Nily Rozic (CAS ’07)

She had not yet earned her undergraduate degree at the College of Arts and Science when Nily Rozic began making regular three-hour treks from her home in Queens up to the State Capitol in Albany. She finished her degree while working for assemblyman (and now state senator) Brian Kavanagh. She rose to become his chief of staff.
    At 25, Rozic herself ran for a State Assembly seat, seeking to represent her home district (New York’s 25th). She was a first-time candidate, young, and a woman who decided to take on the Queens Democratic establishment. “I certainly ran against the machine before it was the cool thing to do,” she says.
    Already a veteran of state politics, Rozic was convinced she knew what becoming the youngest woman in the State Assembly would require. Still, when it is your name on the ballot, then on the office door, it’s “a whole other ballgame,” she says.
    Born in Jerusalem, Rozic emigrated as a young child to the United States with her Argentine-Israeli family. Right away, “I fit into [the] melting pot that is Queens,” she recalls. Her district is a popular destination for Asian immigrants, and Rozic jokes that she gets to celebrate three new years: January 1, Lunar, and Jewish.
    Her background helps her form an instant connection with voters while campaigning. “My immigrant story might be a little different from my neighbor,” she notes, “but we all have the same struggles, like gaining citizenship, communicating with bureaucracies of government. Those are the steps you take in realizing the American dream, and my family was no different.”
    Looking back on her relatively short journey from Washington Square to the New York State Assembly, Rozic says her alma mater taught her “how to be a leader within my community. I feel like, since then, I’ve continued down that path. I went to NYU knowing that I wanted to get into government and politics. I didn’t know what form that would take. I look back on that time with nothing but good memories and a great network of people who support me. And I’m really, really grateful.”

Born in Jerusalem, Rozic emigrated as a young child to the United States with her Argentine-Israeli family. Right away, “I fit into [the] melting pot that is Queens,” she recalls. Her district is a popular destination for Asian immigrants, and Rozic jokes that she gets to celebrate three new years: January 1, Lunar, and Jewish.