Who is Nikki Haley: Biography, Husband&Children, Career and Personal Profile&Life
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| Nikki Haley and Trump |
Who Is Nikki Haley?
Nikki Haley served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under President Donald Trump from January 2017 through December 2018. She was governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, the first female and Indian American to serve in this office.
Early Life of Nikki Haley
Nikki Haley, original name Nimrata Nikki Randhawa, was born on January 20, 1972, in Bamberg, South Carolina, to Sikh immigrants from Punjab, India.
Her parents—Sikh immigrants Dr. Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur Randhawa—migrated to the state from the Amritsar District of Punjab, India. Nikki Haley’s parents were Indian immigrants who owned a small foreign goods store that evolved into a hugely successful clothing and gift venture.
Haley has two brothers, Mitti and Charan, and one sister, Simran.
"We were the only Indian family in town. My father wore a turban, my mother wore a sari, and we were different. But my parents always said that the things that made you different make you special. When we would come home complaining that we were being teased, my mom would say, "Your job is not to show people how you're different. It's to show them how you're similar." - Nikki Haley
Husband and Children of Nikki Haley
In 1996 she married Michael Haley, who later served in the National Guard and was deployed during the Afghanistan War. Michael Haley was the first-ever First Gentleman of South Carolina when Haley was governor.
The couple have a daughter and son, Rena and Nalin.
Trump refuses to meet with Nikki HaleyNikki Haley, America's United Nations ambassador under former President Donald Trump, reached out to Trump on Wednesday to request a face-to-face meeting at Mar-a-Lago — and he said no, Politico and The Hill reported Feb 18, 2021. Haley had largely declined to criticize Trump since leaving his administration in 2018, and there's widespread speculation she plans to run for president in 2024. "Haley tried to recover" from her criticism of Trump with a "damage-control op-ed" Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal, Politico notes, "but Trump, apparently, isn't having it." "Nikki Haley reached out to former President Donald Trump on Wednesday to request a sit-down at Mar-a-Lago, but a source familiar tells Playbook that he turned her down. The two haven't spoken since the insurrection on Jan. 6, when Haley blasted Trump for inciting his supporters to storm the Capitol." - Politico. |
Education and Career of Nikki Haley
She began working there while still a teenager, and, after studying accounting at Clemson University (B.S., 1994), she continued at the family business.
She attended local schools and graduated from Clemson University with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. Haley went on to work for her mother's upscale clothing business, Exotica International, helping to make it a multimillion-dollar company.
In 1998 Haley was named to the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce's board of directors, and in 2003, to that of the Lexington Chamber of Commerce. She became president of the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2004 and immersed herself in a number of organizations.
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| Nikki Haley served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nation - AP Image |
Nikki won a seat in the state House of Representatives in 2004, campaigning on a traditional Republican platform that included tax cuts, immigration controls, and abortion restrictions. She took office the following year and was reelected in 2008.
Nikki Haley - the first female governor of South Carolina (2010-2017)
Haley ran for governor of South Carolina in 2010, earning the backing of the Tea Party movement, notably Sarah Palin. It was a bitter campaign—with Haley being subjected to racial slurs and accusations of infidelity—but she defeated more experienced candidates in the primary and went on to win the general election.
When she took office in 2011, she made history as the first woman and the first person of an ethnic minority to hold the governorship. During her first term South Carolina’s economy grew steadily as the jobless rate fell. Haley easily won reelection in 2014.
According to her official biography, Haley's gubernatorial priorities were creating jobs; improving the state's business climate; working toward pension, Medicaid, and immigration reform; cutting taxes for small businesses; instituting a voter identification law; and creating the office of inspector general.
In April 2013, Nate Silver of The New York Times ranked Haley as the 21st most conservative governor in the country.
Nikki Haley - U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
In 2016 her position among Republicans continued to rise as she was selected to give the party’s response to U.S. Pres. Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. During that year’s presidential election, Haley endorsed U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and was critical of eventual Republican winner Trump, notably condemning his call for a ban on Muslims. By the end of the contentious campaign, Haley did vote for Trump in the election and celebrated his victory.
In November 2016, President-elect Trump selected her to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She was the first woman to be named as part of his administration.
Over her first few months as the U.N. Ambassador, Haley found her time consumed by keeping the international community attuned to threats from Russia, North Korea and Iran. In December 2017, she forcefully defended President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, referring to it as the "will of the American people" and something that would "fastball the peace process going forward.". On October 9, 2018, Haley resigned and said she would leave her position at the end of the year.
In 2019 Haley joined the board of directors for Boeing, but she resigned the following year, objecting to the company’s decision to seek a federal government bailout during the COVID-19 pandemic. Haley wrote the autobiographies Can’t Is Not an Option: My American Story (2012) and With All Due Respect: Defending America with Grit and Grace (2019); in the latter she chronicled her tenure as UN ambassador.
