Nikki Haley is an American politician, diplomat, businesswoman, and author who served as the governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017. She also served as the United States ambassador to the United Nations from January 2017 to December 2018.
Impressively, Haley was the 116th governor of South Carolina and the first female one. She was also the 29th United States ambassador to the United Nations. A Republican presidential candidate, Nikki Haley is the first and only woman so far in the 2024 US presidential race.
The mother of two stands with the pro-life movement and launched her campaign earlier in 2023. Read on to learn more about Haley, her net worth, husband, religion, children, and more.
Nikki Haley Wiki & Biography
Haley was born on January 20, 1972, in Bamberg, South Carolina, US. This makes her 51 years old as of 2023.
An Indian American, her parents are Sikh immigrants from Punjab, India. Her father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, and her mother, Raj Kaur Randhawa, immigrated to the United States from Amritsar District, Punjab, India.
Her father was a former professor at Punjab Agricultural University, while her mother received her law degree from the University of Delhi.
Haley was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa, but she was more known by her middle name, Nikki. Contrary to popular belief, ‘Nikki’ isn’t an English name. It’s a Punjabi name meaning “little one.”
Haley’s parents moved to Canada before she was born. In 1969, the family moved to South Carolina where her father worked as a professor at Voorhees College, a historically black institution.
Having a master’s in education, Raj Randhawa, Haley’s mother, taught in Bamberg public schools for seven years. Then in 1976, she established a popular clothing boutique, Exotica International. However, the business closed in 2008.
Haley has a sister, Simran, and two brothers, Mitti and Charan. Simran is a radio host while her brother, Mitti, retired as a member of the United States Army Chemical Corps. Her second brother, Charan, is a web designer.
For High School, Haley attended the private Orangeburg Preparatory Schools and graduated in 1989. She went on to Clemson University where she graduated in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
Before she went into politics, she was helping to manage her family’s business.
| Full Name/Real Name: | Nimarata Nikki Haley (Nee Randhawa) |
| Nick Name/Stage Name: | Nikki Haley |
| Birth Place: | Bamberg, South Carolina, US |
| Birthday: | January 20, 1972 |
| Zodiac Sign: | Aquarius |
| Net Worth: | $6 million |
| Age: | 51 |
| Weight: | 58kg (127 lbs) |
| Height: | 5 ft 6 inches (1.68m) |
| Currently live in: | Kiawah Island, South Carolina, US |
| Debut: | N/A |
| Nationality: | American |
| Religion: | Father: Raj Kaur Randhawa
Mother: Ajit Singh Randhawa |
| Ethnicity: | Indian American |
| College: | Clemson University |
| Profession: | Politician
Diplomat Author Businesswoman |
| Social Media Accounts: |
Nikki Haley Family and Relationships?
Haley and her husband, Michael Haley, met while they were students at Clemson University. At the time, Haley was 17, and her husband, 19.
The couple got married in September of 1996. The wedding was held in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
They celebrated both Sikh and Methodist ceremonies. This was because Haley was born and raised into the Sikh faith but she converted to Christianity in her twenties.
As such, after the Sikh ceremony, they also had a marriage ceremony in the Methodist Church.
Although she and her husband regularly attend the United Methodist Church, Haley attends Sikh services once or twice a year.
The couple have been married for 26 years and they have two children, a daughter and a son. Their daughter, Rena, was born in June 1998. She is a pediatric nurse.
The couple welcomed their son, Nalin, in September 2001. He is currently a student at Villanova University.
Haley’s husband is an officer in the South Carolina Army National Guard. In January 2013, while she was the governor of South Carolina, he was sent on a year-long deployment to Afghanistan.
Haley and her family live in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, near the city of Charleston.
In April 2023, Rena Haley got married to her college sweetheart, Josh Jackson. The wedding was a private ceremony conducted at an undisclosed location.
After she shared a photo of herself and her family at the event, Nikki Haley was slammed on Twitter for wearing an off-white gown to the wedding ceremony. While most users congratulated Haley and her family, others criticized her for the dress she wore.
“Did the mother of the bride wear WHITE?” asked one Twitter user.
“Ummmm why the hell are you wearing an almost white dress that easily could have been a wedding dress??? That was very selfish of you…” another user tweeted.
There were some Twitter users who rushed to Haley’s defense, however.
Replying to one of the negative comments, one user wrote: ‘I don’t see a veil on her head & she is wearing a champagne-colored dress, not white. I’m guessing her daughter was with her when she picked it out, just like I was with my mom when she picked out her mother’s dress.’
Someone else commented: ‘Beautiful and your dress is an amazing mother-of-the-bride dress.’
Others also praised the dress, describing it as ‘stunning,’ ‘classy’ and a ‘beautiful’ choice.
Nikki Haley finally spoke up on the issue after a Newsweek reporter asked her to comment on the color of her dress at her daughter’s wedding. Taking to Twitter, she slammed the journalist, commenting:
“This is why people don’t trust the media, Liberal ‘journalists’ spend their time harassing conservatives about outfit choices. Grow up, @Newsweek. P.S. The dress was gold.”
Father’s Name – Raj Randhawa
Mother’s Name – Ajit Randhawa
Brothers’ Name – Mitti Randhawa
Charan Randhawa
Sister’s Name – Simran Singh
Marital Status – Married
Husband’s Name – Michael Haley
Children – Rena Jackson (Daughter)
Nalin Haley (Son)
Physical Appearance
Nikki Haley is a very beautiful woman. She is 5 feet 6 inches tall, with brown shoulder-length hair, and lovely dark eyes.
Fit and healthy, Haley has a beautiful figure, looking younger than her 51 years.
She also has a great sense of style. Though conservative, the US presidential candidate ensures that she always looks elegant.
Career
Nikki Haley started her career by working for a waste management and recycling company before joining her family’s business. As the years went on, she became active in civic affairs and politics.
In 1998, she was part of the board of directors of the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce. She then chaired the Lexington Gala to raise funds for a local hospital.
Additionally, she served on the Lexington Medical Foundation, Lexington County Sheriff’s Foundation, and West Metro Republican Women.
Haley was first elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2004, and she served 3 terms. In 2010, she was elected governor of South Carolina, and re-elected in 2014.
She was not only the first female governor of South Carolina, but she was also the youngest governor in the country.
In 2017, Haley became the first Indian American to serve in a presidential cabinet. She is currently running for the US presidency, and the elections are to come up in 2024.
Nikki Haley: Net Worth Summary
Nikki Haley’s estimated net worth is $6 million as of 2023. As a politician and diplomat, she earned an estimated salary of $186,000.
Haley is also the author of several books from which she earns money. She earns between the range of $100,000 to $1 million in royalties from one of her books – “If You Want Something Done” – written in 2022.
The former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations also quotes the sum of $200,000 and the use of a private jet for domestic speaking engagements. Speaking engagements outside the United States could cost considerably more.
In 2022, she earned between $1 million to $12 million in speaking engagements only. Her lucrative fee puts her in the league of U.S. presidents, former first lady Michelle Obama, and former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
She also owns hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stock in companies like United Homes and Boeing. This makes her one of the richest Republican politicians in the US.
