30 Amazing Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Jacinda Ardern

15 February 2019, 7:58 am EST By Ruby Karnick

Jacinda Ardern, the 40th and current Prime Minister of New Zealand since October 2017, initially started her career as a researcher in the office of Prime Minister Helen Clark in the year 2001. Here are some little known facts about the New Zealand politician:

Ardern is the youngest female head of government in the world, having taken office at age 37, on October 26, 2017.
She became the first New Zealand's first Prime Minister to be pregnant whilst in office, when she announced her pregnancy on January 19, 2018.
She became the second elected head of government in the world to give birth while in office, when she gave birth to her first child on June 21, 2018.
She served as the Leader of the Labour Party since August 1, 2017, following the resignation of Andrew Little, after a historically low poll result for the party.
She is the first female head of government to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting with her infant present on September 24, 2018.
She is the third female prime minister after Jenny Shipley (1997–1999) and Helen Clark (1999–2008) in the history of New Zealand.
Ardern is the youngest individual to have become New Zealand's head of government since Edward Stafford, who became premier in 1856.
She, citing Helen Clark as a political hero, describes herself as a social democrat, a progressive, a republican and a feminist.
Her first official overseas trip was to Australia to meet Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on November 5, 2017, in an effort to rectify the strained relationship between the nations, due to the Australia's treatment of New Zealanders living in the country.
She became the first female Prime Minister to speak from the top marae, during her visit to Waitangi for the annual Waitangi Day commemoration on February 2, 2018.

Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern was born on July 26, 1980, in Hamilton, New Zealand to parents Ross Ardern and Laurell Ardern. She is the second of the two daughters to the couple.
Her father Ross was working as a police officer, while her mother was a school catering assistant. Her aunt Marie Ardern was a longstanding member of the Labour Party.
Though born in Hamilton, she mostly grew up in Morrinsville and Murupara, due to her father's work there. She attended the Morrinsville College and served as the student representative on the school's Board of Trustees.
She went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Communication Studies (BCS) in politics and public relations from the University of Waikato in the year 2001.
At the age of 17, her aunt Marie recruited her to help with campaigning for New Plymouth MP Harry Duynhoven during his re-election campaign at the 1999 general election. This was her first foray into politics.
After joining the Labour Party, she became a senior figure in the Young Labour sector of the party, and started working as a researcher in the offices of Phil Goff and of Helen Clark, following her graduation.
She later moved to London, to work for the then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a senior policy adviser in an 80-person policy unit, but had never met him in person, until 2011, in New Zealand.
Ardern became the President of the International Union of Socialist Youth, a position that had her travel to several countries including China, Jordan, Algeria and Israel, in the early 2008.
In the year 2008, she was chosen as the Labour Party's candidate for MP of the Waikato district, a position which has been beyond the reach of the party in history. She lost the position by some 13,000 votes.
However, she entered the parliament as a list candidate, and became the youngest sitting MP in Parliament, a record she held till the election of Gareth Hughes on February 11, 2010.

Before the 2008 election, she was ranked at number 20 on the Labour's party list, which is considered to be a very high placement for someone who was not a sitting MP.
She has often appeared on the TVNZ's Breakfast program as part of the "Young Guns" feature, along with the National MP Simon Bridges.
She participated in the 2017 Women's March, a worldwide protest in opposition to Donald Trump, the newly inaugurated President of the United States on January 21, 2017.
Following the 2017 Mount Albert by-election, in which she was selected unopposed as the only nominee, she was unanimously elected as deputy leader of the Labour Party on March 7, 2017.
She becoming the Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, at the age of 37, made her the youngest leader of the Party in its history, as well as the second female leader of the party after Helen Clark.
She claimed that before Andrew Little's resignation, he had approached her and has asked her to take over as the leader as he had felt he couldn't turn things around for the party, but that she declined and asked him to "stick it out."
Immediately after her appointment, the start of what international outlets call as "Jacinda Effect" and "Jacindamania" was seen, that had the party inundated with donations by the public, reaching NZ$700 per minute at its peak.
She has always been voting in favor of same-sex marriage, and had even reportedly left the church in 2005, due to conflicts related to her support of gay rights.
She met Clarke Gayford, television presenter in the year 2012, through a mutual friend, but began dating him a year later, only when he contacted her regarding a controversial Government Communications Security Bureau bill. The duo have a daughter named Neve Te Aroha, born on June 21, 2018.
The couple had a ginger-and-white poly-dactyl cat named Paddles, which became the "First Cat" after Ardern took office. The cat, as a celebrity even had a Twitter account established. In early November 2017, Paddles was hit by a car in Auckland suburb of Point Chevalier and died.