January 06 2026, 08:15 
34-year-old Zohran Mamdani was officially sworn in as New York City’s youngest and first Muslim mayor on January 1 – and the ceremony was narrated by an iconic transgender New Yorker.
69-year-old Bernie Wagenblast, a veteran transportation broadcaster whose voice millions of people hear every day on the New York City subway, came out as transgender in 2023.
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On Instagram, Wagenblast wrote that her year began “on a stellar note” when she received the invitation to announce Mamdani’s inauguration. She shared several behind-the-scenes photos and said “getting to introduce the elected officials to the music from ‘I 
New York'” was extra special as “one of my favorite commercial jingles.”
Mamdani’s campaign was vehemently pro-LGBTQ+ throughout and included appearances at Pride, visits to LGBTQ+ nightclubs, and a notable video highlighting trans activist Sylvia Rivera. Mamdani has also pledged to protect trans New Yorkers.
In December, he appointed Abby Stein, a trans woman and rabbi, to his expansive transition team. He has also appointed out lesbian Lillian Bonsignore as Commissioner of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY).
After coming out as trans, Wagenblast said MTA officials supported her. Wagenblast now speaks in a higher register in her private life and on her podcast, Cranford Radio. But she still uses the voice New York commuters have come to recognize when recording MTA announcements.
“I am used to that voice,” she said in a 2023 interview with NY1’s Spectrum News.
“I’ve heard that voice for all of my adult life, so it doesn’t faze me to do that,” she said. “I think that’s probably unusual for a trans woman to be comfortable with hearing their old voice, so to speak.”
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