Nikki R. Haley

Nimrata Nikki Haley (née Randhawa; born January 20, 1972) is an American diplomat and politician who served as the 116th and first female governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 and as the 29th United States ambassador to the United Nations for two years, from January 2017 through December 2018.

Haley was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, and earned an accounting degree from Clemson University. She joined her family's clothing business before serving as treasurer and president of the National Association of Women Business Owners. First elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2004, she served three terms. In 2010, during her third term, she was elected governor of South Carolina and won re-election in 2014. Haley was the first female governor of South Carolina, the youngest governor in the country, and the second governor of Indian descent (after fellow Republican Bobby Jindal of Louisiana). She was the first female Asian American governor, and in 2017 became the first Indian American in a presidential cabinet.

Haley served as United States ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2018. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a 96–4 vote and was sworn in in January 2017. She affirmed the United States's willingness to use military force in response to further North Korean missile tests in the wake of the 2017–2018 North Korea crisis. She strongly defended Israel at the Security Council and led the effort to withdraw the U.S. from the United Nations Human Rights Council. She voluntarily stepped down as Ambassador on December 31, 2018.

Haley was born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa to immigrant Indian Punjabi Sikh parents at Bamberg County Hospital in Bamberg, South Carolina. Her father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, and her mother, Raj Kaur Randhawa, immigrated to the United States from Amritsar District, Punjab, India. Her father was formerly a professor at Punjab Agricultural University, and her mother received her law degree from the University of Delhi. Haley was known under her middle name, a Punjabi name, from her earliest years.

Haley's parents moved to Canada after her father received a scholarship offer from the University of British Columbia. When her father received his Ph.D. in 1969, he moved his family to South Carolina after accepting a position as a professor at Voorhees College, a historically black institution.

Her mother, Raj Randhawa, earned a master's degree in education and taught for seven years in the Bamberg public schools. In 1976 she started a popular clothing boutique, Exotica International. It closed in 2008.

Haley has a sister and two brothers. Her sister, Simran, born in Canada, became a radio host and Fashion Institute of Technology alumna. Her brother, Mitti, retired as a member of the United States Army Chemical Corps, having served in Desert Storm; her second brother, Charan, is a web designer.

At the age of 12, Haley began helping with the bookkeeping in her mother's ladies' clothing shop, Exotica International. In 1989, she graduated from the private Orangeburg Preparatory Schools. She graduated from Clemson University with a bachelor's degree in accounting.