Here’s a look at the life of Jacinda Ardern, prime minister of New Zealand.
Birth date: July 26, 1980
Birth place: Hamilton, New Zealand
Birth name: Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern
Father: Ross Ardern, police officer
Mother: Laurell Ardern, school cook
Children: with Clarke Gaylord: Neve Te Aroha
Education: Waikato University, B.A., 2001, communications studies
Religion: Agnostic
Worked as a staff member for former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.
Ardern is engaged to television presenter Clarke Gayford.
Former disc jockey.
Raised Mormon, but left the church.
November 8, 2008 – Enters New Zealand’s Parliament, elected into the Labour Party as a list MP.
February 25, 2017 – Wins a special election for the MP seat representing Mt. Albert.
March 7, 2017 – Elected deputy leader of the Labour Party.
August 1, 2017 – Elected leader of the Labour Party.
October 19, 2017 – NZ First leader Winston Peters announces on television that he supports Ardern as prime minister in a coalition government.
October 26, 2017 – Sworn in as New Zealand’s prime minister.
January 19, 2018 – Announces her pregnancy.
June 21, 2018 – Ardern gives birth to daughter Neve Te Aroha, becoming the first world leader to give birth since Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto in 1990. Announces she will take six weeks leave following the baby’s birth. Peters, now deputy prime minister, serves as acting prime minister during that time.
March 15, 2019 – Ardern condemns the attacks at two mosques in the city of Christchurch that left 51 individuals dead.
March 18, 2019 – Ardern confirms that New Zealand’s government has agreed to reform the country’s gun laws in the wake of the Christchurch mosques shootings.
March 19, 2020 – Ardern closes New Zealand’s borders to foreign visitors due to the coronavirus pandemic.
March 23, 2020 – Announces a nationwide lockdown, requiring all non-essential workers to stay at home.
April 15, 2020 – Announces that she and her cabinet will take a 20% pay cut for the next six months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
August 17, 2020 – Ardern announces she is delaying the country’s parliamentary election by four weeks to October 17 after the reemergence of Covid-19 in the country last week.
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