Julie Menin’s path to power

It’s Julie Menin’s New York City Council now, and we profiled the new speaker who wants to remake the council in her image. But how did she get here?

1992: After attending Columbia University for undergrad and Northwestern University for law school, Menin begins her professional career as a regulatory attorney at Wiley, Rein & Fielding in Washington, D.C.

1995: Menin returns to New York City as a senior regulatory attorney at Colgate-Palmolive.

1999: Menin opens a restaurant, market and catering business called Vine close to where she lives in lower Manhattan.

2001: Just a few months after 9/11, Menin founds a nonprofit called Wall Street Rising dedicated to helping lower Manhattan recover from the terrorist attacks.

2005: Menin is elected chair of Manhattan Community Board 1 – a position she’d go on to hold for seven years, navigating Occupy Wall Street and helping spearhead the approval of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York near ground zero.

2013: Menin mounts an unsuccessful run for Manhattan borough president, losing to her now-colleague Gale Brewer.

2014: Then-Mayor Bill de Blasio selects Menin to serve as the commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs, where she serves for two years.

2016: De Blasio appoints Menin to lead the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. 

2019: Menin is tasked with leading the city’s 2020 census effort and in doing so, she takes on the Trump administration, fighting to get a citizenship question removed.

2022: Menin enters the City Council after winning a competitive, open primary on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

2026: Menin is unanimously elected to lead the City Council, becoming the first Jewish speaker.