Tonight, it is my pleasure to welcome Ambassador Nikki Haley back to the Nixon Library and to orange county. The ambassador the author of if you want something done, a brand new bestseller, iconic women from whom the ambassador has derived particular inspiration. And its already becoming required. Reading in just a few minutes, Ambassador Haley will appear in conversation with blake kernen, a friend of the nixon foundations, and a published author, Senate Staffer and nonprofit director. Blake has been passionate about the intersection of politics and journalism from a very young age since she published her book, your teacher said what our kids from the assault on capitalism with her father, cnbcs joe kernan, when she was 11 years old. She has been featured across network news, cable and network news and has been a keynote speaker at Harvard Business school, Adam Smith Society and the u. S. Chamber of commerce. And she recently graduated from the university, pennsylvania, with her b. A. In political science. So she is quite an accomplished person. Of course, Ambassador Haley served, as a legislator in South Carolina, in the South Carolina house of representatives before being elected governor of South Carolina in 2011, becoming the first female minority governor in United States history. In 2017, she was appointed u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations, where she served until 2019. Ladies and would you please welcome Ambassador Nikki Haley and blake kernen. If you will provide for the first woman to serve as governor of South Carolina . Think my good answer was always people underestimate it and i go back to the bible in going it wasnt a long one. A challenge comes and im so overprotective the things that i just i just work at all i know how to do is work. And i dont stop until i feel like things are taken care of. If you can give a person a job, you take care of a family. And we watched a lot of families get taken care of over the past couple of years. President elect has asked South Carolina governor nikki haley to be his ambassador to United Nations and shes accepted. The daughter of indian immigrants is considered rising star in the republican party. Haley would be the first woman appointed to trumps cabinet. For anyone that says you cant get anything done at the un, they need to know theres a new sheriff, that there is a new u. S. U. N. You are going to see a change in the way we business. For those that dont have our back, taking names, if for any reason. North korea attacks United States or our the u. S. Will respond, period. So and shes so lost. And you just know youre not going to move her a. America will put our embassy in jerusalem. That is what the American People want us to do. And it is the right thing to, you know, vote in the United Nations will make any difference on what we witnessed here today in the Security Council is an insult to. It wont be forgotten. Like the message that nikki said yesterday at the United Nations, this was the finest hour for nikki haley. I think standing up for the United States, standing up for israel. Standing her ground. U. N. Ambassador nikki haley making it clear. I will shut up rather, i will respectfully speak some hard truths. Nikki haley delivered absolute fire and brimstone. She dropped it right on the head of the russian ambassador, Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is really going after the russians. She should gives leave a lot to haley shows us what American Foreign policy looks like with a spine. I wear heels. Its not for practicing. Its because if i do something wrong, were going to kick them every single time we have to put forth Real Solutions to our countrys problems. And we have to restore the peoples belief that america is worth fighting for. America is the great force for good in human history, and we should never be ashamed to say that the. Biggest reason socialism is gaining ground is because defenders are too afraid to speak up. We cant keep quiet. The truth. And its time to tell America China is too nice. Too nice. Stop being nice to these thugs and these tyrants that want to kill us. Were not going to throw cotton balls out. Were going to throw a grenade. Heres what i just learned. Dont make nikki haley mad. And if this president signs any sort of deal, ill make you a promise. The next president bush shredded on her first day in. Just saying, sometimes it takes a woman. Well, that was really special. Thank you, guys much for coming. You guys are in for a real treat. I just finished my copy last week. Its amazing. I understand. Before we take some questions that you want a group. So, yes, we have to do our selfie. For those of you either. Also with us last time. So im going to ask everybody to stand up and hold your book up like this. Or not. With. This. Sure. Everybody looked amazing. Now, with all the format ladies out of the way. Well get right into things. So its a good looking crowd. You are so busy. I mean, if you cant tell shes doing a hundred different things. And shes also an incredible. So i want to know, what was the motivation behind this project . But importantly, why did you feel like these stories are from across history . Why was now the time to tell them . So the publisher had been on me for a while saying that he wanted me to. Write this book, and he said theres all these books on male leaders, but we dont have any books on female leaders. And i kept saying, im too busy. Im too busy. I cant do it now. Then i was thinking when i was younger growing up in rural South Carolina, town of 2500 people, two stoplights, you couldnt think about doing something wrong without somebody already telling your your mom. And, you know, growing up, i was always looking for women leaders, and