Maty Mint Hamady, 46, a married mother-of-three, is an economics graduate from the University of Nouakchott and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration in Paris, one of Europe's most prestigious graduate schools.
A prominent member of the Union for the Republic (UPR), the ruling party of Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, she resigned her portfolio as public services minister along with the rest of the cabinet on Sunday, a routine step after national elections.
Around one million people -- almost a third of the population -- live in Nouakchott, making the job one of the vast, west African desert nation's most high profile political roles.