“I think the other ambassadors at first were leery,” she remembered. “Everyone stood back and watched. But I think over time, they realized that my goal was just like the rest of them, which is how do you represent your country in a way that is strong and in a way that is helpful.”

She admitted she faced a “massive learning curve” when she got to the UN.

“It was a lot of reading,” she said. “It was a lot of deep dives.”

One of her biggest goals when she arrived at the UN was to fight what she viewed as an anti-Israel bias. In December, the Security Council backed a controversial resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity. Under the direction of then-President Barack Obama, the US abstained from the vote, allowing it to pass.

In March, at their annual conference, she told the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC “there is a new sheriff in town,” winning applause from the crowd.

She was welcomed as a superstar during a trip to Israel, where she met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She also toured the border with Lebanon, Syria and Gaza with top military commanders and visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, credits Haley with “ushering in a new era of support for Israel at the UN” after she delivered a scathing speech at the UN Human Rights Council demanding a commission withdraw a report that described Israel as an “apartheid state.” The UN later rejected the report and the Secretary General asked the commission to remove it from the website.

“The public support has made a huge difference for us,” Danon told me. “I think that member states and the UN agencies now understand they should recalculate their approach.”

Critics argue that Haley is simply pandering to pro-Israel groups that are important to GOP politics. More than one State Department official has rolled their eyes over what they call Haley’s unabashed support for Israel. Even a senator who supports Haley said her work on the issue “is a bit much” for a UN ambassador.

But Haley told me she sees an expansive role for herself.

“It is what you want it to be,” she said of the ambassadorship. “I’ve found this is a place where you can move foreign policy. I didn’t not think that before. But this is a place where you can negotiate and this is a place where you can move the ball. I don’t think that has been tapped as much as what I’m attempting to do.”