American Lawyer and Civil Rights Activist

Maya Wiley | Biography

Civil Rights Lawyer and University Professor

• By Anil Pradhan
• Original : May 15, 2022

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Who is Maya Wiley?

Maya Wiley is a renowned civil rights activist, professor, and civil rights, attorney. She is the current CEO and President of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Moreover, she has also served as the NYC CCRB (Civilian Complaint Review Board) chair from July 2016 to August 2017.

Wiley is a New York native lawyer born in Syracuse, New York, USA, on 2 January 1964. She took birth to her mother, Wretha, and her father, George, who was also a renowned civil rights leader. As of 2022, her age is 58 years.

Wiley received her Bachelor's level education at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. She joined the college in 1982 and graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology. After that, she joined Columbia Law School and earned her Juris Doctor degree in 1989.

As per the information available on Wiley’s LinkedIn profile, she inaugurated her attorney career in 1992 as a staff attorney at NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund. After that, she joined the Open Society Institute as a senior advisor to the Director of US Programs from August 1997 to May 1999.

In 2002, Wiley was appointed president of a policy advocacy organization called CSI (Center for Social Inclusion). She held the position for around 12 years until 2014 before moving to NYC Mayor's Office as the Counsel to the Mayor. She was the NYC Mayor’s Counsel from February 2014 to July 2016. 

After that, she did several other jobs like Co-Chair of NYC Department of Education (2016-2018), legal analyst at MSNBC (2018-2020), University Professor of The New School (2019-2020), etc. Wiley is currently tenured as a professor at The Milano School of Management in Greater New York City. In addition, in May 2022, she was appointed the CEO and President of The Leadership Conference on Human and Civil Rights and is still holding the position.

Also Read: Asa Philip Randolph - Biography Host

She Ran For NYC Mayor in 2020

Wiley stood up as the candidate for New York City Mayor in the US General Election in June 2021. The first time candidate Wiley sought to become the first publicly elected woman mayor of the City of New York. However, her dream could not come true as she became third in the mayoral race.

Although Wiley lost the election, she had the support of several famous political personalities. The US State Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, also known as AOC, publicly endorsed her for the Mayoral Campaign. Furthermore, she also had endorsement from US Senator Elizabeth Warren. Wiley shared the information about Senator Warren’s support via a tweet that read,

“Big structural change is exactly what New York City needs right now. @ewarren, thank you for your confidence in me. Let's dream big and fight hard for the City we love.”

Her Husband is a Multimillionaire

Wiley has been married for a long time to her multimillionaire husband, Harlan Mandel. He is the CEO of the Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) and holds a net worth equivalent to $2 million. It is an organization that invests and provides affordable debt to independent media companies around the globe. 

The civil rights lawyer has not shared her wedding date information with the public and the media. However, the pair are currently parents to their two beautiful daughters, Naja and Kai. Their elder daughter Naja is 19 years old, while her youngest daughter Kai is 16. Wiley also regularly updates her family details on her Instagram handle @wiley4civilrights. On 10 May 2021, i.e., on Mother’s Day occasion, she shared a beautiful snap with both her daughters.