i didnt see any. And so i would go to the library when i was in second grade and check out books. And the only books that i could find were books first ladies. So i would read the stories of first ladies. And i loved how they partnered with their husbands and loved how the scenes they really did things that moved the country forward. And so then i thought, you know, i have to write this book because i dont want any little girls sitting there doing what i was doing in second grade saying, we need more books, need more books. So, you know, started with one of my favorites. Margaret and the book is from a quote she would say, if you want something said, ask a man if you want something done, ask a woman. So i started with that one. And, you know, just loved reading about her. And then i, you know, included jeane kirkpatrick. She was my predecessor, the first female u. N. Ambassador and, you know, she would always say she wasnt personally tough, but you couldnt tell it on the world stage because she was amazing the way she defended america. But she would complain. She came in as democrat under reagan, but she would complain about the fact that all this anti americanism, she didnt like it and she ended up switching parties because she said that she felt like democrats always blamed. America first. And, you know, you back all these years later. And were still talking about the same. So, you know, there were lots of women in there that we got to, you know, research and profile. And what i hope at the end of the day is as a mom, we all know, that if you raise strong girls, they become strong women and strong women become great leaders. And so i hope that all of you will for your daughters and your granddaughters and your sisters and your mothers and your grandmothers, youll give them this book and remind them that when we work hard and prove we deserved to be in the room, amazing things. And we need our women to step up we really need them to put the most theyve got into this country because this country needs them right now more than ever. I think you touched on something really special. If you walk through the library like so many of you have, and i know you did tonight, in part at least one of the first quotes you hear from president nixon, some some audio is that its about the american. And he says, i believe in the American Dream because i have seen it come true in my own life. And ambassador, i know you have as well. What makes america such an exceptional place to live and . How do we keep that exceptional dream alive for the next generation, like your incredible. Well, you know, and thats what i think bothers me the most, is this national selfloathing that were seeing is killing us. You know, people saying that were an oppressed country, that a racist country, that were a bad country. Were not. If we were a racist country, i wouldnt have been elected the first female minority governor in the country. You know, we are a special country and i know when i was at the United Nations, the ambassadors would take me to the side and they loved the fact that we had freedom of speech, freedom of religion to do and be anything we wanted to without government getting in the way. And we need our children and grandkids learn to understand how incredibly blessed they are that. This is a special place and what i saw at the United Nations is when we spoke, the world listened. When we led, the world followed. Who we are. The world wants to be. We have to remember who we want to be. Because right now we just look so distraught and were better than this. And when we start to really focus on loving america again, thats when well start to see things. So a few just a few weeks ago, Henry Kissinger was on the stage talking about really incredible leaders as well. Now were lucky enough to have you talking about these ten incredible woman and these wonderful lessons in leadership. One thing i really loved is that theyre also different. Theyre from different chapters of history and they did different things. And like you said, you didnt you say in the book, you dont look at their party, you really didnt look at anything. You looked at their story and that their story inspired you. But again, they are also different. But i was wondering if when you were researching these incredible women, did you find any one characteristic that think is unique to like a Leadership Trait that they all share . We can all take as a universal lesson . Well, you know, and the book is not from a partizan slant. The book is much from a how did these ordinary women become extraordinary . And was different. So you look at Margaret Thatcher and here was a woman who was a grocers daughter and, was always underestimated, but she believed in. But more than that, she believed in herself. And so she really led in a way that even when she took a lot of she is the reason they erased 40 years worth of socialism in ten years was because she was so determined to see britain through that. You look at someone like claudette colvin. Shes someone that we all know. Parks we all know that rosa parks to get off the bus. Shes a historic hero. But what people dont talk is nine months prior to a 15 year old claudette. Was the first one to refuse to get off the bus. She had been studying the constitution in school. And when they tried to get her off the bus, she said, no, its my constitutional right. She was arrested. She was put in jail. But because they didnt think she came from the right social circles, because they thought she was a bit too fiery and emotional. They set up for rosa parks to do it nine months later. Because she was a member of the cpp, she was more mature. She was from the right social circles. And so thats how rosa parks ended up with the