Natasha Asghar has made history as the first woman of colour to be elected to the Senedd.
She is one of four MSs elected to represent the South Wales East and her election makes her the first woman of colour to be elected to the Senedd since it was formed in 1999.
Four members for the region have been elected in total - Ms Asghar and Laura Anne Jones from the Conservatives, and Delyth Jewell and Peredur Owen Gruffydd from Plaid Cymru.
Miss Asghar is the daughter of Mohammad Asghar, known as Oscar, who was a regional MS for South Wales East until his unexpected death in June 2020. She worked for him in his regional office, before going onto what her LinkedIn page has described as a varied spectrum of jobs including "TV presenter, Host, Author, Producer at Number 59 Productions, Youtube Creator, Voice Over Artist and Agony Aunt”.
Miss Asghar said she was "elated" to have been elected, and to have entered the history books as the first female MS of colour.
"A few months ago we were all rejoicing not just as a nation but the entire world when Kamala Harris made her way into the White House as the Vice President, but at the same time I'm amazed it took until 2021 for that to happen, but now I'm so pleased and I'm honoured that everyone in South East Wales being the first region in Wales to ever make this move.
"It really shows progression, it shows a change in people's thought process, it shows a support for people of colour who want to make a name and get into politics and be there to represent them.
"And it's incredible. In a day and age where everyone is so woke, that there's a desire for everyone to be more of the times, it's certainly reflecting and I hope to see more of it in the up and coming years.
"I don't find the pressure I'm absolutely fine with that. My job is ultimately to serve everyone but if I inspire more people of colour to get into politics, that's men, women or children I'm fine with that.
"Diversity is key at the end of the day. I feel like we do need to have more representation, I'd love to see more LGBTQ people to come in too.
"Everyone should be in there, the Senedd is a place for all the people of Wales and every single person should be represented.
"I know people will say there's pressure, but no I don't feel it in any way. I'm proud and pleased to be the ones to be able to fly the flag high for it."
As she heard her name read out at the count on Saturday, she said she had just one wish - "that dad had been there".
"He loved elections," she said. "I know if there had been one person there, holding my hand and helping me, it would have been my dad. "
Miss Asghar said there was a "void" in the pit of her stomach that he wasn't able to see her elected, but said she felt pride at the support from other candidates, campaigners and party members at getting her and Laura Anne Jones elected from the regional list.
She said the thing she is most looking forward to, having already taken her oath, is to "hit the ground running".
"I don't want to spend any time faffing around, I just want to get to get to work," she said.
"I want to make a recovery plan, all the visits to South East Wales, I want to help all the residents around my region and hopefully across Wales."
Miss Asghar said she is keen to work cross-party, especially in terms of coronavirus recovery.
"We also need to look forward, and this situation is unprecedented.
"So if it requires us working together to overcome the effects of the pandemic because let's be honest so many businesses have gone bust, we have people who are going to be out of employment and who are going to be out of their job.
"We've got so many issues that are going to be arising, after COVID there will be a domino effect of this and we do need to work together to find a formidable plan that works for everybody."
