Nimrata “Nikki” Haley nee Randhawa was born of Sikh immigrants from Punjab, India on January 20, 1972, in Bamberg, South Carolina. Her father became a professor at Voorhees College, and her mother taught for several years in the Bamberg Public School system before starting her own fashion boutique, called Exotica International, where a young 12-year-old Nikki, as she preferred to be called, started her work career by helping her mother with the accounting at the boutique.
Haley graduated in 1989 from Orangeburg Preparatory School and later from Clemson University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. All of her hard work paid off, as her mother’s clothing business became a multimillion-dollar company with Haley at the helm as Chief Financial Advisor. Working there at such a young age taught her the ins and outs of a business and helped her to become a very successful CFO.
She married Michael Haley, an officer in the South Carolina Army National Guard in 1996. Michael and Nikki have a daughter named Rena and a son named Nalin.
Hard work quickly became Haley’s stock in trade, as she has become a symbol for females, and especially for female children of immigrants, with aspirations towards successful careers in either business or politics, as Haley has conquered both arenas with confidence and skill. After helping her mother create a successful clothing business, she turned her attention to politics, where, in 2004, she ran for a seat in the South Carolina House of Representatives. She won, subsequently making her husband, Michael, the first-ever First Gentleman of South Carolina. She was reelected in 2006 and again in 2008.
Haley later fought racism and religious bigotry as she ran for the office of Governor of South Carolina, for which she handily won the runoff Republican vote in the state primary. Haley was elected governor on November 2, 2010, and again for a second term on November 2, 2014, becoming the state’s first female governor, as well as the first Indian-American governor in the United States.
In 2012, there were rumors of a vice-presidential selection as Mitt Romney’s running mate. However, she stated she would decline if he were to offer due to strong feelings regarding her obligation to her duties as South Carolina’s duly elected governor. “I have a job to do and I’m not going to leave my job for anything,” she stated in an Associated Press interview in April of 2012. Her loyalty to her constituents proved her dedication to her elected position.
In November of 2016, then president-elect Donald Trump selected Haley as the United States ambassador to the United Nations. This appointment made her the first woman to be selected as part of Trump’s administration. She was confirmed in her role by the Senate on January 24, 2017, forcing her to resign her position as governor of South Carolina, a position she would not relinquish for anything less than the international goodwill between the United States and the rest of the world community.
In 2019, Haley created Stand for America, an advocacy group committed to promoting public policies that bolster the economy, the culture, and the national security of the United States. It is being speculated that Haley could be a viable candidate in 2024 if she decided to run for President.
You can follow her on the following social platforms:
Personal Twitter: https://twitter.com/NikkiHaley
Archived Twitter UN Twitter account: https://twitter.com/AmbNikkiHaley
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NikkiHaley/