Nimrata "Nikki" Haley (née Randhawa; born January 20, 1972) is an American diplomat, businesswoman, author, and politician. A Republican, Haley is a former South Carolina state legislator, a former governor of South Carolina, and a former United States Ambassador to the United Nations. She was the first female governor of South Carolina and is the first Sikh American to serve as governor in the United States. First elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2004, Haley served three terms. In 2010, during her third term, she was elected governor of South Carolina and won re-election in 2014. In 2015, Haley signed legislation calling for the removal of the Confederate flag from the State Capitol. She was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016. On November 23, 2016, then President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Haley for the position of United States ambassador to the United Nations. Haley was confirmed to that post by the U.S. Senate in a 96 to 4 vote, and was sworn in on January 25, 2017. As U.N. ambassador, 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 North Korea crisis; she was also an outspoken supporter of the nation of Israel. Haley stepped down from her position on December 31, 2018.