A Conversation With: Nikki Haley

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, in Manhattan, New York on Tuesday.Uli Seit for The New York TimesSouth Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, in Manhattan, New York on Tuesday.

Nikki Haley is used to attracting more attention than your typical United States governor. At 40, the governor of South Carolina is the youngest in the country, and the first female and minority for South Carolina. The Sikh-born converted Christian is releasing her memoir, “Can’t Is Not an Option” this week.

The book traces her life from when she was Nimrata Nikki Randhawa, a young girl in the rural town of Bamberg, S.C., with her three siblings and parents who are immigrants from Amritsar, India. In the book she chronicles her ascent into politics, starting with her election to the state legislature, and her successful run for governor in 2010, when she was just 38.

There is drama along the way: the discrimination her family dealt with, her religious conversion to her husband Michael Haley’s faith, ex-Gov. Mark Sanford’s unexpected departure to Argentina, and the ugliness surrounding her race for governor. Ms. Haley won in the end, thanks in part to powerful backers including the Tea Party, Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney, whom she went on to endorse for his presidential run.

A year and change into office, Haley is seen as a rising star in the Republican Party, despite wavering support from some members in the Tea Party and criticism over proposed tax breaks for online retailing behemoth Amazon.com.

She lives in the governor’s mansion with her husband, an officer with the South Carolina Army National Guard and their two children Rena, 13, and Nalin, 10, but was in New York City this week to promote the memoir. Over breakfast, she spoke about changing her religion, her future in politics and the problem with Washington today.

Q.

Let’s start by talking about the title of your book. How did “Can’t Is Not An Option” became your personal motto?

A.

When you grow up with the challenges I did, that’s the motto I lived by. My parents always used to tell us not to complain about things, but do something about them so “Can’t is not an option” was almost a way of life.

Q.

The story where you and your sister were disqualified from a beauty pageant in Bamberg as kids because you were neither black nor white is well known. Can you share another story about discrimination you dealt with?

A.

Another story that I talk about in the book is when I was playing kickball, the other kids wouldn’t play with me unless I picked a team, which basically meant picking a race: Am I black or am I white? Issues like that kept coming up throughout my childhood and into adulthood. A white legislature would call me a “raghead,” and a black legislature would call me a “conservative with a tan.” But I can say I am proud of the fact that South Carolina rose above that and that I’m in a state that elected a 38 year-old Indian-American female for governor.

Q.

How do you maintain a connection to your Indian roots today?

A.

I was raised by the Indian community, and those families are still very close to us. We used to go to each others’ houses one Sunday a month, so we got to know everyone well. Also, we love Indian food and can’t get enough of it. But ultimately my connection to my Indian-ness comes back to my mom and dad. They would all tell me and my siblings stories about their life in India so it was very close to my two brothers and my sister and I.

Q.

Is it more difficult to embrace your Indian heritage as a Republican in South Carolina?

A.

Not at all. It’s such a natural part of me, and I see it as who I am and what defines me. The cultural side of it has stayed very close to me.

Q.

You speak a lot in your book about how proud you are of your roots and your Indian culture, yet you converted to Christianity. Can you speak more about that conversion? You say the teachings of Christ spoke to you in a way that you could understand and that would help you live your life. Did you ever read Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita or the Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib?

A.

I did read Indian scriptures when we could get the English versions, but the problem was I never took the time to learn the language. Really, what it comes down to is that I knew the emotion of faith, I knew what my parents were trying to teach me, but we always said “no” when my mom was trying to teach us Punjabi. Now I wish we had learned, but that is why I think I made the transition.

I understood the language, I understood what it was saying and so much of what Christianity brought. With the Sikh faith, I understood the feeling of the faith, but I never understood the words so that’s really what it was. Michael and I talked about bringing up our children, and it was just natural that this was the religion that spoke to me.

Q.

Do your kids have a connection to Indian culture at all?

A.

They go to the Gurdwara whenever my mom and dad ask them to. They love Indian food, and they are very close to their grandparents.

Q.

How did your parents react to the conversion?

A.

My parents actually never said much. In Bamberg, we were brought up with everyone trying to convert us. It was like “You have to go to church or you’re going to hell.” My mom would actually take us to the churches and say “I want you to pay attention to this because everyone has their way to God.” She is the one who taught us that you can’t have too much God in your life.

So when I had the conversion, they never questioned it, they never said anything, and that’s why I’m so protective of them because during the campaigns, people wanted me to deny the Sikh faith or say something negative about it, and I would never do that because those are the people who raised me. The way they raised me was perfect, and it made me who I am.

We chose Christianity because of the way we wanted to live our life and raise our children — it had nothing to do with me thinking there was anything wrong with the way I was raised, and everything to do with the fact that I am moving forward in my life and had to find a path I felt was right for me.

Q.

