Democrat who, in 2013, became the first elected female Senator from Hawaii and the first Asian-American woman elected to the Senate.
She worked as a newspaper proofreader and received her B.A. in psychology from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa.
She was the first U.S. Senator born in Japan, and the nation's first Buddhist Senator, though she has described herself as a non-practicing Buddhist.
She has two brothers: Roy and Wayne.
She served in the Senate alongside fellow Hawaiian senator, Brian Schatz.
