Mazi Melesa Pilip was elected to the Nassau County Legislature in 2021. She is chair of the Legislature’s Towns, Villages & Cities Committee, vice chairwoman of the Health & Social Services and a member of the public safety, senior affairs and veterans committee.
Pilip was born in a small poor village in Ethiopia, grew up without running water in her home. She immigrated to Israel in 1991 when she was 11 years old, along with her family, as part of Operation Solomon.
The operation was an Israeli military operation that covertly airlifted over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in a day and a half. She has three sisters, all of whom live in Israel. She attended high school in Israel.
After graduation, she served in the Israeli Defense Forces in the paratrooper unit. She graduated Tel Aviv and Haifa Universities with degrees in diplomacy, politics and security.
She emigrated to the United States with her husband, Dr. Adalbert Pilip. She lives in Great Neck, raising their seven children.
She was a member of the Great Neck Architectural Review Board, vice president of her synagogue, a coach in youth soccer, outreach coordinator for Jewish and Ethiopian causes as a national speaker. She currently manages her husband’s cardiology practice.
