Lady Aya

Lady_Aya PCNZM QSO DStJ is a New Zealand politician currently serving as the leader of ACT New Zealand and Prime Minister of New Zealand. She also served as the 22nd Governor-General of New Zealand.

Early Life
Lady_Aya was born in on May 22nd, 1979 in Whitianga, the third of four kids. Her parents immigrated from the United States shortly before they were born. While early on, they struggled with academics she later found her passion in history. They graduated from University of Auckland in 2002, majoring in history and education. Shortly after graduating, Lady_Aya moved to Wellington and found a job as a secondary school teacher, which they did for 4 years. Growing concerned with the future of their students and seeing the state of politics, Lady_Aya decided to abandon to their job and enter into politics with the Labour Party.

Political Career
Lady_Aya climbed up the rank of the Labour Party before eventually becoming a staffer for Labour. In 2008 they entered Parliament as a List MP for the Labour Party. A backbencher in the Fifth and Sixth Labour Government and in opposition, Lady_Aya greatly rose to prominence in 2020, being nominated and appointed to be the 22nd Governor-General of New Zealand, becoming the first LGBTQ+ individual of the office. After her term as Governor-General of New Zealand, Lady_Aya retired back to her home in Whitianga and spent life there for a time. However, she eventually grew once again disillusioned with the state of politics and decided to form Heartland New Zealand. As leader, Lady_Aya led the party into two successful elections and becoming Deputy Prime Minister during the Seventh National Government. In the aftermath of the April 2022 New Zealand general election, Heartland New Zealand made the decision to rebrand to [[ACT New Zealand, a party who had recently been deregistered due to lack of activity by the Electoral Commission. As ACT leader, Lady_Aya brought her party through a sucessful election djuring the July 2022 New Zealand general election, afterwards forming the Eighth National Government as junior coalition partner. However, in the aftermath of the scandal and resignation around the former Prime Minister, Winston_Wilhelmus, ACT made the decision to withdraw from Government and formed a minority government with Lady_Aya as Prime Minister. Although it was a tenuous term, Lady_Aya led the party and government through the remainder of the term and then into the October 2022 New Zealand general election, with ACT coming out with the most number of votes. With this renewed mandate, Lady_Aya formed a coalition with Te Pāti Māori, achieving multiple reforms during the term including Three Waters and the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2022

Personal Details
Religious Views

Raised as a member in the Roman Catholic Church, Lady_Aya later left the church as a result of conflicting views. After undergoing several years of discernment and trying to find their faith, Lady_Aya eventually became a member of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. Lady_Aya also has an avid Religious Studies interest and tries to attend services of different faiths when they can.

LGBTQ+

Lady_Aya identifies as queer and non-binary, and uses singular they/them pronouns along with she/her pronouns. They are the first Governor-General of New Zealand to identify as non-binary.

Family

Lady_Aya has stated before that as a result of their family's religious beliefs, they had to cut their family out of their life. They have expressed they are willing to reconcile with their family but only if their parents would be willing to "accept them as they are, not as they wish them to be." Although they have dated in the past, Lady_Aya is single and only lives with their cat, Elwyn.