Who is Nicole Shanahan, the philanthropist picked by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as running mate

Nicole Shanahan, a California lawyer and philanthropist, joins Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his running mate for president.

Robert F.Kennedy Jr. has picked Nicole Shanahan, a California lawyer and philanthropist who's never held elected office, to be his running mate in his independent bid for president, he announced on Tuesday.

An unconventional choice, Shanahan, who is 38, brings youth and considerable wealth to Kennedy's long-shot campaign but is little known outside Silicon Valley.

Shanahan leads Bia-Echo Foundation, an organisation she founded to direct money toward issues, including women's reproductive science, criminal justice reform and environmental causes. She also is a Stanford University fellow and was the founder and chief executive of ClearAccessIP, a patent management firm that was sold in 2020.

Shanahan was married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin from 2018 to 2023, and they have a young daughter. She was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Kennedy made his announcement.

Before the announcement, Kennedy's campaign manager and daughter-in-law, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, praised Shanahan's work on behalf of "honest governance, racial equity, regenerative agriculture and children's and maternal health". She said the work "reflects many of our country's most urgent needs".

Kennedy, who said in an interview Monday with "The State of California" on KCBS radio that his VP search placed a priority on "somebody who could represent young people", said Tuesday that Shanahan -- who he said, like him, has "left the Democratic Party" -- also shares his concerns about government overreach and his distrust in major political parties' abilities to make lasting change.

"She'll tell you that she now understands at the defence agencies work for the military industrial complex, that health agencies work for big pharma and the USDA works for big ag and the processed food cartels," Kennedy said at his Oakland rally. "The EPA is in cahoots with the polluters, that the scientists can be mercenaries, that government officials sometimes act as sensors, and that the Fed works for Wall Street and allows millionaire bankers to prey upon on Main Street and the American worker." Kennedy had previously signalled interest in picking a celebrity or a household name such as NFL quarterback Aaron Rogers, "Dirty Jobs" star Mike Rowe or former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, who was a wrestler and actor.