Born on December 9, 1966, in Albany, New York, Kirsten Elizabeth Rutnik Gillibrand grew up in a political family and became a lawyer, influenced by the independent spirit of her mother and grandmother. In 2006, Gillibrand won a House of Representatives seat as a Democrat in a traditionally Republican region. She was appointed to the Senate in 2009 after Hillary Clinton resigned. Gillibrand won the seat in 2010 and once again achieved victory in a 2012 reelection. She has since released the non-fiction work Off the Sidelines and is a staunch proponent of reform in the military's handling of sexual assaults.
Kirsten Rutnik took on the surname Gillibrand after marrying British venture capitalist Jonathan Gillibrand in 2001. They have two children.
