Nikki Haley

Her parents emigrated from India to Canada in 1964 after Ajit received a scholarship offer from the University of British Columbia.

After he received his PhD in 1969, he moved with his family to South Carolina, where he was a professor of biology at Voorhees College, a historically black institution in Denmark, South Carolina.

Nimarata Nikki Haley (née Randhawa; born January 20, 1972) is an American politician and diplomat who served as the 116th governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 and as the 29th U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from January 2017 to December 2018.

A Republican, Haley is the first Indian American to serve in a presidential cabinet.

She was a candidate in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries.

Upon winning the Washington, D.C. primary on March 3, 2024, Haley became the first woman to Prevail in a Republican Party presidential primary.

Haley joined her family's clothing business before serving as treasurer and then president of the National Association of Women Business Owners.

In May 1976, she opened a popular women's clothing boutique, Exotica International, in West Columbia.

At age 12, Nikki Randhawa began helping with bookkeeping at the clothing shop.

She attended Orangeburg Preparatory Schools, graduating in 1989.

In 1993, the Randhawas opened The Gentlemen's Quarters, a male counterpart to Exotica.

She graduated from Clemson University in 1994 with a B.S. degree in accounting and finance.

Haley has been known by her middle name, Nikki, a Punjabi name meaning "little one", since she was born.

After graduating from college, Haley worked for FCR Corporation, a waste management and recycling company, before joining her family's clothing business as its bookkeeper and chief financial officer.

After she married Michael Haley in 1996, she became active in civic affairs.

He retired from teaching in 1998.

Raj earned her master's degree in education and taught for seven years in Bamberg public schools.

In 1998, she was named to the board of directors of the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce.

She was named to the board of directors of the Lexington Chamber of Commerce in 2003.

Haley became treasurer of the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2003, and president in 2004.

Haley chaired the Lexington Gala to raise funds for a local hospital.

She also served on the Lexington Medical Foundation, Lexington County Sheriff's Foundation, and West Metro Republican Women.

She was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2004 and served three terms.

In 2004, Haley ran for the South Carolina House of Representatives to represent District 87 in Lexington County.

She ran in the Republican primary on a platform of education reform and property tax relief.

She was the president of the South Carolina Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, and was chair for the 2006 Friends of Scouting Leadership Division campaign.

The stores closed in 2008 upon Raj's retirement from merchandising.

Haley has two brothers and a sister.

In 2010, during her third term, she was elected governor of South Carolina.

Haley was South Carolina's first female governor and the second U.S. governor of Indian descent, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.

During her time as governor, she received national attention for leading the state's response to the 2015 Charleston church shooting.

In January 2017, Haley resigned as governor to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the administration of Donald Trump.

The U.S. Senate confirmed her by a vote of 96–4.

As U.N. ambassador, Haley was notable for her advocacy for Israel, her defense of the Trump administration's withdrawal of the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate agreement, and her withdrawal of the U.S. from the United Nations Human Rights Council.

She stepped down as ambassador on December 31, 2018.

Haley announced her campaign for President of the United States in February 2023.

After the Iowa caucuses, Haley and Trump became the only remaining major candidates in the Republican primaries.

She campaigned directly against Trump for almost two months, defeating him in the District of Columbia and Vermont primaries before suspending her campaign after a comprehensive defeat to Trump on Super Tuesday.

Haley was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa at Bamberg County Hospital in Bamberg, South Carolina, to immigrant Sikh parents from Amritsar, Punjab, India.

Her father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, was a professor at Punjab Agricultural University, and her mother, Raj Kaur Randhawa, received her law degree from the University of Delhi.