watched affordable housing efforts in America while leading a deeply diverse city through a divided political moment.
Sarah McCammon spoke with Mayor Ramos-Herbert about her family’s immigration story, the backlash she sometimes faces for speaking Spanish on the job, and how she held her city together after October 7.