NY Gov. Cuomo picks daughter Mariah as 'informal advisor' for coronavirus mask wearing campaign

Mariah Kennedy Cuomo Andrew Cuomo daughter
Mariah Kennedy-Cuomo, 25, was at the podium with her father, NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, during the announcement of her "informal advisor" role.

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  • A new Cuomo has been enlisted in the family business, with NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo announcing Tuesday that his daughter, Mariah, will be working as "an informal advisor" to the New York State Department of Health.

  • Mariah Kennedy-Cuomo, 25, is one of the governor's daughters from his first marriage with Kerry Kennedy, the third daughter of Robert F. Kennedy.

  • Governor Cuomo has referred to his daughters before during press conferences, as well as "the boyfriend" who stayed with Mariah in the governor's mansion in Albany during the early days of quarantine.

  • Kennedy-Cuomo will be working on a crowdsourced ad campaign encouraging New Yorkers to wear masks, but Cuomo noted it will be at no cost to the taxpayers.

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Politics has long been the Cuomo family business, and now a third generation is coming through the ranks.

Mariah Kennedy-Cuomo, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's daughter, will be volunteering as an "informal advisor" to the New York State Department of Health on a crowdsourced ad campaign.

Kennedy-Cuomo, 25, is a Brown University alumna and works as an associate for Teneo consulting, according to her LinkedIn page.

Governor Cuomo — who has not worn a mask during his highly viewed coronavirus daily press briefings, but has been seen wearing one walking around Albany — lamented his communication skills in persuading New Yorkers to wear masks in public.

 

"My suggestion is, look, why don't we ask New Yorkers to produce an ad that the state could run on explaining to New Yorkers why they should wear a mask," Cuomo said during his briefing on Tuesday.

"Maybe there is a better way to communicate it than I have been able to communicate it," Cuomo added.

He said the idea for a 30-second crowdsourced ad came from Mariah.

The state will pick five ads to post online, where New Yorkers can vote for the one that will air on TV.

"They'll get a lot of acclaim, they'll go on to be big creative experts," Cuomo quipped.

"And Mariah is going to help on that and take it on as a project, and I'm excited about that — at no cost to the people of the State of New York — she'll be a volunteer."

In his early 20s, Gov. Cuomo worked for $1 per year as his father Mario's gubernatorial campaign manager.

Cuomo also couldn't resist, once again, poking fun at Kennedy-Cuomo's boyfriend, Tellef Lundevall, the 29-year-old CEO of Accelerated Digital Media, according to his LinkedIn page.

Lundevall had been quarantining with the Cuomo family at the governor's mansion during the outset of the pandemic, and was a senior at Brown when Kennedy-Cuomo was a freshman.

"The boyfriend, he could submit a possible ad for consideration," Cuomo jeered. "The boyfriend will lose, but he could submit an ad, because I'm still governor."

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