New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced the appointment of Black lesbian archivist and librarian Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS). She steps into the role as part of a broader wave of mayoral appointments.

With nearly two decades of experience spanning academic, public, and grassroots archives, Smith-Cruz brings a clear ethos: history belongs to everyone, and it should reflect that. At DORIS, she will oversee the preservation of millions of municipal records while expanding public access.

For Smith-Cruz, Zohran’s appointment of her as a Black lesbian is deeply personal. “We have such a rich New York City history when it comes to Stonewall in particular,” she told The Advocate, emphasising that preservation must include not only well-known figures but also “other groups and other people whose voices and names were not documented or heard.” Her comments come amid renewed debates over how LGBTQ+ histories in the US are remembered and represented.

That perspective has shaped her career. From expanding archival access for incarcerated people to curating exhibitions highlighting LGBTQ+ histories, Smith-Cruz has consistently centred communities often excluded from official narratives.

Smith-Cruz’s commitment to community began early. As a teenager, she co-founded Sister Outsider, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit offering paid peer education programmes for young women, focused on harm reduction and economic empowerment, an early sign of her dedication to equity.

She holds a master’s degree in library science with a focus on archives, a master of fine arts in fiction, and a bachelor’s degree from the CUNY Baccalaureate Programme. Most recently, she served as dean of the Barnard College Library. As digital records multiply and demand for public access grows, she has described the role as both highly technical and increasingly urgent.

Her appointment aligns with a broader trend in Mamdani’s administration toward increased LGBTQ+ representation. In March, he established the city’s first Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs, appointing civil rights attorney Taylor Brown as its inaugural director, the first out transgender person to lead a city office. He also named Lillian Bonsignore as the Fire Department’s first openly gay commissioner.