Kaholy Her will be sworn in as mayor of Minnesota's capital city on Friday, officially kicking off her three-year term.

Her defeated two-term incumbent Melvin Carter in November. She will make history as the first woman and Hmong American to lead St. Paul.

"There's a lot to do, I think, because we only have a short amount of time. We have a three-year term versus a four-year term," Her said during an interview with WCCO on Thursday. "We really do just have to hit the ground running."

Most recently, she served as a DFL representative in the Minnesota House. Before that, Her worked within Carter's office during his first term.

As mayor, Her now inherits a downtown struggling to rebound and a city of residents paying higher property taxes. One of her priorities is setting up an urban wealth fund, which she hopes will bring some relief to homeowners in the future.

"This is going to be an ongoing issue regardless because it's going to take us probably this year to set up the urban wealth fund to start putting the assets to work," Her said. "But it's also going to take us a year or two to have the development that we need here to set up this infrastructure so that businesses do know that they are welcome here."

Her campaigned on making the city more friendly for business. One of her priorities is speeding up the permitting and licensing process.

Over the past two months, Her says she has met with business owners and stakeholders who are interested in investing in St. Paul.

"I'm really hopeful. I think that our city is in a prime position for investing, and our capital city is an amazing city and so we welcome anyone who has ideas, anyone who wants to invest in the city," she said.

The new mayor is also turning her attention to recent immigration actions in St. Paul, praising Carter's response to the federal government this past year.

Her says she's already had discussions with the city's chief of police.

"We want to continue that work because the trust between community advocacy groups and law enforcement is really critical," Her said.

Her will be sworn in during a ceremony at 1 p.m. Friday.