5 Things to Know About South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley

— -- South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley delivered the Republican response to President Obama’s final State of the Union Tuesday night.

“Soon, the Obama presidency will end, and America will have the chance to turn in a new direction,” she said.

Here are five things you need to know about the Republican governor:

She is the first Indian American woman to hold office in South Carolina

Haley was elected as the 116th governor of South Carolina in 2014. She's the state's first female governor and at the age of 43, also the youngest governor in the country. Before holding public office, Haley worked for a waste management and recycling company and later joined her mother’s business, an upscale clothing firm, in 1994.

She is the daughter of immigrants

Haley was born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa in Bamberg, South Carolina, to an Indian Sikh family. Her parents emigrated to Canada from India when her father received a scholarship from the University of British Columbia. The Randhawas moved to South Carolina in 1969.

Her husband is in the military

Her husband Michael, who she met while she was in college at Clemson University, is a captain in the Army National Guard. They have two teenage children, Rena and Nalin.

She signed into law a bill to remove the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds

Following the tragic killing of nine people at the historically black Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, calls to remove the Confederate Flag from the South Carolina statehouse intensified.

On July 9, 2015, Haley signed a bill that removed the Confederate flag from the state capitol.

She’s mentioned as a potential VP pick

Haley said she is open to the idea of becoming a running mate. “If a candidate wanted to sit down and talk, I would sit down and talk,” she said Wednesday on NBC. “It’s a big decision, it’s a family decision. But absolutely, I would sit down and talk.”