She has to be the most upwardly mobile woman yet in South African politics.
In just over 18 months Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has risen from African National Congress MP to chief whip, then deputy minister and now the presidency of the ANC Women's League (ANCWL).
On Friday, Mapisa-Nqakula was chosen at the fourth ANCWL congress to step into the shoes of former president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and to lead the league out of the doldrums.
Mapisa-Nqakula will have to crack the whip to ensure the league overcomes the many setbacks and divisions that occurred during Winnie's reign as president.
She trounced strong competition in the race for the presidency. The league's deputy president, and acting president after Winnie's resignation, Thandi Modise, is immensely popular among the league's traditional stalwarts.
The powerful and biggest region, Gauteng, backed Modise along with a block of delegates who felt that it was time to elect a president that was not Xhosa-speaking like all the former league heads. Modise, the chairperson of parliament's defence committee, is a Sesotho speaker, while Mapisa-Nqakula is from the Eastern Cape.
After the initial nominations, however, the front-runner appeared to be Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who pulled a large amount of Winnie supporters. The two women are known to be close allies. It is not known why Tshabalala-Msimang declined the nomination, but it is understood intense lobbying was involved.
She will instead contest the deputy presidency on Saturday.