The newest member of the French government has been a citizen of France for less than three years - but now, she will speak for the country, reports the BBC.
Sibeth Ndiaye, the new government spokeswoman, was born in Dakar, Senegal, and only obtained her citizenship while helping to run President Emmanuel Macron's election campaign in 2016.
But the 39-year-old's close connection to the president - and some of her comments in her time as his media advisor - have made her a target for criticism by opposition politicians.
She famously once told a newspaper that she was "perfectly comfortable lying to protect the president".
Ms Ndiaye was born in 1979 in the former French-colonised republic of Senegal, to a family who engaged her in politics from a young age. Her father was heavily involved with the Senegalese Democratic Party, while her mother was a high-ranking judge on the country's constitutional council.
Educated in Senegal and in Paris, she was involved in the French national students' union - later telling news outlet Jeune Afrique that she felt a desire to make changes to the lives of other students.
She said her leap to national politics was prompted by the 2002 French presidential election, in which the far-right National Front's Jean-Marie Le Pen made it to the second round. She joined the Socialists - and began her career in politics.
She first met Mr Macron when he was the deputy secretary general at the Élysée, and she was working for the economy minister - a job that Mr Macron would take over in 2014.