It has been an election season in which women and minorities have won groundbreaking races across the country. And on Saturday, New Orleans continued the trend, electing its first female mayor, LaToya Cantrell, in the city’s 300-year history.

Here are a few things to know about Ms. Cantrell, 45, who with her husband, Jason, has a daughter, RayAnn, 9.

Come From Away

Ms. Cantrell is neither a New Orleans native nor related to local political royalty, two more ways she departs from precedent in a tradition-loving city. She replaces Mayor Mitch Landrieu, the son of a former mayor and the brother of a former United States senator, who was limited to two terms.

Ms. Cantrell, a Democrat, was born in Los Angeles and raised by a social worker mother and a law enforcement-employed stepfather, who left the family when he became addicted to drugs, Ms. Cantrell told NOLA.com. A grandmother took in the young LaToya when her mother could no longer take care of her. Ms. Cantrell, who is black, arrived in New Orleans in 1990 to attend Xavier University of Louisiana, a historically black college.