movement. But it was actually this 15 Year Old Girl that did it or organically because she truly believed in it. And the courage that she showed. You know, then you look at someone like virginia, walden, ford. Here was a woman who lived in crime ridden area of d. C. And we know our children. We have one job. One job is to make sure that we get it right. And she was so worried about her sons education and she would say its the segregation, our time that our children are educated based on where theyre born and raised, not based on the fact that they deserve a good education. And they had terrible public schools. And so she fought and rallied parents around it. And the amazing thing is, she testified all the way up until. But she was terrified of public speaking. But her love of her son mattered more than that. And she was able to get School Choice in d. C. And not help her son, but help thousands children. So these ladies were extraordinary. But because the one thing they did have in was sheer will, the sheer will to not stop, the sheer will to not take no for an answer, the sheer to say, weve got to do this because no one else will. And thats really thats really special. One of my favorite lines in in the whole book and there are a lot of favorite, but one of them was when you said in a lot of the places where i was, there was never a long line for the womens bathroom. Its totally changed the way that i see now. Im like, you know what . Im surrounded other women. But how did you being in those spaces where a lot of youd look around and there was no one that looked like you, you know, there were never any lines to the womens bathroom. I was you know, i was when i was elected to the state legislature, we were the lowest in the country on women elected officials. And then in corporate life, i was the only female on an executive board. And then when i became governor, i was the first female governor of South Carolina. And then on the Security Council of the United Nations, i was the only woman. But i never let that bother me. I always thought that, you know, i had to show them what it was that i was going to do. I to show them what they needed to do to be with me. And so ill give an when i got out of college. And i was the first female executive or i was the only female executive for this company, six of its subsidiaries. I was an accounting and we were getting ready for a meeting and the ceo was running late and. He came running into the boardroom. He said, im sorry, im running late. And the cfo looked over at me and he said, nikki, will you get paul a cup of Coffee Coffee right out of college . And i remember not knowing what i was going to do, but knowing that whatever i did was going to dictate how they treated me Going Forward. And so i said, absolutely. And leaned to the table and called my assistant. And i said, kim, will you please bring paul a cup of coffee. They never asked me to do that again. But you know what i say is its you dont have to embarrass someone. You have to pitch a fit sometime. People just dont know. And so its always good for you to kind of show them how they need to act and how they need to do things. And so, you know, i always tell women, its not what you as much as how you do it, because thats how youre going to earn respect. And so when i was, you know, when i was elected governor of South Carolina was the youngest governor in the country. And everybody in the legislature, they had all been elected when i was like eight. So, you know, here they were looking at heres the girl and she zhang and she doesnt know what shes doing. And so what i had to do was prove to them that i deserved to be in the room and then with the Security Council, you know, youre up against all of these other countries. And i wanted them to know what america was for and. I wanted them to know what america was against. I care if they liked me, but i wanted to respect america and so thats always how ive led Going Forward is not focusing on me personally, but focusing on them and i expect from them. Well, unfortunately it hasnt all been cups of coffee going through the book. You tell us about some really attacks on your character, a lot of them pertaining to your gender or your race that youve experienced throughout career. I saw one a couple of weeks ago. Im not sure if if folks in the crowd saw that as well. But as a cohost of abc the view attacked you for for changing your name to pass his way to help your political career, something youve never done ever. Youve always been so proud of your. So it was it was horrible what she said but how do you handle such direct attacks on your character and these these horrible challenges. Well, thats not the first time or the last time the ladies on the view are going to take issue. With me. You know, i mean, look, i am have always been very proud of my indian heritage, very proud of my parents. They came with 8 in their pocket. There wasnt a day that went by that they didnt remind my brothers my sister and me how blessed we were to live in america. And so what they did on the view was they basically said nikki wasnt, my real name, that i was using it to pass as white nikki actually on my birth certificate. However, the woman that said it, sunny hostin, sunny, is not on her birth certificate. Whoopi. Whoopi is not on her birth certificate. But, you know, whenever they come after you, that thats when, you know, youre winning because they had nothing else to criticize me for. And so they picked at. So i always look at it as a badge of honor. It means im doing something right. Youre doing a lot right. I do. I i really do want to talk about this. These are ten really incredible woman. But we are at the Nixon Library and lot of out of the 11th and thats first Lady Pa