You and Sarah Palin seem to have developed quite a connection when she endorsed your race for governor. Why do you think you naturally clicked?

A.

I didn’t know we would connect the way we did. We were talking as we were riding in the car. I was telling her my stories, and she would say she had been through that, too. So much of it was that we realized we had a lot in common. But it is also about being moms and wives and daughters and talking about the impact on the family [of public life] and the challenges. She told me that once you start to gain steam, they are going to start attacking you and once they start attacking you, they will never stop even after you win.

She was so right.

Q.

The New York Times reported recently about Republican women who are unhappy with the party’s recent focus on women’s health care choices and birth control. How should the party be reaching out to women and what could it do better?

A.

If Republican women feel that way, Republican women need to do something about it. I fight for the things that I care about which are jobs and the economy. I fight for the things I think are important which are reducing the debt and getting more companies to come to South Carolina.

It is the responsibility of us to get things done. Don’t complain about it, do something about it. I don’t have a lot of tolerance for whining. You either work hard and you get it done or you don’t. If there are women that don’t think Republicans are focused on that, they need to voice their opinion. So much of it is just knowing the power of your voice.

Q.

Why do you endorse Mitt Romney for president?

A.

I didn’t want to support anyone that was part of the chaos of Washington, and I wanted someone that had been on the other side of government who actually knew what it was like to create jobs and watch when businesses struggle. He was the governor of a liberal state [Massachusetts] that had 85 percent Democratic legislature, and he was able to work with them to cut taxes 19 times and balance his budget. To me, that’s what we need in Washington. The hardest part about my job has been D.C. — they have stopped us on everything we have tried to do. For me as a governor, every time I take two steps forward, Washington sets me back a step, and I wanted to know that there was a partner there who would understand that, which Romney does.

Q.

How has Washington set you back?

A.

We passed voter ID where you had to show a picture ID to vote, and the Department of Justice has stopped us. We had Boeing in Charleston, and that was such a great shot in the arm for us, and President Obama and the National Labor Relations Board stopped us. We passed illegal immigration reform, and the Department of Justice has stopped us.

Everything we keep doing, they keep saying, “No you can’t do it” after we have passed it. For a bill to become law, it truly has to be the will of the people, and for a president to stop the will of the people and stop what you’re trying to do in your state is not the role of Washington. Every state is supposed to be able to do what’s right and what the people want and it’s an overstep and intrusion that we constantly feel.

Q.

You’ve said that you’re not interested in being a vice presidential running mate in the election later this year. Would you seriously not consider a run if you were asked? And why do you say you’re not interested?

A.

I would say no. How could I do that to the people of the state? They took such a chance on me and gave me the opportunity to show them what work I can do. It is my responsibility to finish the job that I’ve been given. It would be wrong to leave it.

Q.

What about down the line? What are your future goals and ambitions?

A.

I’ve never been a planner. I didn’t know I was going to run for the State House. I didn’t know I was going to run for governor. I don’t know what’s next, and I love not thinking about it because the doors open at a certain time. If you had told us [Michael and I] 10 years ago that elected office would be in our life, we would have both laughed. I don’t think past today.

Q.

Why are there so few women of your generation in high level politics?

A.

It’s not because the challenge is too hard. It’s simply because women don’t run. The reason I actually ran for office is because of Hillary Clinton. Everybody was telling me why I shouldn’t run: I was too young, I had small children, I should start at the school board level. I went to Birmingham University, and Hillary Clinton was the keynote speaker on a leadership institute, and she said that when it comes to women running for office, there will be everybody that tells you why you shouldn’t but that’s all the reasons why we need you to do it, and I walked out of there thinking “That’s it. I’m running for office.”

Q.

Do the next generation of Republican leaders at the state level, like you and Bobby Jindal, have a fundamentally different approach to governing than the previous generation?

A.

We are very thoughtful in terms of thinking about our state even after we’re gone. So we have a business plan in terms of not just this year and next year but what it’s going to look like 10 and 20 years from now. It’s not just what you do while you’re there, it’s how you leave it when you walk away.

Q.

You’re active on Twitter and Facebook and regularly post YouTube videos. Is this kind of communication key today for politicians?

A.

It helps me keep a pulse on the public and what they’re thinking, and it’s an outlet for fun. Sometimes I throw some music on there because I’ve heard a great song or I’ll talk about what the kids did today. We use it as an outlet for the family to let people know what we’re like when we’re not working, but we have found people to be very responsive to it.

Q.

You’re still very young, especially in the world of politics. What compelled you to write your memoir now?

A.

When I ran and when I won, I was absolutely shocked at the number of people that came up to me and told me that after seeing what I went through, they would never run for office, and that devastated me because that was the total opposite of what I wanted people to take away. It was at that point that I told Michael that we had to tell my story of this little Indian girl who went through challenges all her life and became governor of the greatest state in the country.

(Interview has been lightly edited and condensed.)