When Mayor Muriel Bowser invited “TODAY” show host Hoda Kotb and her cameras to her home, she had something special in her arms: her daughter, Miranda Elizabeth Bowser. In a segment that aired Thursday, the NBC morning show shared the first look the public has of D.C.’s first daughter.

The mayor announced in May that she had become a mother, news that came as a surprise. She said she started the adoption process in late 2017.

“I did feel that part of me was missing,” Bowser said about her decision to adopt. “And I knew that I had a lot of love to pour into a child. And I didn’t know how long the process would take. When you’re a person like me and you run a city and you have a big team, you’re not used to kind of giving in to a process.”

Bowser said that Kotb’s story about adopting a newborn last year contributed to her decision-making. “I literally sat up on my bed, the edge of my bed, watching the ‘TODAY’ show when you shared your experience, and I was like, ‘She has a lot of my vital statistics, so let me listen here,’” she said.

She describes when she first saw her daughter. “The moment that really sticks out to me was literally looking down at Miranda and those just, those eyes looking back at me, and knowing that I was her entire world,” she said. “And when I had that feeling, I knew that we would be together forever.”

Bowser says the experience of becoming a mother has given her a greater understanding of what parents in D.C. go through. Her administration faces issues like rising childcare costs and a maternal mortaltiy rate that exceeds the national average. She is hosting D.C.’s first maternal and infant health summit next week.

Bowser is running for a second term of office in November without any credible opponents.

As the mayor transitions into a busier fall schedule, a nanny and her parents will assist with looking after Miranda, according to NBC Washington, which notes that she declined to answer questions about her relationship with her daughter’s birth parents, or the adoption process.

Bowser is the first single mother to serve as the District’s mayor. “The message I hope to send is that families are made in all kinds of ways,” she said. “And they’re all special. And we should celebrate family in whatever way children are loved.”