Susan Elizabeth Rice (born on November 17, 1964) is an American foreign policy advisor and United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Rice served on the staff of the National Security Council and as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs during President Bill Clinton's second term. Rice is the United States' third woman ambassador to the UN. Jeane Kirkpatrick and Madeleine Albright were first and second. She is also the first African-American woman to hold the position and the third African-American person to do so (after Andrew Young and Donald McHenry). Rice was confirmed by the United States Senate by unanimous consent on January 22, 2009.

Rice was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in the Shepherd Park area. Her father, Emmett J. Rice, is a Cornell University economics professor and former governor of the Federal Reserve System. Her mother is education policy scholar Lois Dickson Fitt currently at the Brookings Institute. Rice was a three-sport athlete, student council president, and valedictorian at National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C., a private day girls' school. She played point guard in basketball and directed the offense, acquiring the nickname "Spo," short for "Sportin'."

Her father always told her to "never use race as an excuse or advantage". As a young girl she says she "dreamed of becoming the first U.S. Senator from the District of Columbia". She also held "lingering fears" that her accomplishments would be diminished by people who attributed them to affirmative action.