Who Is Mayra Joli? Nodding Woman Behind Trump at Town Hall

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Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in travel, health, home/interior design and property/real estate. Soo covered the COVID-19 pandemic extensively from 2020 to 2022, including several interviews with the chief medical advisor to the president, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Soo has reported on various major news events, including the Black Lives Matter movement, the U.S. Capitol riots, the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. and Canadian elections, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Soo is also a South Korea expert, covering the latest K-dramas—including the breakout hit Squid Game, which she has covered extensively, including from Seoul, the South Korean capital—as well as Korean films, such as the Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated Past Lives, and K-pop news, to interviews with the biggest Korean actors, such as Lee Jung-jae from Squid Game and Star Wars, and Korean directors, such as Golden Globe and Oscar nominee Celine Song. Soo is the author of the book How to Live Korean, which is available in 11 languages, and co-author of the book Hello, South Korea: Meet the Country Behind Hallyu. Before Newsweek, Soo was a travel reporter and commissioning editor for the award-winning travel section of The Daily Telegraph (a leading U.K. national newspaper) for nearly a decade from 2010, reporting on the latest in the travel industry, from travel news, consumer travel and aviation issues to major new openings and emerging destinations. Soo is a graduate of Binghamton University in New York and the journalism school of City University in London, where she earned a Masters in international journalism. You can get in touch with Soo by emailing s.kim@newsweek.com . Follow her on Instagram at @miss.soo.kim or X, formerly Twitter, at @MissSooKim .Languages spoken: English and Korean

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A woman seen at an NBC News town hall event with President Donald Trump, held at the Perez Art Museum in Miami, Florida, has been dubbed the "Nodding Lady" across social media.

The Trump supporter, who was later identified as Mayra Joli by the Miami Herald, was captured in a video of the event frequently nodding her head throughout Trump's interview with NBC's Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie.

Wearing a red face mask, Joli was seated behind Trump, pictured to the right of the president.

Joli is an immigration attorney in south Florida who ran for Congress back in 2018.

She practices "exclusively in the field of immigration law, specializing in detention and removal proceedings," according to the website of the Joli Law Firm.

During her 2018 congressional race, Joli was reported to have gained 2.5 percent of the vote as an independent in Florida's 27th Congressional District, losing the race to Democrat Donna Shalala.

In an interview with the Miami Herald back in 2017, Joli compared herself to Trump, noting: "I am not looking to run [for Congress] because I need a paycheck, like Donald Trump. I'm not looking to run because I need fame, like Donald Trump.

"I'm running because I need this country to succeed.

"Like Donald Trump, I don't drink," she said at the time.

Get somebody to support you like how this Black woman behind Trump was supporting him during the town hall pic.twitter.com/dliK21wRTX

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) October 16, 2020

After the town hall event, Joli spoke to Trump in a video posted on her Facebook page.

"We have your back! You see, you see you are the best," Joli told Trump.

"Where are you from?" the president replied.

"I'm from the Dominican Republic, but I'm American, I'm an American," Joli said.

Ishmael Befera Benito Jolis

She is also "a regular featured expert on immigration issues" on various Spanish-language shows, according to the Joli Law Firm website.

Joli's appearance sparked several comments from Twitter users, including former Today show anchor Katie Couric.

Donald Trump Miami town hall October 2020
A television screen at the Wunder Garten Beer Garden in Washington, D.C. showing President Donald Trump speak at a town hall event held in Flordia on October 15. A woman known as the "Nodding Lady"... Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

"I'm channel surfing. The woman to @realDonaldTrump 's right keeps nodding her head which I find very distracting. #NBCTrumptownhall," Couric tweeted.

I’m channel surfing. The woman to @realDonaldTrump ‘s right keeps nodding her head which I find very distracting. #NBCTrumptownhall

— Katie Couric (@katiecouric) October 16, 2020

Author and comedian Sara Cooper also tweeted: "Same. This woman is nodding at things before he's even finished his thought. It's a psychological trick and I cannot believe no producer, no camera person, NO ONE is stopping it."

Same. This woman is nodding at things before he’s even finished his thought. It’s a psychological trick and I cannot believe no producer, no camera person, NO ONE is stopping it

— Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) October 16, 2020

Philip Lewis, the frontpage editor of The Huffington Post, tweeted: "Get somebody to support you like how this Black woman behind Trump was supporting him during the town hall."

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About the writer

Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in travel, health, home/interior design and property/real estate. Soo covered the COVID-19 pandemic extensively from 2020 to 2022, including several interviews with the chief medical advisor to the president, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Soo has reported on various major news events, including the Black Lives Matter movement, the U.S. Capitol riots, the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. and Canadian elections, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Soo is also a South Korea expert, covering the latest K-dramas—including the breakout hit Squid Game, which she has covered extensively, including from Seoul, the South Korean capital—as well as Korean films, such as the Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated Past Lives, and K-pop news, to interviews with the biggest Korean actors, such as Lee Jung-jae from Squid Game and Star Wars, and Korean directors, such as Golden Globe and Oscar nominee Celine Song. Soo is the author of the book How to Live Korean, which is available in 11 languages, and co-author of the book Hello, South Korea: Meet the Country Behind Hallyu. Before Newsweek, Soo was a travel reporter and commissioning editor for the award-winning travel section of The Daily Telegraph (a leading U.K. national newspaper) for nearly a decade from 2010, reporting on the latest in the travel industry, from travel news, consumer travel and aviation issues to major new openings and emerging destinations. Soo is a graduate of Binghamton University in New York and the journalism school of City University in London, where she earned a Masters in international journalism. You can get in touch with Soo by emailing s.kim@newsweek.com . Follow her on Instagram at @miss.soo.kim or X, formerly Twitter, at @MissSooKim .Languages spoken: English and Korean

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Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in Read more