New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been applauded for her actions following the Christchurch mosque shootings. Here's everything you need to know about her.

Jacinda Ardern was raised Mormon on New Zealand's North Island. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo Ardern was raised by her mother and father, a police officer, in Murupara and Morrinsville on New Zealand's North Island, according to The New Zealand Herald. She was raised Mormon and described herself as an "acceptable nerd" in high school. "It was how my friends identified me. I was both Mormon and the sober driver - that was the benefit they saw from my [church] membership," she told Time in 2017. In 2005, Arden left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over its stance on LGBTQ people and now identifies as agnostic, People reported.

Ardern joined New Zealand Parliament in 2008. Associated Press At 28 years old, Ardern was elected into New Zealand's Parliament as part of the center-left Labour Party. At the time, she was parliament's youngest sitting member. Nine years later, in July 2017, Ardern was serving as deputy to the Labour Party's leader, Andrew Little, when he stepped down and named her as his successor. Suddenly the party's polling numbers started to climb in what the country called "Jacindamania," according to NPR.

Ardern took office as New Zealand's prime minister in October 2017. AP Photo/Nick Perry When Ardern assumed office in October 2017, she became New Zealand's youngest leader in 150 years. Her platform focused on education reform, poverty, and mental healthcare, and she campaigned with "relentless positivity," NPR reported at the time. Ardern was a welcoming presence who occasionally spoke with reporters directly in the beginning stages of her leadership, instead of going through a spokesperson. An Australian journalist from ABC Radio said he called Ardern's office shortly after she was named the country's next prime minister to determine how to pronounce her last name. He said on Twitter - and Ardern later confirmed, according to The Associated Press - that it was Ardern who unexpectedly answered the phone. "It was funny. I was in a meeting and my desk phone started to ring, and it doesn't ring much, so I went over and I saw it was an international number, and I just picked up," Ardern told The New Zealand Herald.

Ardern became a mother while in office. Office of the Prime Minister of New Zealand via AP Ardern gave birth to her daughter, Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, in June 2018. It is her first child with her longtime partner, the TV host Clarke Gayford. At the time, only one other world leader, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, had given birth while in office. Ardern celebrated her daughter's birth on Instagram, thanking the "wonderful team at Auckland City Hospital" for its help. After six weeks of maternity leave, Ardern returned to work, with Gayford staying home to care for their daughter.